Editing Weimar Republic (section)

====Burden from the First World War====
In the four years following the First World War, the situation of most German civilians remained dire. The post-war economic crisis was a result of lost pre-war industrial exports, the loss of imported raw materials and foodstuffs due to the continental blockade, the loss of Germany's overseas colonies and the worsening debt balances that had been exacerbated by Germany's heavy reliance on bonds to pay for the war. The economic losses can be attributed in part to the extension of the Allied blockade of Germany until the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was signed on 28 June 1919. It is estimated that between 100,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bane |first=S.L. |title=The Blockade of Germany after the Armistice 1918–1919 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1942 |pages=791}}</ref> and 250,000<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howard |first=N. P. |date=1 April 1993 |title=The Social and Political Consequences of the Allied Food Blockade of Germany, 1918–19 |url=https://academic.oup.com/gh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/gh/11.2.161 |journal=German History |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=161–188 |doi=10.1093/gh/11.2.161 |issn=0266-3554}}</ref>{{rp|166}} German civilians died of disease or starvation between the end of the war and the signing of the treaty. Many German civilians expected life to return to pre-war normality after it was lifted, but the severe food shortages continued. In 1922, for example, meat consumption had not increased since the war years. At 22 kilograms per person per year, it was less than half of the 52 kilograms consumed in 1913. German citizens felt the food shortages more deeply than during the war because the reality contrasted so starkly with their expectations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heinzelmann |first=Ursula |title=Beyond Bratwurst: A History of Food in Germany |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2014 |isbn=9781780232720 |location=London}}</ref>

Immediate post-war industrial production fell to the levels of the 1880s, or 57 percent of its value in 1913. The 1919 per capita GDP was only 73 percent of the comparable 1913 figure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boldorf |first=Marcel |date=13 December 2021 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Post-war Economies (Germany) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/post-war_economies_germany |access-date=16 April 2023 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref> Controlled demobilization kept unemployment initially at around one million. By January 1922, the unemployment rate had sunk to just 0.9%,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Heinrich August |title=Weimar 1918–1933. Die erste deutsche Demokratie |publisher=C.H. Becl |year=1993 |isbn=3-406-37646-0 |location=Munich |pages=143 |language=de |trans-title=Weimar 1918–1933. The First German Democracy}}</ref> but inflation caused most workers' real wages to be significantly lower than they were in 1913.{{Sfn|Winkler|1993|p=145}} The [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation]] that peaked in late 1923 had its worst effects on government workers, whose wages did not keep pace with private sector workers, and on middle class Germans who had invested in war bonds{{Sfn|Winkler|1993|p=244}} or who relied on savings, investments or pensions for their living. What had once been substantial savings became essentially worthless due to the enormous fall in the [[Papiermark]]'s value.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=26 September 2019 |title=The hyperinflation of 1923 |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/1923-hyperinflation/ |access-date=18 April 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref>

After four years of war and famine, many German workers were disenchanted with the [[capitalist]] system and hoped for a new era under [[socialism]] or communism. [[Socialist]]s dominated the new revolutionary government in Berlin, and numerous short-lived [[Soviet republic (system of government)|council republics]] were set up in cities across Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McElligott |first=Anthony |date=25 February 2021 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Workers' or Revolutionary Councils |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/workers_or_revolutionary_councils |access-date=16 April 2023 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref> Even after they were suppressed, ideological conflicts between the Left and supporters of the former empire led to [[political violence]] and [[extremism]]. The young republic found itself in a nearly constant economic and political crisis until 1924.