Friday January 12th

To what extent did Nazi Germany achieve a total war economy?

German victories at the start of the war, achieved partly because of ‘Blitzkrieg’, gave the impression
that the economy had not been overstrained. This was used to explain why there was only partial
economic mobilisation until 1942. Despite the victory against Poland, the German army was in
desperate need of tanks and ammunition, and some have argued that this was why the invasion of France
was delayed for seven months as they lacked the necessary resources to confront the much more
powerful French army.
THE WAR ECONOMY
The leadership wanted to avoid the problems that had confronted Germany during the First World War
and therefore a series of economic decrees were issued in December 1939, which outlined vast
programmes for war production. At the same time, German military expenditure more than doubled in
the period from 1939 to 1941. Food rationing was introduced at the start of the war for some products,
while clothes rationing followed a few months later. Meanwhile, the labour force was mobilised for war
so that by 1941 some 55% of the workforce worked on war-related projects. It is therefore hardly
surprising that the availability of consumer goods fell. Despite these developments, armaments
production remained low. The number of planes produced increased from 8,290 in September 1939,
but only to 10,780 in June 1941. Such a disappointing increase was also seen in tank production, which
meant that when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 it had just 800 more tanks than when it invaded
the west in 1940.
There were a number of reasons why results were so disappointing. First, production was hit by
inefficiency and poor co-ordination. Some of this was the result of war being declared in 1939 when
several key projects were not due to be finished until 1942. This was made worse by the lack of central
control. There were numerous agencies, including the Ministries of Armaments, Economics, Labour
and Finance, all of which continued to function in their own way and often had different interests and
demands. When the in-fighting between Nazi officials and corruption is taken into consideration, it is
hardly surprising that the attempts to increase production were largely a failure.
This problem is made even more evident if one considers the groups responsible for armaments: the
Office of the Four Year Plan, the SS and the various branches of the armed forces. The armed forces
wanted quality over quantity and this resulted in the failure to achieve the required levels of armaments
production when the invasion of the USSR began.
Germany also faced a labour shortage. In May 1939, before the war had started, 24.5 million men were
employed in the economy, but, by 1940, that had fallen to just 20.5 million as some 4 million had been
called up to fight in the armed forces. In an attempt to overcome this, Germany forcibly recruited foreign
workers from both southern and central Europe. This would become even more important as the war
progressed, but it created further problems. They had to be policed to ensure that they worked and that
there was no undesirable racial contact between German and non-German workers, and this absorbed
even more of the potential workforce. There were also attempts to overcome the problem by calling up
women into the workforce despite the regime’s reluctance to do this because of their view of the role
of women. Even as early as September 1939, women made up over 37% of the labour force, a figure
initially much higher than that in Britain. However, unlike Britain, Nazi Germany did not mobilise its
married women as much. Hitler repeatedly vetoed plans conscript married German women – as he felt
this would damage soldiers’ morale. There was an attempt by the Reich Labour Ministry in the spring
of 1940 to introduce female conscription for single women, but that was unpopular with leaders and
was another reason why foreign labour was used. There were concerns within the regime that in order
to maintain morale the armed forces needed to know that wives and girlfriends were being properly
looked after. Many were concerned that, if there were not, there would be a repeat 1918 and a collapse
of morale at home, which would be avoided at all costs.
The failure to mobilise adequately at the start of the war is made even clearer by comparing the
percentage of GDP of Germany spent on the military with that of Britain. Although Britain had lagged
considerably behind Germany in the years prior to the outbreak of war, it soon caught up and then
overtook Germany.
RATIONING
Rationing was implemented during World War II to ensure that the country’s limited resources were
used effectively to support the war effort. Rationing was used to control the distribution of food,
clothing, and other goods, and it was often accompanied by price controls to prevent inflation. Rationing
was implemented on a national scale, with each person being allocated a certain amount of ration
coupons that could be exchanged for goods. The number of coupons that people received varied
depending on their jobs and other factors, with those working in essential industries such as military
production often receiving more. Rationing was a controversial measure, as it often led to shortages and
black markets, but it was seen as necessary to support the war effort.
GOEBBELS AND SPEER
Joseph Goebbels and Albert Speer were two key figures in the Nazi regime who played important roles
in the implementation of the policy of total war during World War II. Goebbels was responsible for
shaping public opinion and maintaining morale. He played a key role in rallying the German people
behind the war effort, using propaganda to portray the war as a noble struggle against the enemies of
the Reich. Speer was the Minister of Armaments and War Production for Nazi Germany and was
responsible for increasing military production and improving the efficient of the German war economy.
He implemented. Number of measures to increase production, including the use of forced labour and
the reorganization of factories. Speer is often credited with helping to keep the German war machine
running for as long as it did, despite the increasing shortages and other challenges faced by the country.