The Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1932: The German Fallout from WWI

Here at twelveyearhistory.com we believe history is unfolding in an ordered sequence. More specifically, we believe history unfolds in what is called a fractal pattern. What do we mean by a fractal pattern? We encourage you to do some more research on your own to understand fractals, but essentially, at a basic level, this means that history repeats itself. Furthermore, we believe that each region of the world represents a smaller part of the larger fractal pattern of history that is unfolding. We believe the actions of governments and empires are happening in an observable, and repeatable pattern that is ultimately becoming subdued and subordinated by a higher power, that being the triune God of the Bible. As you continue reading articles on the site, it will become more clear why we divide history into twelve-year increments. The events at the beginning and end of a twelve-year fractal always contain events that differentiate it as a separate twelve-year period. This articled will cover 1920 to 1932, which is a unique twelve-year fractal period in history.

The Weimar Republic: 1920 to 1932

Without providing more explanation, let’s dive into understanding the period from 1920 to 1932. This twelve-year period holds a special significance as it marked the beginning of a new fractal of time within the American Empire as well as the world. This twelve-year period was exactly 144 years after the pivotal twelve years of 1776 to 1788. These early American years, 1776 to 1788, saw the birth of a nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution on June 28, 1788. In 1920 to 1932, the world witnessed numerous events that established the American Empire as the global superpower and established this as a distinct and separate twelve-year period for the world.

Some argue that this period, following the first World War, is what ultimately led to the second World War, and while that observation has validity, it is more accurately described that the twelve-year period from 1933 to 1945 was a twelve-year fractal period created by the twelve years from 1920 to 1932. Although there is much more nuance to be explained in following articles, this is how fractals work. The connection between these two time periods lies in the fact that the inaugural years of these two, twelve-year fractals, 1920 and 1933, are thirteen years apart — which is a Fibonacci number(0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13). This website will refer to the Fibonacci sequence often and so it is good to become familiar with this term, as this is an integral concept to understanding fractals. In this case, the significance of the 1920 to 1932 period immediately gave rise to another period of nearly equal importance. The economic difficulty among nations that culminated in World War II was a direct result of what happened from 1920 to 1932. I believe as this larger time period is examined more closely, it reveals that what was at stake during this period was a battle for the monetary supremacy among the nations. Said another way, this period transferred the dominant monetary power of the world, from being centrally located in London, at its central bank affectionately known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, to being centrally located in New York City. However, each nation, whether knowingly or unknowingly, was vying for monetary power and control.

From 1920 to 1932, there were important events happening in nearly every corner of the globe, however, this episode will only cover the effects that WWI had on the German region of the world and how that played out over the twelve years from 1920 to 1932. This will be a multi-part series of articles where we cover each region of the world separately while connecting them to one another as well.

The Agadir Incident of 1911

Now, let’s jump right in. To understand Germany from 1920 to 1932, we cannot do so without first talking about Germany from 1911 to 1920. The year 1911 was the year that France and Germany resolved a minor conflict involving the country of Morocco, called the Agadir Incident or Crisis. The year 1911 was the end of a lesser-degree twelve-year period that began in 1899, and it ended in 1911 with a treaty between France and Germany. Germany had intentionally provoked the conflict when they sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911. As a resolution to the conflict, France came into control of Morocco as a protectorate, and Germany received a small portion of the French Congo next to their territory in German Cameroon.¹ The resolution from the Agadir Incident came without conflict as the British Chancellor of the Exchequor, David Lloyd George made a dramatic speech in 1911, containing veiled threats as it pertained to its own interests in Africa. Chancellor George was clear that they would take the side of France were a conflict to escalate.

“If Britain is treated badly where her interests are vitally affected, as if she is of no account in the cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically that peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable for a great country like ours to endure.”²

Although the Agadir crisis had concluded without violence, German and French relations remained strained and each country began to accumulate gold reserves. Why did they begin building their gold reserves? Germany and Wilhelm Kaiser II were somewhat embarrassed by the unfavorable outcome in Morocco. One of the causes that made Germany acquiesce during the conflict was that their gold reserves began leaving German banks.³ In those days, people’s paper money was backed by gold, and so the German people as well as people around the world could redeem banknotes, or paper currency, for gold. Here’s an excerpt from Liaquat Ahmed’s book, Lords of Finance.

