His plan included a colossal $338 billion war reparations payment due to the Allied nations. The settlements devised at Versailles represented, as one observer noted, a "peace built on quicksand" (Beck, et. al 762). .
To tackle this extreme sum of money, the Weimar Republic began taxing its already impoverished people. When tax revenue failed to meet the needs of the annual payments to the Allies, the Weimar Government ordered its treasury to begin printing more money. At a time when inflation was already bad, this "solution" plunged Germany into further economic collapse. In 1919, one U.S. dollar was equivalent to 493 marks. By the end of 1923, the mark was worthless. One U.S. dollar was now equivalent to 4.3 billion marks. In Germany, a loaf of bread cost .63 marks in 1918. By November of 1923, the value had skyrocketed to well over 201,000,000,000 marks. The inflation of the early 1920s brought the downfall of the middle and upper classes of Germany (Riedlsperger, Internet).
Many Germans began expressing doubt in the ability of the Weimar government to handle the needs of its people. In Russia, the Communist Party swept into power. Some Germans became increasingly worried that Communism would soon spread to Germany and began electing representatives of a new party that had emerged. These new politicians began promising the German people that "the perils of Communism would be checked and instead of hopeless unemployment, Germany could move towards economic recovery." Calling themselves the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP), or Nazi Party, they propelled themselves to power under the guide of their charismatic leader, Adolf Hitler (Toland, 132).
Hitler made many attractive promises to the German people. He openly criticized the Allies and the reparation payments and promised that if the Nazis were elected, they would cease the payment of reparations. Furthermore, he blamed the Allies and, more importantly, the Weimar Republic for their "enslavement of the German people" (Kiem, Internet).
