The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914-1924This book presents a comprehensive study of the most famous and spectacular instance of inflation in modern industrial society--that in Germany during and following World War I. A broad, probing narrative, this book studies inflation as a strategy of social pacification and economic reconstruction and as a mechanism for escaping domestic and international indebtedness. The Great Disorder is a study of German society under the tension of inflation and hyperinflation, and it explores the ways in which Germany's hyperinflation and stabilization were linked to the Great Depression and the rise of National Socialism. This wide-ranging study sets German inflation within the broader issues of maintaining economic stability, social peace, and democracy and thus contributes to the general history of the twentieth century and has important implications for existing and emerging market economies facing the temptation or reality of inflation. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
THE INFLATION IN WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION | 21 |
THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE ORIGINS OF THE GERMAN INFLATION | 23 |
Financing the War | 25 |
War Economy and Inflation | 52 |
MANAGING THE CRISES FROM THE NOVEMBER REVOLUTION TO THE KAPP PUTSCH | 97 |
The Economics of Revolution and Revolutionary Economics | 99 |
The Chaotic Path to Relative Stabilization July 1919March 1920 | 156 |
The Transition to Galloping Inflation | 377 |
The Vicious Circles From Galloping Inflation to Hyperinflation JanuaryJuly 1922 | 410 |
Stabilization Debates and Political Crises August 1922January 1923 | 443 |
THE HYPERINFLATION | 499 |
SOCIETY STATE AND ECONOMY IN THE HYPERINFLATION OF 1922 | 501 |
The Year of Dr Mabuse The Hyperinflation and German Society in 1922 | 503 |
Facing Disaster The State and the Productive Estates on the Eve of the Ruhr Occupation | 566 |
THE RUHR CRISIS END OF THE MARK CURRENCY REFORM AND STABILIZATION | 619 |
RELATIVE STABILIZATION AND INFLATIONARY RECONSTRUCTION APRIL 1920MAY 1921 | 207 |
The Trials and Tribulations of Relative Stabilization | 209 |
What Kind of Reconstruction? The German Business Community Faces the Future | 247 |
REPARATIONS AND THE DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT OF THE GERMAN INFLATION | 299 |
The Presentation of the Bill | 301 |
The Domestic Politics of Fulfillment May 1921January 1922 | 336 |
A Disordered Fortress Passive Resistance the Cuno Government and the Destruction of the German Mark | 621 |
The Politics of Currency Reform AugustOctober 1923 | 688 |
The Politics of Stabilization OctoberNovember 1923 | 744 |
Saving the Stabilization December 1923April 1924 | 793 |
A Mortgaged Democracy | 827 |
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Common terms and phrases
abroad agreement Allies argued bankers banks Berlin billion marks Bücher capital coal costs creased crisis debts demands depreciation Deutsche Bank DNVP domestic effort employers Erzberger especially exchange rate export foreign exchange French German industry Germany's gold marks Hans von Raumer Havenstein Helfferich Hirsch Hugo Stinnes hyperinflation important industrialists inflation inflationary interest issue Koeth labor leaders levy loan major many's Max Warburg measures ment Minister Ministry monetary municipalities needed negotiations nomic Office organization payments percent political position possible prewar price increases problem production profits proposal question railroad Rathenau reduced Reich Economic Reichsbank Reichstag Reparations Commission retailers Ruhr situation social Socialist speculation stabilization Stinnes Stinnes's tion trade unions Treasury bills Treaty Treaty of Versailles unemployment Vögler wages war bonds Weimar Republic Wirth Wissell workers