National income was about 1/3 of what it had been.
Workers rebelled against their leaders who they believed had led them to defeat in WWI.
World War One had resulted in many German soldiers causalities. Over 2 million children were left without fathers.
Many people were angry with the monarchy. The king of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate (step down). During the war, women were called up to work in factories. Many people saw this as damaging to traditional family values and society as a whole.
The war had deepened divisions in German society.
Stresses of war led to a revolution and became a democratic republic – the Weimar Republic.
The German people called the politicians the ‘November Criminals’ for signing the Armistice.
There were huge gaps between the living standards of the rich and poor.
Industrial production was about 2/3 of what it had been.
Germany was virtually bankrupt.
Many poor people were worse off than they had been before the war. Many German workers were bitter at the restrictions placed in their earnings during the war while factory owners had made vast fortunes.
The German people felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by the politicians who had signed the armistice (peace agreement to end WWI).
Many ex-soldiers and civilians despised the new democratic leaders and came to believe that the heroic leader Field Marshall Hindenburg had been betrayed by weak politicians.
War left 600,000 widows who all needed to be supported financially by the government. By 1925 the state was spending about 1/3 of its budget in war pensions.
