Editing Weimar Republic (section)

====Onset of the Great Depression====
[[File:BSPDRWeltkriseEngl.PNG|thumb|Gross national product (inflation adjusted) and price index in Germany, 1926–1936. The period between 1930 and 1932 is marked by severe deflation and recession.]]
[[File:Arbeitslosenquote 1928 bis 1935.png|thumb|Unemployment rate in Germany between 1928 and 1935. During Brüning's policy of deflation (marked in purple), the unemployment rate soared from 15.7% in 1930 to 30.8% in 1932.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0127-305, Berlin 1927, Reichstreffen RFB, Thälmann, Leow.jpg|thumb|[[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]] (KPD) leader [[Ernst Thälmann]] (person in foreground with raised clenched fist) and members of the ''[[Roter Frontkämpferbund]]'' (RFB) marching through {{nowrap|Berlin-Wedding}}, 1927]]
In 1929, the onset of the [[Great Depression]] produced a severe economic shock in Germany which was made worse by the [[European banking crisis of 1931]]. Germany's fragile economy had been sustained by the granting of loans through the [[Dawes Plan]] (1924) and the [[Young Plan]] (1929).<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> When American banks withdrew their line of credit to German companies, the rapid rise in unemployment could not be checked by conventional economic measures.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=9 October 2019 |title=The Great Depression in Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/great-depression/ |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> Unemployment thereafter grew dramatically, to 4 million in 1930,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/GERunemployment.htm |title=Unemployment in Nazi Germany |work=Spartacus Educational |access-date=1 March 2017 |language=en |archive-date=1 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501065510/http://spartacus-educational.com/GERunemployment.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the [[1930 German federal election|Reichstag election of September 1930]], the [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (NSDAP, Nazi Party), until then a minor far-right party, increased its share of the votes to 19%, becoming Germany's second largest party, while the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) gained 23 seats.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagswahl 1930 |trans-title=Reichstag Election 1930 |url=https://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT5.html |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The shift to the political extremes made the unstable coalition system by which every Weimar chancellor had governed increasingly unworkable. The last years of the Weimar Republic were marred by even more systemic political instability than previous years, and political violence increased. Four chancellors ([[Heinrich Brüning]], [[Franz von Papen]], [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and, from 30 January to 23 March 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]]) governed through [[Presidential cabinets of the Weimar Republic|presidential decree]] rather than parliamentary consultation.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> It effectively rendered parliament powerless as a means of enforcing constitutional [[checks and balances]].