In the middle of the crisis, Germany was hit by a financial panic. The stock market plunged by 30 percent in a single day, there was a run on the banks across the country as the public lost its nerve…,and the Reichsbank lost a fifth of its gold reserves in the space of a month.⁴

…Faced with the potential humiliation of being driven off the gold standard, the Kaiser backed down and had to watch impotently while the French ended up taking over most of Morocco.⁵

Gold and German Preparations

After this, Germany believed they needed to match French gold reserves if they wanted to see a more favorable result were similar circumstances to arise in the future. In the following few years, the French and Germans entered an unspoken race to accumulate as many gold reserves as possible. In 1911, Germany had $200 million in gold reserves but prior to the war in 1914 just a few years later, Germany held $500 million in gold reserves.⁶ By contrast, France held $800 million in gold reserves in 1914.⁷ Even as Germany and France accumulated gold reserves, the thought of a European War was hard to fathom. The economic interconnectedness of Europe in those days created the mutual understanding that were a war to break out, there would be no winners, only losers. One example of Europe’s deep economic ties was that the insurance firm, Lloyds of London was contractually obligated to insure all of Wilhelm Kaiser II’s merchant marine fleet.⁸

When World War I began, Germany was much more prepared this time in regards to its gold reserves when compared to the Agadir Incident. In addition to building its gold reserves, as soon as World War I began, Germany quickly suspended the redemption of bank notes for specie, or coinage.⁹ In other words, for this conflict, they were not in danger of gold reserves leaving German banks as they made it impossible to redeem bank notes for gold.

These were the events of 1911, and they had a big impact on the events leading up to WWI. Not only was 1911 important, but before any twelve-year fractal period is studied, it is also important to review the previous seven years leading up to a twelve-year period. A twelve-year fractal, for example, 1920 to 1932, always represents the beginning of a new, 144-year epoch. As such the last seven years of a 144-year epoch are typically very important. There are usually very interesting events occurring in the last seven years that then lead into the approaching twelve-year fractal. And it’s important to once again answer the question: why is 1920 to 1932 considered a twelve-year fractal? Recall again, that that’s because it is 144-years from 1776 to 1788, America’s first-degree twelve-year period and the number 144 is probably the most important number in the Fibonacci sequence. Thus, 1920 to 1932 was a second-degree fractal that became not only a very important period in American history, but also in world history.

But now, back to Germany. Following the Moroccan Agadir Crisis where major conflict was averted, in June 1913, Wilhelm Kaiser II began to celebrate his 25th anniversary as monarch of Germany, with his Silver Jubilee. This came a month after the wedding for his daughter Victoria Louise, where he invited the extended family including his cousin monarchs Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of Britain.

A month after the wedding, during this celebration, the Kaiser was visited by Andrew Carnegie, the American Steel Magnate, who at the time was aged 77. Andrew Carnegie was deeply involved in politics in his older years and was famous for being a strong advocate for peace among the nations. In 1913, he had donated a sum of 1.5 million dollars, which equates to $43 million in 2019 dollars, to create a building known as the Peace Palace in the Hague, Netherlands.¹⁰ Even today, the Hague continues to play an important role in international politics. Under Wilhelm Kaiser II’s leadership, Germany had risen to become arguably one of, if not the wealthiest country in Europe and its leading steel producer as well.¹¹ When comparing the Gross Domestic Product or GDP of the European nations, Britain and Germany were neck in neck in 1913. For the Silver Jubilee, Andrew Carnegie received an invitation from Wilhelm II to help him celebrate. During his visit, the Kaiser stated, “Twenty-five years of peace, Mr. Carnegie, and I hope there will be twenty-five more!” Andrew Carnegie ironically replied, “Your majesty is the most powerful ally we have in that direction.”¹² At the time, Wilhelm Kaiser was perhaps giving lip service to his 25 years of peace. That’s because according to the account from Liaquat Ahmed’s book, The Kaiser asked his bankers following the Agadir Crisis in 1911 if German banks were capable of financing a European war. They reportedly hesitated, to which he reportedly replied, “The next time I ask that question, I expect a different answer from you gentlemen.” This highlights the importance that gold played in the monetary order of that day which became a recurring theme following 1920.

The Buildup to WWI

Also in 1913, Wilhelm Kaiser II’s only daughter, Victoria Louise, was married to Prince Ernest Augusto of Hanover. The wedding occurred on May 24, 1913 and at the wedding there was the largest gathering of monarchs in Germany since German Reunification in 1871. A forgotten, yet important fact during this time is that the British, Russian, and German monarchs were all related as first cousins. In addition to Wilhelm Kaiser II, this was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of Britain, all who were in attendance for the wedding. This is an important marker in history because just seven years later, only one of these monarchs would retain their title. The other two monarchies would be abolished altogether. Just a couple months after each of these monarchs were together for a wedding, Germany passed a new bill in July 1913 which would dramatically increase the army from 136,000 to 890,000. Germany knew that if it were to enter a war, that it would meet opposition from France on one side and Russia on the other. However, this increase in military spending was quickly offset by similar increases in spending by Russia as well as France. By 1914, the Russian army stood at a total count of 1.5 million men and growing, nearly doubling Germany's.¹³

Although militaries were building from 1913 to 1914, there are no direct statements that war was the end goal. In fact, these moves were supposed to create the opposite. However, in June 1914, a French General Staff Report stated that “the military situation has altered to Germany’s detriment.” This was thanks to the military building on Germany’s borders in Russia as well as in France. This is the dilemma from the beginning of time where one nation’s buildup of security forces can cause another nation to become less secure.

