The great depression started in 1929 after the US economy crashed which was partially due to the crash of the stock market. This had a very severe knock-on effect to other countries who traded with the USA. Those affected included Germany, Japan and the UK. Most countries also borrowed from American banks which made them richer and reduced tensions. Due to this, when the US economy collapsed it led to poverty and misery which caused major political problems.

Hyperinflation-The Weimar government's main crisis occurred in 1923 after the Germans missed a reparations payment late in 1922. This set off a chain of events that included occupation, hyperinflation and rebellions.In order to pay the striking workers the government simply printed more money. This flood of money led to hyperinflation as the more money was printed, the more prices rose.Prices ran out of control, for example a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923, had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923.
https://l.imgt.es/resource-preview-imgs/2eae7db6-e7c7-4912-9d8b-867f9b529880%2Fhyperinflation.crop_432x324_0%2C28.preview.jpg?profile=res-img-med-legacy-v2 This source depicting a German man standing in front of a money printing machine looking confused and bewildered. The money is flying out of the machine in an uncontrolled rate this depicts the overprinting of money that led to hyperinflation. The source also shows may hands trying to grab the money this represents the many struggling German people trying to get money to survive.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-

BGGvM4SzJCk/UyX1yycJmiI/AAAAAAAAAF0/6AkNO8RaoiA/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/reparations-treaty-of-versailles3.jpg This source depicts a large bag of money with a high amount of money written on the bag (55000000000).German marks became worthless as prices rose the government had no choice but to print more money at the same time the German government was struggling to pay back the cost of reparations meaning even more money was printed.

·         In 1929, the stock market of America crashed

·         By 1930, nearly 2000 banks collapsed as people rushed to 

·         Affected Europe’s economy massively as so much of their trade was with the US

·         By 1931, 2.5mil unemployed in Britain and 30mil unemployed in the industrial

·         Also, Germany had relied hugely on America to maintain the reparation payments and 6 million people became unemployed.

·         Assisted the rise of Hitler as people became more desperate for a strong government

·         France and Britain were more concerned with their own economies than upholding commitments of the League of Nations which lead to its downfall

Beginning of the depression. After the wall street crash in August 1929, unemployment in Germany rose to the millions, many businesses both large and small went bankrupt. This led to growing support for the Nazi ‘workers’ party as they saw it as a way to escape from unemployment as Hitler promised jobs for everyone.  

 

In February 1932 Japan set up a Puppet government in Manchuria which did exactly what the Japanese army told them to do it was now called Manchukuo. Later in in 1932 the Japanese bombed Shanghai. The civilian army in Japan told the Japanese army to withdraw but they did not. China appealed to the league of nations, but this was difficult for the league as Japan was a key member. In September 1932 a year after the invasion the league decided that Japan had acted unlawfully and Manchuria should be returned to the Chinese. 

This crippled Germany as the German economy had been completely destroyed by World war 1. The sum of £6.6 billion was an unrealistic sum for Germany to pay. Unsurprisingly Germany was unable to pay which lead to in March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupying Duisburg, Düsseldorf, and other areas which formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland as a result of  Germany not being able to pay.

Partially due to the great depression, France and the UK were not willing to help solve any problems since they were too focused on fixing their own problems. This meant they would not be willing to help with crises.
this source shows how Japan, one of the leading countries in the league, is cutting down moral authority and is critical of the league since the league is shown to be unable to stop it.

The most notable ongoing crisis at the time was the German/Polish dispute over Upper Silesia where both nations wanted to own the land and its resources and residents, with an agreement being reached where the land was split, with Germany getting the rural land and Poland getting the industrial areas, but this left both nations dissatisfied, leading to further problems in 1925.

However, the most important event in 1922 was one that went under the radar ever so slightly. A very ambitious and patriotic man by the name of Benito Mussolini seizes power in Italy, wooing the public with his attractive ideals of a “New Roman Empire”. Mussolini wasn’t afraid to go against the rest of Europe to achieve this goal, which lead to major problems for the rest of the continent, with the Abyssinia Crisis and the formation of the Axis alliance leading to the second world war both directly stemming from this Italian dictator who inspired, terrified and allied himself with Adolf Hitler.

