Lehrplan: Liechtenstein (Liechtensteiner Lehrplan (LiLe)): Spaces, Times, Societies, Stufe 8–9 · Schweiz (Lehrplan 21): Spaces, Times, Societies, Stufe 7–9 · Deutschland (Lehrplan Deutschland): Geschichte, Klasse 9
The Weimar Republic, the Great Depression and the rise of National Socialism
How could a stock market crash in New York lead to Hitler taking power in Berlin? In this module, you will learn to understand historical events as chains and cycles of cause and effect and to sketch them yourself – from the Treaty of Versailles through the hyperinflation of 1923 and the Great Depression of 1929 to 30 January 1933.
Das lernst du hier
- I can recognise chains of cause and effect and sketch them myself.
- I can explain how the Treaty of Versailles led to the hyperinflation of 1923 through reparations, and why this undermined confidence in democracy.
- I can describe the chain of events from the stock market crash of 1929 to the National Socialists taking power in 1933 in the correct order.
- I can draw a diagram showing the vicious circle of Brüning's austerity policy.
- I can name effects of this period on Liechtenstein, such as the customs treaty with Switzerland in 1923 and the introduction of the Swiss franc in 1924.
Liechtensteiner Lehrplan (LiLe): RZG.6.3 (Die Schülerinnen und Schüler können ausgewählte Phänomene der Geschichte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts analysieren und deren Relevanz für heute erklären.)
What happens when money becomes worthless overnight?
Imagine this: you have saved 50 francs. Today, that is enough for a concert ticket. Next week, it will only buy you a piece of chewing gum – and a month later, not even the paper the price is written on.
This is exactly what people in Germany experienced in 1923: at times that autumn, a loaf of bread cost over 100 billion marks. Wages were paid daily, and people immediately rushed to the shops before their money lost even more value that afternoon. Entire families' savings vanished into thin air.
This was a real issue in our region too: Liechtenstein was still using the Austrian krone – and inflation after the First World War caused its value to fall sharply. Many people in Liechtenstein lost their savings. As a result, Liechtenstein turned towards Switzerland, signed the customs treaty in 1923 and officially introduced the Swiss franc in 1924.
Events like these do not come out of nowhere. They are links in a chain: a cause leads to an effect, that effect becomes a cause in turn – and so on. In this module, you will learn to read and draw these chains of cause and effect. By the end, you will use them to understand one of the most important questions of the 20th century: how could an economic crisis lead to a dictatorship?
The Great Depression of 1929
As you watch, pay particular attention to the chain reaction triggered by the stock market crash in New York: how did the crisis spread from the USA to Germany? Note down at least four stages in this chain – you will need them for the tasks later.
Transkript anzeigen
The video explains how the crash on the New York stock exchange in October 1929 ended the "Golden Twenties". The USA withdrew its loans from Germany, German banks and businesses ran into difficulties, and many went bankrupt. Unemployment rose to several million people. The governments of the Weimar Republic failed to find an effective response to the crisis, confidence in democracy declined, and radical parties such as the NSDAP gained huge numbers of supporters.
From Versailles to 30 January 1933 – an overview
A heavy burden: Versailles and inflation
The Weimar Republic, Germany's first democracy, began in 1919 with a heavy burden: the Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for the First World War and required it to pay large reparations (compensation payments). To cover its expenditure, the state printed more and more money – causing money to lose its value ever faster. In 1923, this escalated into hyperinflation: the mark became practically worthless and savings were wiped out. Many people blamed the young democracy for their hardship.
The new Rentenmark (late 1923) and American loans (Dawes Plan, 1924) stabilised the situation. The "Golden Twenties" followed – years of economic growth. But take note: the recovery was built on borrowed money, mainly short-term loans from the USA.
The crash and the chain reaction
On 24 October 1929 (known in Europe as "Black Friday", 25 October), share prices on the New York stock exchange plunged. American banks needed their money back – and withdrew their loans from Germany. German banks and businesses went bankrupt one after another. By early 1932, over six million people were unemployed, about one in three workers.
Chancellor Heinrich Brüning (1930–1932) responded with strict austerity: wages, pensions and government spending were cut. This deflationary policy made the hardship worse – a vicious circle that you will examine more closely shortly. The government increasingly ruled through emergency decrees, bypassing parliament: democracy was hollowing itself out.
Radicalisation
Amid this desperation, the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler promised simple solutions and offered people to blame. The NSDAP's election results soared: 2.6 % (1928) → 18.3 % (1930) → 37.3 % (July 1932). On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor – the end of Germany's first democracy.
And Liechtenstein?
Liechtenstein was spared the world wars, but not their economic effects: inflation of the krone after 1918 wiped out savings here too – hence the customs treaty with Switzerland (1923) and the introduction of the franc (1924). The Great Depression then hit the export-dependent textile industry in the Rheintal hard; many people from the region had to look for work abroad. Radicalisation did not stop at the border either: in the late 1930s, a National Socialist group called the "Volksdeutsche Bewegung" emerged in Liechtenstein – but it remained a minority.
Level 1 – Understanding chains of cause and effect
Historians ask not only "What happened?", but above all "Why did it happen – and what followed from it?" A powerful tool for this is the chain of cause and effect: you write down an event, ask "What follows from this?" and draw an arrow to the effect. That effect is itself another cause – so you draw another arrow. Link by link, a chain takes shape.
Example 1 – the inflation chain:
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
→ Germany has to pay large reparations
→ the state prints more and more money
→ hyperinflation in 1923: money becomes worthless
→ savings are wiped out
→ many people lose confidence in democracy
Read the chain aloud and check each arrow: does the step make sense? Could you explain it to someone who knows nothing about this period? That is the test of a good chain.
