Germany At War 1939-1945 The Nazi War economy Flashcards
Expansion of the economy - mobilisation of the labour force
By the summer of 1941, 55% of the workforce was involved in war-related projects, this figure was 61% in 1944.
Limitations of economic mobilisation - poor results
Armaments production was still low - the airforce only increased from 8290 in 1939 to 10,780 in 1941 (aircrafts). In Britain over the same period the number had trebled to 20,100. Germany’s armoured strength was only 3500 tanks which is just 800 more than the invasion of the west. The mobilisation of Germany seemed married by inefficiency and poor co-ordination.
Could Germany have avoided such poor military mobilisation?
If a clear central control was established for the economy then it would have been better. Instead there was a number of different hostile agencies that all continued to function for themselves. Although there existed a ministry of armaments, it co-existed with 3 other ministries. There was also political in-fighting between Nazi officials such as Gauleiters who wanted to control their local areas at the expense of the state.
Total war 1942-1945
By the end of 1941. Germany was at war with Britain, USSR and USA and yet its arms production was inferior to Britain’s. Preparations for a new approach had been put in places in 1941. The appointment of Albert Speer marked the real turning point, in Feb 1942 he was appointed Minister of Armaments, he had a great relationship with Hitler and used the Fuhrer’s authority to cut through mass of interests and implement his programme of industrial ‘self responsibility’
What did Speer do to the economy?
Business constraints were relaxed, a central planning board was set up with Speer as the director in 1942, this allowed him to maintain control, wherever possible he excluded military personnel from the production process. Speer coordinated and rationalised the process of war production and effectively exploited the workforce. He also employed more women and made use of concentration camp prisoners for labour and prevented skill workers from being conscripted.
Success of Speer’s economic rationalisation?
As a result of Albert Speer’s first 6 months: ammunition production increased by 97%, tank production rose by 25% and total arms production increased by 59%
Limitations of Speer’s economic rationalisation?
Germany probably had even more potential capacity, similar to that of the USSR or USA. Also he was not always able to counter the power of the gauleiters at local level, the SS remained a state of their own and the occupied territories of the Third Reich were not exploited to their potential.
Limitation of Speer’s economic rationalisation - ‘blanket bombing’
After the war, blanket bombing was condemned for its effectiveness amongst other things - Speer’s production figures show that it did not break the economy, but it did prevent Germany from increasing arms expenditure. Allied bombing caused industrial destruction. Germany was forced ti divert resources towards construction of anti-aircraft installations. Because of this Germany could reach ‘total war’
Expansion of the economy
Hitler wanted to avoid the economic mistakes of ww1. In Dec 1939, a number of war economy decrees were issued outlining programmes of every aspect of production. German military expenditure doubled between 1939 and 1941 (but Britain’s trebled).
