Economics And Politics In The Weimar Republic

Publisher Description

20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; European history

Discusses America's foreign economic policy, specifically in relationship to Germany, leading up to the Great Depression. Examines the relationships between borrowers and lenders, and how the obligations assumed by each can either help or lead to the destabilization of the world economy.

This book is an impressive collection of essays that examines the economic crisis and political collapse that took place in Weimar Germany from 1924 to 1933.

"The aim of this research monograph is to explore the establishment of a new economic order in the infant German Republic or often called Weimar Republic (Deutsches Reich) after World War I and its social and economic turbulance."--P. 1.

The twentieth century has seen Germany transformed from imperial monarchy, through Weimar democracy, National Socialist dictatorship, to finally divide into parliamentary democracy in the West and socialist Volksdemocratie in the East. Pivoting on two World Wars, intense political change has dramatically affected Germany's economic structure and development. This book traces the logic and the peculiarities of German economic development through the Weimar Republic, Third Reich and Federal Republic. Providing a comprehensive analysis of the period, the book also assesses controversial issues, such as the origins of the Great Depression, the primacy of politics or economics in the decision to invade Poland and the future risks to the Weltmeister economy of the Federal Republic oppressed by unemployment, the huge debts of some of its trading partners, and the possibility of worldwide protectionism.

“McElligott's impressive mastery of an enormous body of research guides him on a distinctive path through the dense thickets of Weimar historiography to a provocative new interpretation of the nature of authority in Germany's first democracy.” Sir Ian Kershaw, Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield, UK This study challenges conventional approaches to the history of the Weimar Republic by stretching its chronological-political parameters from 1916 to 1936, arguing that neither 1918 nor 1933 constituted distinctive breaks in early 20th-century German history. This book: - Covers all of the key debates such as inheritance of the past, the nature of authority and culture - Rethinks topics of traditional concern such as the economy, Article 48, the Nazi vote and political violence - Discusses hitherto neglected areas, such as provincial life and politics, the role of law and Republican cultural politics