Post- World War I: Hyperinflation in Germany under the Weimar Republic

Upon the commencement of the first World War, Germany's plan to fund war expenses was to strictly borrow.  Along with borrowing, Emperor Wilhelm II and parliament suspended the gold standard, which was the accepted form of measuring the allowed currency a country could maintain in circulation.  Germany planned that through winning the war, they would be able to pay off all war expenses- however, that was a large "if", as they ended up losing as we all know.

Upon receiving the Treaty of Versailles, perhaps the largest blow to Germany was the requirement to pay off war debts worth $33 billion usd.  With no way to possibly pay off this much of a sum, the Weimar Republic began to print currency.  From this point on, Germany's economy collapsed.

Inflating at an absurdly fast rate, the German mark devalued from approximately 4 marks to 1 usd to 4,210,500,000,000 marks to 1 usd in under a decade.  Prices for essentials such as food, clothing, etc. would practically rise by the hour, and at one point Germans burned their money rather than firewood, because it was cheaper than purchasing firewood.

Through the Dawes Plan, later becoming the Young Plan, Germany was loaned approximately $200,000,000 usd from the United States, primarily in Wall Street bonds.  However, with the turn of the decade, the Great Depression set into Germany after a brief period of recovery.  Some may argue this was a driving factor for the election of Hitler as well as an opportunity for National Socialist German Worker's Party to gain power and influence.