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Pre-WWI Economy in Germany
Germany was an up-and-coming nation before WWI, the way it's economy and trade were set up, Germany was on the road for success. Germany was a mainly agrarian based economy with a very small amount of factories and production, unlike most European nations at the time. In around 1850, Germany began to produce steel, one of the most treasured commodities at the time. However, around 1900 Germany began to invest heavily in military and industrial growth. After this investment, Germany had one of the largest economies in Europe.

Economic Causes of Germany's Involvement in WWI
Since Germany's new rise to economic success, their want to continue their new good fortune meant expansion. This meant more land across Europe, especially in France. Germany fought for the region of Alsace-Lorraine in France and after they seized it, sought, a new target, to expand their economy, Great Britain. At this time Great Britain was considered to be the most powerful nation in Europe. Soon after this Arch-Duke Ferdinand was assassinated and the entire continent went to war.

Germany's Finances During WWI
During WWI Germany's first idea for paying expenses was to raise taxes on the common man, however, the finance minister at the time, Karl Hefferich, decided that the citizens would be angry and refuse to fight if Germany raised taxes, so they resorted to other means. At this time, Germany was pursuing many costly projects, the most famous being the Hindenburg Program of 1916. This was a program to supply armaments to the German army. In order to solve the lack of funds the German government began to tax war profits and coal. Also, Germany began to offer war bonds to the German public, which attempted to repay immediate debts and keep the government and war effort afloat. Germany spiraled into major debt during the war, to a point where their deficit rose to 90%. During the beginning years of World War I, Germany served as lender to all of it's allies. However, over time Germany needed to replenish it's chauffeurs and therefore requested 800 million pieces in gold from the Austro-Hungry Empire. As for Germany's other allies, the Ottoman Empire relied heavily on Germany to fund their armies. Germany's fatal mistake overall during WWI, was spending much outside what they had available in their budget.

Germany's Post-WWI Finances
The Treaty of Versailles, the document that ended World War I also placed much of the blame for the ordeal on Germany. In 1919 Germany had been the second most economically advanced nation in the world and by 1921 it was £6.6 billion in debt, in modern USD that is $411,081,336,437. Germany was so far in debt from its own expenditures that it could not pay back the nations of France or Belgium in cash and therefore had to pay them in tangible materials instead. This economic crisis lead to the rise of Nazism and Hitler in Germany and subsequently to the Second World War.