Just a year later following the Marriage of Victoria Louise and Wilhelm’s Silver Jubilee, on June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia, a covert operation was in motion. Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was visiting the region with his wife Sophie primarily to inspect military maneuvers being practiced outside the city. As evidenced by their actions they were not concerned with hostilities towards them during their visit. At one point, they even walked through a busy shopping center. Contrary to most monarchical couples in those days, Franz and Sophie were reported to have a very contented marriage. Franz described Sophie as his ‘entire happiness’ and their children as his ‘whole delight and pride.’¹⁴ During their visit, lurking in the shadows was a secret terrorist group known as the Black Hand. They saw the archduke’s visit as an opportunity to strike a blow against what they thought of as their oppressors. Franz Ferdinand was scheduled to visit the governor that day and on his initial trip, his vehicle was attacked with a bomb, yet it bounced off his car and struck another car in his entourage. This resulted in a hospital visit for a couple of his men in need of medical attention. After Franz Ferdinand’s visit with the Bosnian governor concluded, Franz Ferdinand wished to visit his men in the hospital. During his drive to the hospital, his driver took a wrong turn into a narrow alleyway.¹⁵ Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old member of the Black Hand was lurking nearby and seized the opportunity, firing two fatal shots into the car, assassinating Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, the same day that they were celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary. The news of their deaths sent shockwaves throughout Europe, setting off a chain of events that plunged the continent into the horrors of World War I.

World War I

When World War I began, Germany immediately went off the gold standard ending the currency known as the German mark. This began a period of paper money issuance in Germany known as the papiermark. The papiermark continued in use until 1924 when the Dawes Plan for German Reparations was adopted and the Reichsmark currency was created to replace the papiermark.

As World War I continued, it quickly became the bloodiest war fought-to-date. By late 1914, a stalemate had developed on the Western Front, with both sides fortified in extensive trench systems, mostly along France’s border with Belgium and Germany. Attempts to break the stalemate, such as the Battle of Verdun in February 1916 and the Battle of Somme in June 1916, resulted in massive casualties without achieving decisive breakthroughs. This stalemate would persist for much of the war.

In April 1917, the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies. President Wilson and Congress’ decision to enter the war was the result of Germany failing to uphold its “Sussex Pledge” made in May 1916 after it sank a British civilian boat called the Sussex. The Sussex Pledge was a pledge not to attack unarmed or civilian boats of the Allies with its German submarines. As America entered the war, this had a significant impact on the balance of power, as the vast resources and manpower of the United States bolstered the Allied forces and tipped the scales in their favor.

However, in December 1917, just a few months after America entered the war, the Russian Revolution led to the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime and to the rise of the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin. Although Russia originally entered the war alongside the Allies in July 2014, the new Soviet government eventually signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918, ending Russia’s participation in the war. This allowed Germany to transfer more of its forces from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, intensifying the conflict there. The fighting in Russia between the red army, the Bolsheviks, and the white army, the anti-Bolsheviks, continued from 1918 until August 1920, when the Bolshevik red army finally defeated the white army. Despite the communist Bolsheviks seizing power in Russia, it was in August 1920 that the Battle of Warsaw decisively gave Poland its independence from Russia. Poland declared independence from Russia in November 1918 as the Republic of Poland, but the Battle of Warsaw gave confirmation to their independence.

Following Russia and Germany’s Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, Germany soon after launched its aggressive Spring Offensive in a last-ditch attempt to achieve victory before American forces fully arrived. Although the offensive made gains initially, it eventually faltered. The Allies then launched a series of successful counterattacks, most notably the Hundred Days Offensive beginning on August 8, 1918, which pushed the German forces back and led to their eventual surrender. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed, effectively ending the fighting on the Western Front. The Hundred Days Offensive resulted in 1,070,000 casualties for the Allies, while the Germans lost 1,172,075 lives, with many more also becoming prisoners of war. The battle of Meuse-Argonne, during the Hundred Days Offensive, is still the battle with the most American lives lost in America’s history, with over 26,000 killed and 95,000 wounded.¹⁶ After the armistice, the nations convened at the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 and the peace negotiations began, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The German Revolution — 1918/1919

After the Hundred Days Offensive and Germany’s defeat, a power vacuum was left in Germany. The ensuing social and economic hardships unleashed a wave of discontent that reverberated throughout the country. The abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918, left a political opening, and it led to the formation of workers’ and soldiers’ councils in Germany known as “soviets.” Inspired by the Russian Revolution, these councils sought to seize control of the government and establish a socialist state.

