Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in History · 4HI1 · Free · no account needed

The impact of the Great Depression

Who ended parliamentary government in Germany, and in which year?

Option 3 · Germany: development of dictatorship, 1918–45 › Key topic 3 · The rise of Hitler and the Nazis to January 1933 — one of 6 lessons in this key topic. Paper 1 — depth study: Germany: development of dictatorship, 1918–45, key topic 3 (30 marks: 6 · 8 · 16).

Learn the impact of the Great Depression, teach it to an AI pupil, then defend it in a marked debate — this lesson carries all three.

What the specification asks for

“Impact of the Great Depression” — examined through causation and consequence. Incandio is aligned to specification 4HI1; it is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson.

1 · Understand it

How an American crash reached Germany in weeks

The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 mattered to Germany because of the ninety-day money. American lenders needed liquidity at home and recalled short-term loans, and new lending stopped. Germany's recovery had been financed by exactly that capital, so the withdrawal was immediate and total rather than gradual.

World trade contracted and German exports fell by around 60 per cent between 1929 and 1932. Industrial production roughly halved. Five major banks failed in 1931, including the Danat, which closed the banking system for weeks.

The numbers, and who they hit

Registered unemployment rose from about 1.3 million in 1929 to over 6 million by early 1932 — roughly a third of the workforce, and the real figure was higher because women and young people often did not register. Insurance benefits were exhausted within weeks and many families fell to municipal relief or nothing.

The distribution of the pain shaped the politics. Industrial workers who lost jobs largely moved to the KPD, whose vote rose to 16.9 per cent by November 1932. The Mittelstand — shopkeepers, small proprietors, clerks, professionals — feared proletarianisation rather than experiencing it, and remembered 1923. Farmers, already in depression since 1927 as world grain prices collapsed, were losing land to foreclosure. It is these last two groups, plus the young and previous non-voters, who supplied the Nazi surge.

Brüning, and the end of parliamentary government in March 1930

The Grand Coalition under Hermann Müller collapsed in March 1930 over a difference of 0.5 per cent in unemployment insurance contributions — the SPD would not cut benefits, the DVP would not raise contributions. Hindenburg appointed Heinrich Brüning, who had no Reichstag majority and did not seek one. When the Reichstag rejected his budget in July 1930 he enacted it by Article 48, and when the Reichstag voted to revoke the decree he dissolved it.

That September election was the breakthrough: the Nazis went from 12 seats to 107 and 18.3 per cent. From then until January 1933 Germany was governed by presidential decree. In 1930 the Reichstag passed 98 laws and there were 5 decrees; by 1932 it passed 5 laws and there were 66 decrees, and the chamber sat on 13 days in the year.

Brüning's policy was deflation: he cut wages, salaries, benefits and public spending into the worst depression in German history, partly from fear of another inflation and partly to demonstrate to the Allies that reparations were unpayable. He achieved the second — the Lausanne conference effectively ended reparations in July 1932 — a month after he was dismissed. He was known as the Hunger Chancellor.

What the Depression did and did not do

It made the Nazis the largest party. From 2.6 per cent in 1928 to 18.3 per cent in September 1930 and 37.3 per cent in July 1932 is the steepest rise in the Republic's history, and no explanation of it works without the economic collapse.

It did not make Hitler Chancellor. The vote fell to 33.1 per cent in November 1932, the party was in financial difficulty, and Gregor Strasser resigned in December arguing the moment had passed. What happened next was a private arrangement, and that is the following lesson.

2 · Learn it — the notes

The dates that earn marks

October 1929
Wall Street Crash; American short-term loans are recalled. Why this date: The mechanism of transmission. Without the ninety-day terms the German collapse is not this fast.
March 1930
The Müller coalition falls; Brüning is appointed without a majority. Why this date: The date parliamentary government ends — nearly three years before Hitler takes office, and by decision of the Republic's own defenders.
14 September 1930
The Nazis take 18.3 per cent and 107 seats. Why this date: The breakthrough election, called by Brüning himself after the Reichstag revoked his decree.
Early 1932
Registered unemployment passes 6 million. Why this date: The peak figure, and the one a candidate must be able to produce.
31 July 1932
The Nazis take 37.3 per cent and become the largest party. Why this date: Their highest free-election share, and still short of a majority.

The figures, and how far to trust them

  • 6 million — Registered unemployed by early 1932, about a third of the workforce. (Registered. The true figure was higher because unregistered women and young workers were excluded.)
  • 2.6% → 18.3% → 37.3% — The Nazi vote in May 1928, September 1930 and July 1932.
  • 5 laws and 66 decrees — The Reichstag's legislative output in 1932 against government by Article 48.
  • About 60 per cent — The fall in German exports between 1929 and 1932.

