ABSTRACT
At the outbreak of the World War Germany was the greatest military land power in the world. When the World War broke out on August 4, 1914, Germany was economically completely unprepared for a war that was to expose her for several years to the immense endurance test of an economic and financial isolation. The 'German inflation' is usually thought of as a postwar phenomenon. The effects of inflation on domestic prices were likewise hidden by measures of war economy. Despite maximum-price legislation and compulsory management of material resources, the war years were a period of rising prices. As this trend originated not in rising wages but in monetary measures, wages tended to lag behind prices. In the bitter struggle between Republican Germany and her foes from the Right, which ended with the destruction of the Republic, the so-called stab-in-the-back legend always played an important role.