Amidst the turmoil, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as a key player in the revolution. Its leaders, including Friedrich Ebert, aimed to create a democratic republic and prevent a full-scale communist takeover. To be expected, tensions brewed between the more communist and fascist elements of the revolution, such as the Spartacus League and the moderate forces represented by the social democratic party.

The German revolution reached its zenith in January 1919 when the Spartacus League launched an uprising in Berlin, known as the Spartacist Uprising. The government, supported by the Freikorps (paramilitary units composed of demobilized soldiers), swiftly crushed the rebellion, leading to the deaths of its leaders, Luxemburg and Liebknecht. This highlighted the fierce struggle for power between rival factions inside the German power vacuum following defeat in World War I.

The Weimar Constitution

A few months later, this led to the drafting of the Weimar Constitution in August 1919. The Weimar Constitution, named after the city in which it was drafted, established the Weimar Republic as a parliamentary democratic republic. The new government faced many challenges, including political polarization, economic instability, and the burden of war reparations. These all contributed to the Republic’s eventual downfall and the rise of Adolf Hitler. Nonetheless, the German Revolution of 1918 and 1919 serves as a complex, yet pivotal moment in German history, representing the initial phase of Germany’s eventual, yet permanent transition to a democratic republic.

Although the Weimar Republic is often looked upon as a failure, several extremely important ideas were introduced to German society through the Weimar Constitution. The Weimar Constitution was declared effective August 11, 1919. Thanks to this new constitution, for the first time in German history, all Germans were now declared equal before the law. Rulers of the 22 states of Germany had to relinquish their monarchical titles such as Duke and Duchess. You see, prior to the Weimar Constitution, there was a class of individuals who held their titles thanks to the monarchical system that was in place where titles were typically handed down by heritage or social status. The Weimar Constitution ended this practice within the new German government. Furthermore, the Weimar Republic ended the practice of Germany having a state church. Up to this point, Germany had had a long history, dating all the way back to the days of Charlemagne, where its government was intertwined with the state church in Rome. During Wilhelm Kaiser II’s reign, he had been involved in building protestant churches which created a kind of combination of state and church. However, articles 135 and 141 of the Weimar Constitution. Article 135 reads:

“All inhabitants of the Reich enjoy full religious freedom and freedom of conscience. The free exercise of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution and is under public protection…”¹⁷

Furthermore, the first sentence of the Weimar constitution reads:

“The German people, united in its tribes and inspired with the will to renew and strengthen its realm (Reich) in liberty and justice, to serve internal and external peace, and to promote social progress, has adopted this Constitution.”¹⁸

Ironically, as the Weimar Republic was beginning this new era by throwing off two of the powers of its previous state, the power of state and church and the power of state and family, it was embracing a new state power common to this era and that is the power of state and money. In 1920, the Weimar Republic began with an income tax on its citizens. This was the spirit of the age as America had just instituted its own legal income tax for the very first time, as well as the Federal Reserve, both seven years earlier in 1913.

For the first time in Germany’s history, the Weimar Republic was made up entirely of elected officials or representatives with term limits. The upper house of its legislative body was called the Reichsrat and its lower house was the Reichstag. Amidst the chaos of figuring out the aftermath of WWI, on June 24, 1920, the Weimar Republic of Germany began with its first, inaugural meeting of legislature at the Reichstag. The Reichstag was the building that the lower house of the Weimar Republic’s legislature met in. With this initial meeting, Germany’s Weimar Republic was born. This entered Germany into a twelve-year period from 1920 to 1932 where the Weimar Republic would be greatly tested and ultimately fail.

As the Weimar Republic was trying to gain its footing, volatile times continued. Even before the Weimar Republic had its first meeting of the Reichstag, The Kapp Putsch, led by Wolfgang Kapp occurred in March 1920. Putsch is another term for a coup ’de tat where an existing government is toppled. It was supported by certain elements of the military, and hoped to once again establish an authoritarian autocratic regime, challenging the democratic ideals that were being established. And like those during the German Revolution of 1918 and 1919, it was defeated.

German Reparations in the Early Years

Although the Paris Peace Conference began in January 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June, the conference continued until January 1920 in Versailles, France, just outside Paris. There were over thirty nations in attendance at the conference, however, there were four nations that became known as “The Big Four.” That was Italy, France, Britain, and the United States.¹⁹ By 1921, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin was firmly in control and the USSR or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially formed in 1922. The Bolshevik government did not receive an invitation to the Paris Peace Conference and also defaulted on all debts that it had owed to the Allies from their earlier involvement in the war. The Central Powers that opposed the Allies during the war were also not invited to the conference. This included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

The negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference that followed the signing of the treaty primarily revolved around punitive measures for Germany and the Central Powers. Germany was required to surrender all of its foreign lands and 10 percent of its European territory. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne on November 8, 1918, fleeing to Holland. He was later determined to be a war criminal at the Leipzig Trials although he was never required to be tried as he remained protected by the Netherlands until his death in 1941. The precise terms upon which the Central Powers would be required to pay reparations were not agreed upon, however, according to Article 231 of the treaty, Germany would be required to pay reparations of which the details were to be ironed out at a later date.

