TikTok video transcript

Why did Germany jump straight into World War II right after losing World War I? Simple. Because Germany was absolutely out of its mind. I mean, between July and November 1923, German prices multiplied by 14 billion times. A single loaf of bread cost 400 billion marks? Why did prices inflate this ridiculously? We have to talk about the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1918, Germany lost War I and was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty demanded that Germany pay the victorious nation's 132 billion gold marks in war reparations. The problem? Germany was broke. like if the rats are moving out. So staring at this impossible receipt, the German government basically just ghosted them.

They went full deadbeat. After two solid years of Germany just shrugging and dodging their calls, France completely snapped. So in January 1923, France and Belgium rolled up with 100,000 troops, marched right into Germany's industrial corps, the Ruhr. Naturally, Germany wasn't going to just sit back and let the French rob them. So Chancellor Wilhelm Kuno hopped on the mic and told everyone,

All right, listen up! Everyone in the Ruhr, go on strike right now! Sabotage the machines! Don't make a single screw for the French! But wait, if we strike, what about our paychecks? Relax, the government will cover your paychecks. Thus, to pay the salaries of workers who weren't actually working, the government just fired up the money printers.

But the more cash they printed, the more worthless it got. And the more worthless it got, the harder they smashed that print button. By November 1923, a kilo of bread literally cost 400 billion marks. Germany's economic self-harm strategy was so extreme that it genuinely terrified the other countries. The U.S. and the U.K. strongly demanded that France withdraw its troops.