Example 2 – the cycle: Sometimes the chain loops back on itself – then we call it a vicious circle. This happened with Chancellor Brüning's austerity policy from 1930 onwards:
The state makes cuts (to wages, pensions and spending)
→ people have less money to spend (less purchasing power)
→ businesses sell less and lay off staff (more unemployed people)
→ the state collects less tax revenue
→ the state makes even more cuts … and the cycle starts again
A cycle does not stop by itself – it reinforces itself with every round. That is why the crisis became worse and worse from 1930 onwards, even though (or precisely because) the government was making "sensible" cuts.
Level 1 – Mini-exercise: The inflation chain
Practise using the example just explained: drag the terms to the correct places in the chain (on a phone: tap the word first, then the gap). Two of the words in the word bank do not fit anywhere.
Tippe zuerst ein Wort an und dann die Lücke, in die es gehört. Antippen einer gefüllten Lücke legt das Wort zurück.
Treaty of Versailles (1919) → Germany has to pay large → the state prints more and more → in 1923: money becomes worthless → savings are wiped out → many people lose confidence in
Level 1 – Tasks: Following the chains
Erkläre in eigenen Worten – so merkst du am besten, was du schon verstanden hast.
Deine Antworten werden auf diesem Gerät gespeichert und gehen mit deinem nächsten Fortschritts-Report an die Lehrperson.
Read the inflation chain in Level 1 again. In two or three sentences of your own, explain why the state printing money led to hyperinflation.
Tipp anzeigen
Think about this: what happens to the value of something when there are suddenly huge quantities of it – for example, trading cards that everyone suddenly owns a thousand of?
The final link in the inflation chain says: "many people lose confidence in democracy". Explain why people blamed democracy in particular – rather than simply blaming "money".
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The Weimar Republic was only a few years old in 1923. Who was governing when people's savings disappeared – and whom do people hold responsible when life is going badly?
Show the Brüning chain from Level 1 as a cycle: type the stages in the correct order and connect them with arrows (→). Finish with a sentence describing where the cycle closes. If you like, draw the cycle on paper as well.
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Start at the top with "The state makes cuts" and move clockwise. The final arrow must lead back to "The state makes cuts" – that is exactly what makes it a vicious circle.
Level 2 – Matching: The crisis chain, 1929–1933
Now try it without the explanatory text alongside: drag the missing links to the correct places. Watch out: two items in the word bank do not belong in this chain at all – they come from a different period. The dates will help you.
Tippe zuerst ein Wort an und dann die Lücke, in die es gehört. Antippen einer gefüllten Lücke legt das Wort zurück.
Stock market crash in New York (October 1929) → → German banks and businesses go bankrupt → (over six million in early 1932) → hardship, fear and anger: many people become radicalised → (1930: 18.3 %, July 1932: 37.3 %) → Hitler is appointed Chancellor (30 January 1933)
Level 2 – Matching: Brüning's vicious circle
Put the three stages in the correct places in the cycle. At each step, ask yourself: what follows directly from this? Here too, two of the words in the word bank do not fit anywhere.
Tippe zuerst ein Wort an und dann die Lücke, in die es gehört. Antippen einer gefüllten Lücke legt das Wort zurück.
The state makes cuts (to wages, pensions and spending) → → → → the state makes even more cuts … and the cycle starts again
Level 3 – An intermediate step: Write the links yourself
Before you draw your own diagram: there is no word bank here – type the missing terms yourself. Capitalisation does not matter. Tip: start with the trigger and ask at each arrow: what follows from this?
Stock market crash in New York (October 1929) → the USA withdraws its from Germany → German banks and businesses go → over six million people are → hardship, fear and anger: many people → electoral success for → Hitler is appointed (30 January 1933)
Level 3 – Tasks: Creating your own chain of cause and effect
Deine Antworten werden auf diesem Gerät gespeichert und gehen mit deinem nächsten Fortschritts-Report an die Lehrperson.
Read this material and use it to create your own chain of cause and effect with at least five links: type the links one below another and connect them with arrows (→).
Material – Germany from 1928 to 1933 in figures:
- Unemployed people: around 1.4 million in 1928 | over 6 million in early 1932
- NSDAP share of the vote in Reichstag elections: 1928: 2.6 % | 1930: 18.3 % | July 1932: 37.3 %
- October 1929: stock market crash in New York; the USA withdraws its loans from Germany in the following years
- 30 January 1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor
Your chain should show how these figures and events are connected. If you like, sketch it on paper as well.
Tipp anzeigen
Start with the trigger (the stock market crash) and ask at each step: what follows from this? The figures show which developments happen in parallel – unemployment and votes for the NSDAP rise together. This is no coincidence, but a link in the chain.
Extend your chain from Task 1 with a branch about the region: name the point where your branch splits off and type its links, connected by arrows (→) – the branch should show how the Great Depression also affected Liechtenstein and the Rheintal.
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Liechtenstein's textile industry depended on exports. What happens to export businesses when their customers abroad no longer have any money?
To finish: explain your chain from Task 1 in your own words as a connected text – so that someone with no prior knowledge (a classmate, your brother, your gran …) could understand it. OR: create your own quiz question in the style of Level 2 ("What belongs in place of ???") about a chain of cause and effect from this module, including three answer options and the solution.
Tipp anzeigen
When explaining: if the other person asks "Why?" at an arrow and you can answer, you have really understood the chain. For the quiz question: good incorrect answers come from the right period but belong at the wrong point in the chain.
Quiz: Have you got to grips with the chains?
Frage 1 von 5In which year did hyperinflation in Germany reach its peak – when a loaf of bread sometimes cost over 100 billion marks?