Following the Paris Peace Conference, a Reparations Commission was formed and met for the first time in July 1920 at the Spa Conference, in Spa, Belgium. Spa was previously the military headquarters for Germany on the Western Front during the war. On May 5, 1921, Article 231 was resolved with the London Schedule of Payments and it stated that Germany would be required to pay the equivalent of 12.5 billion gold marks.

The London Schedule of Payments represented a landmark international agreement whose goal was to establish a fair and manageable system for war reparations. It involved a complex web of negotiations between the Allied Powers, Germany, and other debtor nations. The goal was to strike a balance between holding Germany accountable for its actions and ensuring its ability to recover and contribute to the global economy. With history as its judge, it would fail at this objective. There were many who warned that this would not only curtail economic recovery for Germany, but for the world at large. One such individual was John Maynard Keynes, a famous Briton. Today, Keynes is known for Keynesian economics, which has largely been discredited, thanks to bitcoin, but in this instance, he was proven correct that a heavy punishment for Germany was not in the world’s best interest.

In 1922, just a year later, hyperinflation began to spin out of control and the value of the German mark relative to the dollar went from 190 to 1, to 7,600 to 1. The German Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau was also assassinated in 1922 and contributed to even more panic and loss of faith in the currency. By August of 2023, the mark had depreciated precipitously to 620,000 to 1 and just a few months later in November, it was 630 billion to 1. In other words, it was worthless.²⁰ Needless to say, this type of hyperinflationary environment made commerce impossible and direct bartering became common. Here’s an excerpt from the well-known book, When Money Dies, by Adam Ferguson.

“In an atmosphere of fury and frustration, and with attacks on the Reichsbanks policies being launched on all sides, Dr. Havenstein plunged on. Day and night 30 paper mills, 150 printing firms and 2,000 printing presses toiled away adding perpetually to the blizzard of banknotes under which the country’s economy had already disappeared.”²¹

Havenstein, in a report to a Council of State on August 17, 2023, Havenstein proudly stated that:

“The Reichsbank today issues 20,000 milliard marks of new money daily of which 5,000 milliards are in large denominations. In the next week the bank will have increased this to 46,000 milliards daily…the total issue at present is 63,000 milliards. In a few days we will therefore be able to issue in one day two-thirds of the total circulation.”²²

Why was Havenstein so convinced that producing more money was the solution. Many have wondered, not unlike witnessing modern central bankers of today, whether this was due to pure stupidity or if there were more sinister motives at play. Just a few months later, in November 1923, Germany’s president of the Reichsbank for the past 15 years, Rudy Von Havenstein passed away. His replacement became Halmar Schacht who served as president of the bank from December 1923 until March 1930.

In response to a worthless currency, the German government halted reparations payments, defaulting on its obligations from the London Schedule of Payments. This default further strained Germany’s relationship with the Allied powers and exacerbated the already fragile economic and political conditions within the country. The default on reparations in 1923 marked a critical turning point in Germany’s post-war history and continued the political climate that culminated in the rise of socialism.

Hitler’s Political Beginnings

Beginning in 1920, behind the scenes, the central political figures that were to come during the 1933 to 1945 period were finding their political beginnings. In Germany, the figure that would rise to become dictator or Fuhrer, began his political career. His name: Adolf Hitler. Although his leadership of the National Socialist Party began in 1920, it is, once again, always important to look back seven years prior to a twelve-year fractal and observe the events that were happening. Interestingly, in 1913, even before World War I had begun, this was the year that Hitler chose to move to Munich from Vienna to avoid being arrested for evading military service to Austria and the Hapsburg dynastic family. In August 1914, Hitler volunteered for the German military in Bavaria. Over the course of the next six years living in Munich, Hitler’s charisma and effective communication skills led him to leadership roles in Bavarian military service. In service to the Bavarian military, Hitler was asked to attend a meeting to gather intelligence about a new political party called the German Labor Party in September 1919. A month later, in October 1919, he joined the German Labor Party, and in March 1920, he was discharged from Bavarian military service so that he could become involved fulltime with the German Labor Party in German politics.²³ After joining, he played a large role in the development of and unveiling of the party’s expressed agenda in February 1920. In this agenda was a plea for national identity built around a racial identity, growing the nation’s territory, revoking completely the newly signed Treaty of Versailles, and refusing any immigration into the country that was not German.²⁴

In the same month that he was discharged from the Bavarian Military, March 1920, the German Labor Party rebranded themselves as the National Socialist German Workers Party. And then, just a year later, in 1921, Hitler was named the Fuhrer or absolute leader of the National Socialist Party. How did Hitler become the absolute leader of the party so quickly? By 1921, Hitler had become one of, if not the central figure of the party. While traveling to Berlin, certain party members in Munich attempted to oust him and upon his return, he resigned from the party completely on July 11, 1921.²⁵ Those in the party quickly realized that without him, the party would flounder into irrelevance. When asked to return, Hitler set the terms of his return to be dependent upon the condition that he be made the supreme leader of the party. A vote was taken and 543 voted for and 1 against. In one short year, on July 29, 1921, Hitler was announced as the Fuhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party. This was not unlike his ascendancy to Fuhrer of Germany in 1934.

