The great depression

 

Afterworld war 1 Germany was hit the hardest by the great depression 

The great depression was a worldwide event containing economic crashes but Germany, in particular, was hit the hardest during this time. 

The Germans suffered the most because the USA pulled back loans and by doing this they destabilised the economy and that had a knock-on effect throughout the world. This was amplified by the treaty of Versailles which was supposed to settle outstanding disputes following the cessation of hostilities in World War I but it was instead made to be utterly debilitating to Germany. To add to this they had the highest unemployment rate in the world, compared to America which had an unemployment rate of 25% the which equated to about 15 million unemployed Americans but Germany had an unemployment rate of  30% meaning that 30% of the population was not working. 

This shows really how hard Germany was hit by the great depression. 

what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?

What Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles? And what did it do?

This mattered because the treaty of Versailles was aimed at Germany in many ways such as…

In article 231 now called The War, Guilt Claus required Germany to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers and required Germany to pay reparations of 132 billion dollars to allied nations but it was later changed to 31.4 billion or about 442 billion dollars USD today. In hearing this Germany refused to sign the treaty and others even thought that this was far too harsh of punishment but they later signed the treaty ending the war. 

By signing the treaty Germany lost many things but in the end, they had no choice. 

How was NZ affected by the depression?

The great depression was felt heavily in New Zealand and around the world. This was shown by the fact that New Zealand was not immediately affected in 1930 but by 1932 New Zealand’s profits from exports had dropped by 45% and this matters because in new Zealand they heavily relied on external exports. The great depression lasted from 1930 to 1935 and desiccated the global economic market and local economies. In New Zealand, as I said earlier profits from exports dropped by 45% in about 2 years and along with this at its worst it was estimated that the number of unemployed exceeded 70,000 people. The great depression affected new Zealand but it would later subside and exports would go back to normal.