The depression threatened to bankrupt Japan since its main export was silk to the USA. Because the USA was buying less silk Japan had less money to buy food and materials. Japan then became desperate and, partially because its leader were army officials, decided it needed to build an empire by invading weaker countries.

This source shows how Japan felt it had to fight whatever the cost in order to survive

 

Years after Germany’s initial exclusion from the League of Nations, Germany finally joined the League on the 8^thSeptember 1926. They were finally admitted as a result of Germany signing the Locarno treaty in the previous year, proving the acceptance of the terms of the treaty. Now it was a permanent member of the League of Nations, Germany was one of the most powerful nations in the League.

 

  The improvements in international relations for Germany in this year meant that Germany was beginning to no longer be ostracised following the First World War, they were now accepted into the wider international community that were working together to avoid another war that would, as we know now, cripple these unstable relations.

·         They wanted to take Manchuria from the Chinese so staged an incident at the South Manchuria Railway which the Japanese had control of

·         They accused the Chinese of sabotage and invaded the town of Mukden

The French who were terrified by the idea of a strong Germany tried to give military power to the League. However, Britain blocked moves in the early 1920s to improve the arrangements for the use of force. In 1923, a “draft treaty of mutual assistance” was discussed saying that the League would only ask its members to send troops to nearby conflicts. In 1924 the Geneva protocol set out clear rules for the peaceful arbitration of disputes. If a country did not follow these rules the League was entitled to use trade sanctions and force. These attempts to strengthen the military of the League of Nations came to nothing. The British leader at the time Ramsay Macdonald initially supported the protocol, but new British government rejected the protocol in 1924.

Under the Dawes Plan, reparations payments were spread over a long period, and 800 million marks in loans from the USA were invested into German industry. By 1927 German industry had recovered well. 1928 Germany finally achieved the same levels of production as before the war – reparations were being paid and exports were on the increase. This helped trade and made it much less likely for Germany to go to war.

Upper Silesia was on the border between Germany and Poland and by the end of WW1 both Germans and Polish were living there. Both countries wanted to claim this land as there was important iron and steel production in Upper Silesia. In 1921 a plebiscite was held to see who would get the land. Germany won 60% of the vote but Poland claimed that many of the people who voted for Germany no longer lived in the area. They complained and the League of Nations decided to split Upper Silesia into regions according to how people voted. This meant that Germany received most rural areas and Poland received most industrial areas. The Poles thought that this was unfair as they would only receive 1/3 of the land but have half the population. The Germans weren’t satisfied either as they lost ¾ of their coal mines. They had owned prior to settlement- a valuable source of income. In 1922 Germany complained and was awarded the right to import coal at a discounted rate. When the agreement was finished in 1925 relationship between Germany and Poland had worsened.

By 1932 parties committed to the destruction of the Weimar Republic held 319 seats out of a total of 608 in the Reichstag, with many workers turning to communism. By 1932 the Nazi's had 230 seats and were the largest party. By 1932 President Hindenburg had to use Article 48 to pass almost every law.   In April there was the Presidential election. Hitler came second to Hindenburg, who won 53 per cent of the vote to Hitler’s 36.8 per cent. Brüning resigned as Chancellor. Hindenburg appointed Franz Von Papen, a conservative, as his replacement. By December Von Papen resigned and Hindenburg appointed Kurt Von Schleicher, as Chancellor. Von Schleicher tried to split the Nazis by asking a leading Nazi called Gregor Strasser to be his Vice Chancellor. Hitler forced Strasser to decline.

Created by Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905, they were the main plans for the german aggression in WW1. They planned to fight a war on both fronts, and was first used during the invasion of Belgium and France in 1914, It ultimately failed due to the underestimation of the Russian army and a shortage of German troops. A key factor of the allied win of WW1