Moving towards January 1923, Germany’s hyperinflationary woes escalated, casting a grim tone on the nation. Here’s another excerpt from the book, When Money Dies, by Adam Ferguson.

“Despair, indeed was consuming Germany….Violent Communist-led outbreaks were occurring in Saxony and Thuringia, and the reactionary movement under Hitler in Bavaria was palpably growing in strength and size. On August 8, in a speech to the Reichstag…Dr Cuno[the German Chancellor from 1922 to 1923] warned that imports would now have to be curtailed more than ever, that taxation would be ‘unrelenting,’ and that national unity was needed as never before.”²⁶

In 1923, Hitler used the political volatility in Germany as an opportunity to seize power. This is when Hitler orchestrated the Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch. It became a failed coup d’etat led by Adolf Hitler and members of the party in Munich, Germany. On November 8th and 9th, 1923, Hitler and his followers marched into a beer hall where Bavarian government officials were holding a meeting. They intended to take control and proclaim a nationalist revolution. However, the coup quickly faltered as police and military forces confronted the insurgents. A violent clash ensued, resulting in the deaths of 16 of Hitler’s comrades and four police officers. Hitler was arrested and later put on trial. Although the Beer Hall Putsch was a failure, the news provided Hitler with valuable publicity and a platform to spread his ideas. His trial allowed him to gain national attention and disseminate Nazi propaganda, setting the stage for his eventual rise to power in Germany. As Hitler received his sentence he made a statement that revealed his pagan belief system.

You may pronounce us guilty a thousand times, but the Goddess who presides over the Eternal Court of History will with a smile tear in pieces the charge of the Public Prosecutor and the verdict of this court. For she acquits us.²⁷

A notable character acted next to Adolf Hitler during the Beer Hall Putsch. That character was Heinrich Himmler. Heinrich Himmler would go on to become Hitler’s "right hand man" during World War II and the primary architect of the Final Solution. Himmler joined the Nazi party in 1923 and went on to join the Schutzstaffel or better known as the SS in 1925. Himmler found his way to the Nazi party in 1923 by way of the Thule Society. The Thule Society was an occult that shared many beliefs with the Nazi Party.

Germany Defaults on Reparations

In response to Germany defaulting on reparations in 1923, the American Charles G.Dawes became the head of a committee formed by the Reparations Commission. Besides his background as a banker, Charles Dawes had a long career in politics. Up until 1901, he served as Comptroller of the Currency under William McKinley’s administration. And in 1923 he was serving as the director of the Bureau of the Budget under President Harding. The Bureau of the Budget was an organization that was newly formed in 1921 with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921. Dawes faced a great challenge in restructuring the German Reparations plan. Proposed in April 1924, the Dawes Plan formed a second attempt at resolving the German Reparations problem.²⁸ Under his plan, Germany’s annual reparation payments were temporarily reduced, and a new system of loans, primarily coming from American bankers including JP Morgan, was established to help stabilize the German economy. By spreading out the payments and introducing foreign investments, the plan hoped to revive Germany’s industrial production, improve its capacity to repay debts, and create conditions for European economic recovery as a whole. It had all the same goals as the original London Schedule of Payments. Ultimately, however, the plan was little more than a debt recycling scheme or better known today as a Ponzi scheme.

The plan placed German economic policy making under foreign supervision and a new currency, the Reichsmark, was created. In Germany’s favor, France and Belgium evacuated the Ruhr, which it had occupied under conditions of the Versailles Treaty. Foreign banks loaned the German government $200 million with U.S. financier J. P. Morgan underwriting the loan in the U.S. market. These loans continued over the next four years, so that Germany could meet its reparation payments to France and the United Kingdom. In turn, these payments were used by France and the UK to service their own war debts to the United States. It was a circular system that started with United States loans to Germany and returned to the United States as a repayment of money owed from France and Great Britain. Although the Dawes plan would fail only a few short years later, it garnered Dawes the recognition of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Hitler’s Prison and Mein Kampf

