The Great Depression
1. Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?
Germany was solely to blame as the aggressor who had instigated World War One, and thus the Treaty of Versailles was tuned to the Allies' favour in punishing the Germans. They had to pay billions of dollars in reparations (for both wars, which was fully repaid in 2010, mind you), and their military reduced to a hundred thousand soldiers and less than 10 ships, while also completely removing all their military aircraft and artillery. Hyperinflation then came into the picture with the Great Depression, causing the country to print out amounts of money which became more worthless than a single piece of bread (i.e. a piece of bread could be worth almost a trillion deutschmarks (German money)).
2. Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?
Germany was blamed as the sole aggressor of WWI, despite Austria-Hungary having been the one to spark the conflict in the first place. They had to surrender all of their aircraft and artillery and their navy was reduced to 6 ships. Their military was reduced from a 6 million to 100 thousand soldiers, were not allowed to produce any artillery, aircraft, navy or weapons and they had to pay over billions of dollars for reparations. Even their commercial trading was crippled, their merchant fleet reduced to a tenths.
3. How was NZ affected by the depression?
New Zealand was affected as hard as every other country did. Their exports fell by 45 percent in two years, national income crashed by 40 percent by three years. As summarised as it can be, New Zealand suffered as much of a bad time as every country.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Treaty-of-Versailles
https://www.history.com/news/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-german-guilt-effects
https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/history-economic/page-7
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