Gerd hardach biography samples

By Gerd Hardach

Summary

There are in the literature on the economic history of the Great War different approaches to the interpretation of war finance and inflation in Germany.

Some scholars have analysed war finance and inflation in the context of economic mobilization during the First World War. Others have interpreted the wartime inflation of 1914-1918 as the beginning of a continuous inflationary process which lasted from 1914 to 1923-1924.

This article discusses the pre-war plans for financial mobilization, the fiscal and monetary policy at the beginning of the war (when the German government and military expected a rapid victory) and the policy changes during the war of attrition.

There will also be a brief look at the transition from war to peace.

Introduction

Unlike the grand debate on the origins of the First World War, financial mobilization, and the inflation that came with it, is not a topic that h