Following Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, on April 1, 1924, Adolf Hitler was admitted to Landsberg Prison. While in prison he began to write his famous work, “Mein Kampf” which translates to “My Struggle.” After beginning in 1924 he completed the first volume in 1925. After only serving 9 months of a 5 year prison sentence, Hitler was released from Landsberg Prison. Otto Leybold, the Landsberg warden, claimed that Hitler exhibited good behavior in a memorandum dated September 18,1924. Leybold wrote that Hitler was “sensible, modest, humble and polite to everyone — especially the officers of the facility.”²⁹ Immediately following his release, Hitler completed the second volume of Mein Kampf in 1926. Both volumes outlined Hitler’s political ideology, his anti-Semitic beliefs, and his plans for Germany’s future. The book served as a blueprint for the Nazi Party’s policies and actions and became a central text for Hitler’s followers. As Hitler rose to power during the Great Depression, it gained significant popularity and became a widely circulated propaganda tool for the Nazi regime. Here are a couple of the more extreme excerpts from Mein Kampf, demonstrating its fanatical nature.

The application of force alone, without support based on a spiritual concept, can never bring about the destruction of an idea or arrest the propagation of it, unless one is ready and able to ruthlessly to exterminate the last upholders of that idea even to a man, and also wipe out any tradition which it may tend to leave behind.³⁰

Any violence which does not spring from a spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only rest in a fanatical outlook.³¹

Eternal Nature inexorably avenges the infringement of her commands. Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.³²

Germany Defaults Again

In 1928, a year before the Great Depression would get underway, Germany again defaulted on reparations. This caused a new committee to be formed, this time with Owen D. Young as committee chairman. Young was also on the previous committee that formulated the Dawes Plan.

The Young Plan, once again tried to alleviate the economic burden on Germany by reducing the total amount of reparations and extending the payment period. Whereas the Dawes Plan only spread out the payments over a longer time period, The Young Plan reduced the total amount of principal owed. The repayment schedule was extended to a period of 59 years, with lower annual installments. The plan also established the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to oversee the repayment process. Similar to previous plans, its stated goal was to provide Germany with economic relief and stability, but it also faced criticism from both sides — some believed the concessions were insufficient, while others thought Germany was being unfairly burdened. Nevertheless, the Young Plan represented another significant effort to address the reparations issue that had lingered since 1920. The offspring of this plan, the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, continues to operate to this day as a forum for central bank consultation and cooperation. An excerpt from its website reads:

Established in 1930, the BIS is owned by 63 central banks, representing countries from around the world that together account for about 95% of world GDP. Its head office is in Basel, Switzerland and it has two representative offices: in Hong Kong SAR and in Mexico City, as well as Innovation Hub Centres around the world.³³

On its website, it also contains a one sentence mission statement, stating:

Our mission is to support central banks’ pursuit of monetary and financial stability through international cooperation, and to act as a bank for central banks.³⁴

Although the BIS still exists today, the Young Plan was short-lived. And if the Bank of International Settlements is something that can be “owned by central banks” according to its website, the question that people should ask is, “who owns the central banks of the world.” Shouldn’t the citizens of the world be allowed to know that? And yet nobody does.

Regardless, In June of 1931, as the world sunk ever deeper into depression, a one-year moratorium on all debt and reparation payments not only from Germany, but also between the Allies was declared at the behest of President Herbert Hoover, known today as the Hoover Moratorium. It was intended to be a one-year moratorium, but ended up being a more permanent moratorium, as we will soon see.

The Changing German Political Landscape in 1930

In September 1930, a German federal election was held. Following the election, the Socialist Democratic Party remained the largest party, holding 143 of the 577 seats in the Reichstag. However, the tide was turning and the National Socialist German Workers party gained 95 seats in the Reichstag, moving from only 12 seats to 107 seats. The Communist Party also gained 23 seats also demonstrating that communist and socialist ideologies were gaining momentum in Germany. This would be the last election where the Socialist Democratic Party held the most seats in the German Reichstag.

The next election occurred two years later, in 1932. This time, Hitler ran for election as president but was defeated by the incumbent president Paul von Hindenburg who escaped with a small majority in the second round of voting. The German elections of 1932 were a pivotal moment in the country’s history and they took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which had severely impacted Germany’s already damaged economy and society.

The results of the Reichstag election of 1932 demonstrated that despite losing the presidency, momentum for Hitler’s Nazi Party was accelerating. One of the contributing factors to the Nazi Party’s growing popularity was Hitler’s use of technology. As has happened many times in history, when a political leader learns to use technology better than his opponents, a strategic advantage occurs. For Hitler, one of his strategic advantages came by being the first to campaign by using the airplane to travel.³⁵ When the election of 1932 concluded, the Nazi Party emerged as the largest seat holder in the Reichstag, winning 37.3% of the popular vote and securing 230 seats, more than doubling their seats from the 1930 election. This was a remarkable increase and again showcased the growing appeal of Hitler’s nationalist and anti-Semitic campaign. Meanwhile, the moderate parties, particularly the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Communist Party (KPD), both lost ground. The Social Democratic Party, which largely controlled German politics since the Weimar Republic began, saw its share of the vote decrease to 20.4%, and the Communist Party obtained 13.1% of the vote. The traditional conservative parties, such as the Center Party and the German National People’s Party, also lost ground. The Nazi Party was unable to obtain a majority in the Reichstag, where 305 seats were needed for a majority. Therefore, coalitions across party lines were still needed. These coalitions ultimately proved unstable and unable to address the nation’s pressing issues. The political deadlock paved the way for Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933.

