The Nazi Regime & The Nazi Party

The Nazi regime outright refused to pay the $33+ million dollars in ereparations to Britain and France, and politically they already violated the territorial provisions such as the remilitarization of the Rhineland as well as the annexations of territories in the east such as Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Due to this, the Nazis also focused on military rearmament and built the military industrial complex. Military spending reach 10% of Germany’s GNP, the highest of any country in the world during that time period. Hitler wanted autarky, of self sufficiency in the so he called upon prominent Nazi officer Herman Goring to implement a Four-Year Plan in order to streamline the process of rebuilding the military at any cost necessary. The Four Year Plans failed miserably; instead of making the German armed forces fully rearmed it lead to unnecessary rationing of German goods and supplies to citizens. Nevertheless, Germany managed to have one of the strongest militaries in the world by the time WW2 started. All of these economic policies drastically reduced unemployment as German families were able to benefit from these new jobs which contributed to the overall popularity of the Nazi party.

Nazi Germany: During the War Initially, the Nazi Party did not change their economy when they invaded Poland thus beginning WW2. Nazi Germany already had record high military spending when the war began so they didn’t need to prioritize more of their industries into the military industrial complex. However, they quickly switched to a war economy as the war progressed. Nazi Germany had to coordinate with businesses in order to help build their war effort, and as a result played a heavy role in their economy. Many businesses exist for one major reason; to provide profit towards their shareholders. However, the Nazis attempted to have businesses act in the interest of the country instead of profit by offering financial regulations and incentives as to.

This massively contributed to the war effort as the Nazi High Command was able to use the various German industries to produce logistical supplies and goods into necessary equipment for the German army rather than wasting resources in order for businesses to increase profit. Rationing of goods began in 1940 while implementing a personal income tax of 13.7% to fund the war effort. Although Germany attempted to achieve autarky, they were still importing around 33% of raw material goods. During the war, the British, using their superior navy, blockaded Germany restricting Germany’s access towards goods such as oil, cotton, coffee beans, and others. Germany, in order to make up for this, traded with allied or neutral countries for raw materials such as Switzerland, Romania, and Sweden. Germany received oil from Romanian oil fields, Spain and Portugal for tungsten, and Sweden for their iron ore. Perhaps the biggest trade these territories.