The Rise of the Third Reich

Due to the obstruction and sabotage of the French right-wing government, the Genoa Conference that could have saved the Weimar Republic ended up being the last straw that crushed the Weimar Republic. Before the meeting, one dollar could still be exchanged for 320 marks. Although the mark had depreciated by more than 90% compared with November 1918, it was far from terrible compared with the subsequent inflation.

After the results of the Genoa Conference were announced and gradually exerted their power, the currency value of the mark began to collapse rapidly. The Weimar Republic also fell into a deeper abyss due to the continuous collapse of its currency.

Due to the currency collapse, by the end of 1922, the Weimar Republic government was unable to deliver "production collateral" as required by the Allies - but the Weimar government really did its best to complete the task! According to the memorandum published by the French government on January 2, 1923, the Compensation Commission required Germany to deliver a total of 13.86 million tons of coal to France and Luxembourg in the first 11 months of 1922, but Germany actually delivered only 11.7 million tons...

Despite the collapse of the currency, the Weimar government completed nearly 90% of its delivery tasks. It is obviously unfair to describe this hyper-inflation as a means of deadbeat.

However, the French and Belgian governments still ignored British opposition and sent troops to occupy Essen, the center of the Ruhr coal area on January 11, then occupied Bochum and Dortmund, and finally occupied almost the entire Ruhr coal area!

Since the Ruhr area is located in the Rhine demilitarized zone, there are no German regular troops stationed. It is impossible for the small number of German police to resist the aggressive regular troops and can only be allowed to disarm.

The German Chancellor, Wilhelm Cournot of the Catholic Center Party (who secretly intervened in politics more powerfully than the historically powerful Honorary Officers Corps), forced the Democratic Party to withdraw from the cabinet after the Genoa Conference, thus forming the Social Democratic Party and the Central Committee. Party coalition) had no choice but to practice passive resistance. Announced that it would not cooperate with the French and Belgian occupation authorities, recalled the ambassador to Paris and the minister to Brussels, and stopped paying all compensation to France and Belgium. Miners and railway workers in the occupied areas launched strikes or work stoppages, and all railway and waterway transportation from Germany to France and Belgium were paralyzed!

But the price paid for this kind of passive resistance is also quite heavy!

…

"How much does it cost for two cups of coffee?"

"Sixteen thousand marks."

"Okay, here's 20,000, no need to look for it."

"Wait a minute, I'll pay ten thousand marks..."

One day in mid-May 1923, Hersmann was drinking coffee with Gustav Krupp in a small cafe in the center of Essen in the Ruhr area. I didn't dare to ask Krupp to treat him, but I made AA coffee - that's 10,000 marks of coffee. It would be against the discipline of the defense army to let Krupp treat him...

But after digging through his pockets for a long time, he discovered to his dismay that he didn't have that many marks on him! Because when he left Berlin and came to Essen, he could still afford a good meal and one night's stay at the Kaiserhof Hotel for 10,000 marks, so he only brought 500,000 marks in cash with him. Unexpectedly, he had spent all of it now. .

The waiter looked at Krupp and Hessmann with contempt: How can we drink coffee if we don’t have money?

"I'm sorry," Hessman smiled very apologetically, and then took out a gold coin from the inner pocket of his suit. “Can I pay in pounds?”

"Pound! Gold pound!" The waiter tremblingly took the precious gold pound and ran towards the bar like flying. "Boss! I received a gold pound! Hurry up and change!"

Krupp looked around guiltily and found that there were no other guests, so he lowered his voice and said to Hessmann: "You still have pounds with you?"

Hersman said: "Chloe asked me to bring it. She was worried that the mark would fall too fast and I would not have enough money to spend, so she asked me to bring 20 pounds."

"Twenty pounds! Oh my god, be careful when you go out later and don't let anyone rob you!"

Twenty pounds is a lot of money now! Even if it is 1 pound, it is amazing enough to convert it into a mark. The waiter who ran away quickly came back with a middle-aged man in a suit who seemed to be the boss.

There were two cups of freshly brewed coffee on the tray in the waiter's hand. The boss had a tray filled with money and placed it respectfully in front of Hessmann: "Sir, this is 1.99 million marks for you."

"What a disaster!" Gustav Krupp sighed as he looked at the pile of money in front of Hessmann.

"Mr. Krupp, I already know the situation in the Ruhr area..." Hersman took a sip of coffee and considered his words, "If this continues, Germany will be destroyed. We must find a way to save Germany. OK!"

Gustav Krupp nodded in agreement and looked at Hersmann expectantly.

Hersmann went to the Ruhr area this time in the name of the special envoy of the General Staff. He did not go to the French-Belgian control authorities or the officials of the Weimar Republic in the Ruhr area. Instead, he went directly to Gustav .Krupp. It was said that he wanted to secretly investigate the losses suffered by the Ruhr area during passive resistance, but Gustav Krupp only accompanied him in a hurry around the Ruhr area. Hersmann mentioned "the plan to save Germany". way". Obviously the military already has a solution!

Hersmann's real purpose was to come to the Ruhr area to solicit the opinions of big industrialists on the "method." If you can get everyone's support, then take action and use "legal" means to overthrow President Abbott.

"Because the enemy refuses our surrender on monetary policy, free economic policy will not be maintained, and we can only adopt wartime controls!" Hessmann said to Krupp in a very low voice, "The industry must fully cooperate. us."

This means abandoning the complete market economy and adopting a partially planned economy approach, using the power of the state to intervene in the economy. Only in this way can the German government issue new marks without reserves.

"So... how to solve the problem of compensation?" Krupp asked.

"With full economic control, we can pay in kind," Hersman said, "but it would have to be postponed for two years to allow us to put the economy in order without delivering production collateral. Then we would be able to deliver £100 million worth of money every year." of ships, cars, aircraft, petroleum products, timber and coal.”

"Still want to give it?"

"Of course we have to give it," said Hessmann, "and we have to peg the new mark to the pound. We have to surrender to the British again! But this time the surrender will actually be good for us."

"What do you mean?" Gustav Krupp didn't understand Hersmann's words at all.

Just when Hersman was about to further explain the principles of "currency war" to him, there was suddenly a loud and chaotic sound outside.

"What happened outside?" Hersman put down his coffee cup, picked up a lot of money, and walked out of the cafe with Gustav Krupp.

The two saw a group of old men, women and children being escorted by French soldiers on the street outside the cafe. Everyone was tied up with ropes. The adults were carrying packages, while the children were carrying school bags and holding their only toys - mostly toy guns. The French soldiers around them were shouting and urging them to move quickly.

Both sides of the street were crowded with onlookers, many with tears in their eyes, and many more gritting their teeth and clenching their fists.

There was also a tall French officer wearing a cylindrical military cap. He held a trumpet made of rolled iron and shouted loudly in German: "These people are the families of German criminals who led the strike against the French government! According to the occupation authorities According to the law, they will be fined and then deported, and the criminals themselves will be sentenced to imprisonment, and in particularly serious cases, they will be sentenced to death!”

"Ludwig," Krupp whispered in Hessmann's ear in a low voice, "do you know that from January to now, more than 200 sons and daughters of Germany have fought to resist France and Belgium? People gave their lives! More than 20,000 people were deported and imprisoned!”

But Hersman discovered at this time that every deported German boy had a toy gun in his hand, and the muzzle of the gun was pointed at a French soldier...

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The third update, please collect and recommend