The Lausanne Conference of 1932

In the summer of 1932, as the Nazi’s popularity grew and the world was in the midst of the Great Depression, four European nations convened at the Lausanne Conference. The Lausanne Conference was held in the Swiss city of Lausanne from June 20 to July 9, 1932 and brought together representatives from Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Italy. Together, these countries agreed that in light of the Great Depression, it was no longer economically feasible for Germany to continue paying reparations. At the conference, they also agreed to cancel debts between one another. The agreement was first made as a gentleman’s agreement, as they understood they would need the United States to ratify the agreement to make it official.

In December 1932, the United States Congress rejected the terms of the Lausanne Conference. This meant that the Young Plan for reparations payments was still binding. However, the last payments that Germany made were in 1931 prior to the Hoover Moratorium and when Hitler came to power in 1933, he refused to make any more reparation payments. Additionally, the Allied Powers would also choose to default on their payments to the United States.³⁶

Conclusion

The elections of 1932 marked a critical turning point in German politics, with the Nazi Party’s significant gains setting the stage for Hitler’s subsequent ascent to power and the erosion of democracy in Germany. The year 1932 bookended the twelve-year period that started in 1920 with Hitler joining the young, fledgling Nazi party and it ended with the party becoming the largest and most powerful party in German politics.

This is just one example that demonstrated that following WWI, what was called the “war to end all wars” transferred the monetary center of the world to the United States. As we cover the United States in this multi-part series, it will become evident that the events of 1913 to 1920 made the official transfer of the title “most powerful empire on earth” to the United States. Furthermore, this is the moment when “the horn on the beast,” described in the books of Revelation and Daniel, was transferred to America, and more specifically, New York City. What was the horn on the beast? The horn on the beast was the power of the central banking monetary system. Here’s where we at the twelve-year history podcast believe history repeats. Any time that a young empire reaches its 144th year, the power always transfers to that empire by the means of a new power.

The 144-year mark of any empire is always the most important. Each empire ruled with a different power, and so World War I was a tremendous conflict that when the war was over, power had indisputably transferred to America. During the war, it was mistakenly coined as the “war to end all wars.” The world quickly discovered this was not the case.

What are the lessons that can be taken away from this twelve-year period in Germany following World War I? First, God can use dark times in a collective group of people’s history to bring about good. What am I referring to, exactly? Remember that in August 1919, the Weimar Constitution went into effect and the first meeting at the Reichstag took place in June 1920. Thanks to the Weimar Constitution, this was the first time in the German region’s history that monarchical titles were abolished. No longer did a select group of people have rights bestowed upon them simply by virtue of the family they were born into. Also, this was the moment that state religion was abolished within Germany at the national level. You see, when state is combined with religion, no matter the religion, those in power will claim their power comes from being chosen by God Himself. These ideas that separated the state from its power and ushered in the twelve-year Weimar Republic were grandiose ideas that arrived for German society 144-years after America’s Declaration of Independence strived to do the very same thing in America. These ideas are what made a Democratic Republican form of government possible in America and what ultimately made it possible in Germany. Even though these ideas found their start in Germany with the Weimar Republic, dark times lay ahead as German society was burdened with a monetary weight while also having a hard time leaving behind the tribalism that German society had been built upon over many centuries.

I believe another important lesson that can be derived is how a collective group of people were punished for the sins of their fathers. In other words, the German people were held accountable for the sins of those before them, rather than punishing the individuals that were responsible for the war. For example, Wilhelm Kaiser II safely lived out the remainder of his life in the Netherlands until 1941. I understand the complicated nature of the dilemma of punishing war. However, one might argue that it was punishment enough for the loss they suffered and that responsibility for the war could have been acknowledged by more than one side in the dispute. Nonetheless, as a result of WWI, Germans were lumped into a collective group and made debt slaves to their adversaries. This burden placed on German society had weighty consequences. Is it possible that one of the lessons to be learned from WWI is forgiveness? Yes, even monetary debt forgiveness? In the Bible, there are many verses that address financial matters, even debt. And the Bible is clear that the borrower is slave to the lender. And so this debt from the war was ultimately a form of collective slavery for the German people. One would hope that the idea of war could be altogether avoided in this world, but there have been many more wars and conflicts since WWI, which was heroically named “the war to end all wars.” No, unfortunately there is only one eventual battle that will end all wars(Rev 21) and this was not it. But we still must learn from it.

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