The German government scraped together the first reparations payment of 2 billion gold marks.
1922
Germany announced they could not afford to pay the reparations payment. The French and Belgians did not believe them
The Ruhr
The industrial heartland of Germany where their main resources and factories could be found
January 1923
60,000 French and Belgian soldiers occupied the Ruhr. They took charge of every shop and factory and seized goods to pay for reparations
Violence
Some Germans tried to resist the french and Belgian troops only to be beaten up
Strikes
The German government did not want the workers to make goods for the French and Belgians to take so they ordered them to stop work
Printing Money
As no good were being made or sold, the only way the government could pay the striking workers was by making more money. They also printed money to pay the reparations.
Rising Prices
As workers spent money in shops, shopkeepers started to put prices up.
Hyperinflation
When the value of money is so devalued that prices rise rapidly
Worthless
By December 1923 German bank notes were worthless. Germans blamed their government who had ordered the workers to strike and printed the money
The price of a loaf of bread in 1918
0.6 marks
The price of a loaf of bread in November 1923
201 billion marks
Losers
Lifetime's savings were wiped out. Pensioners and those on fixed incomes saw prices go up but their income stay the same. Many businesses failed leading to unemployment.
Winners
Those who had debts benefited as one bank notes would be enough to pay off a loan of thousands of marks