The people to place

  • Heinrich Brüning — Chancellor March 1930 – May 1932; governed by Article 48 and deflated into the slump.
  • Hermann Müller — The last Chancellor with a Reichstag majority; his coalition fell in March 1930.
  • Paul von Hindenburg — President; appointed Brüning without a majority and signed the decrees.

How historians disagree

Attributed interpretations, never voiced — the AO4 seam.

  • The economic-determinist reading: The correlation between unemployment and the Nazi vote is close enough that the Depression is a sufficient explanation of the rise. Contested by Electoral studies showing the unemployed voted disproportionately Communist, so the Nazi vote came from those who feared the crisis rather than those worst hit by it — and by the November 1932 fall, which the correlation does not predict..

What students say — and what is actually the case

Not this: The Depression brought Hitler to power.

This: It made his party the largest, and that party's vote was falling when he was appointed. The Depression is a necessary condition and not a sufficient one, and saying so precisely is the difference between Level 3 and Level 4.

Not this: Hitler destroyed German democracy.

This: Parliamentary government ended in March 1930, when Hindenburg appointed a Chancellor without a majority who then governed by decree. It was ended by conservatives trying to save the state from the parties, not by the Nazis.

Two things students merge

Blurred: The Wall Street Crash and the Depression in Germany.

The distinction: The Crash is an event in October 1929; the Depression is the contraction that followed. The link for Germany is specific — the recall of short-term American loans — and naming it is worth more than either label.

Blurred: Unemployment and support for the Nazis.

The distinction: Areas of highest unemployment tended to be strongest for the KPD. Nazi strength was in Protestant rural areas and among the Mittelstand. An answer that maps unemployment onto Nazi votes has the electoral geography wrong.

What a Grade 9 answer holds here

A Grade 9 answer can date the end of parliamentary government to March 1930 and name who ended it. That single move reframes the whole question: by the time the Nazis were the largest party, Germany had already been governed by presidential decree for two years, so what Hitler was handed in 1933 was not a functioning democracy but a vacancy in an existing authoritarian arrangement.

3 · How it is examined

This strand is genuinely set through: Paper 1 (b) (8 marks — “Explain two effects of … on ….”); Paper 1 (c)(i) or (c)(ii) (16 marks — “'[A statement about the period.]' You may use the following in your answer: • [prompt] • [prompt]. You must also use information of your own. How far do you agree? Explain your answer.”).

What earns marks: The March 1930 date and the 6 million figure together. One establishes that democracy ended before Hitler; the other establishes the scale that made it possible. Almost no candidate has the first.

The cap that bites here: On the 16-mark 'why did Hitler come to power' question, an answer built only on the Depression cannot address three aspects and is capped at 10 marks.

4 · Prove it — the questions

Answered inside Incandio, where a marker checks what a correct answer must contain and tells you which half was missing. The marking stays in the app; the questions are here.

  1. Explain two effects of the Great Depression on German politics. [8 marks · Paper 1 (b)]
  2. Explain two reasons why the Great Depression hit Germany so severely. [8 marks · Paper 1 (b)]
  3. Explain two effects of Brüning's policies on Germany. [8 marks · Paper 1 (b)]
  4. 'The Great Depression was the main reason for the rise of the Nazi Party in the years 1929–32.' How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks · Paper 1 (c)(i) or (c)(ii)]
  5. 'German democracy was destroyed before Hitler became Chancellor.' How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks · Paper 1 (c)(i) or (c)(ii)]

Decide it

This lesson feeds 2 Decide History judgements — a position you commit to, an objection you answer, a criterion you name: Who put Hitler in power? · Was the Weimar Republic doomed from birth?.

Think you understand it?

Reading is the start. On Incandio a topic counts as mastered only once you have taught it and defended it — the two things a revision guide cannot ask of you.

Incandio this topic → Prove it. Teach it. Defend it. What does “Incandio it” mean?

  1. Prove it — five questions on the impact of the Great Depression, marked on the spot, that tell you what was missing rather than just what was wrong.
  2. Teach it — Explain the impact of the Great Depression — what happened, why, and what it made possible — to Ember, an AI pupil who asks the awkward question. Understanding is credited; wording is not required.
  3. Defend it — Argue the impact of the Great Depression against the historical mind with the strongest claim on it — three rounds, marked against descriptors you can read before you begin.
  4. Then the exam — 15 authored exam-style questions on this option, marked on Incandio with the mistake you actually made named.

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The debate is against The Charge Against Bruening — the case itself, argued at its strongest, because on this strand there is no single person whose position the learner has to defeat.

Carry on through the option