Gearing the economy : Goering and Todt Speer : the miracle man? The impact of bombing

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Outcomes To know the roles of Goring, Todt and Speer To know how the Nazi economy was affected by the war To know how the allied bombing affected the economy and war production

Expansion of War Economy Hitler wanted to avoid the problems Germany faced in World War 1 In 1939 war economy decrees were issued by Hitler outlining vast programmes for every part of war production This suggests that the Nazi were going way beyond a European war German military expenditure doubled between and food rationing was introduced from the beginning of the war 55% of the population worked in war related projects upto 61% by Consumption declined by 20% in civlian consumption

Limitations of economic mobilisation Wholesale mobilisation did not bring massive results –Submarines increased –Airforce in 1939 to in 1941, low compared to Britain –When Hitler wanted to invade Russia in 1940 he only had 800 more tanks than when he invaded France

Why did this happen? Many projects were not ready and there were confusion between Nazi leaders over long and short term projects This was because a host of different agencies were competing for the same raw materials eg the Ministry of Armaments clashed with the economics, finance and Labour. There were a number of groups responsible for armaments, including the office of the Four Year Plan, the armed forces (Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht and navy) The armed forces were determined to have the best equipment possible and often chose quantity over quality

In 1941 Hitler issued a Rationalisation Decree which intended to eliminate waste and inefficiency In 1942 Albert Speer was appointed Minister of Armaments, previously he was Hitler’s personal architect He used Hitler personal authority to cut through the mass of interests and to implement mass production Controls and constraints previously placed on business were relaxed in order to fit in with Nazi and a Central Planning Board was established in 1942, whose members each represented one vital section of the economy Speer encouraged industrialists and engineers to join the board but excluded military personal.

Speer Used his personal friendship with Hitler and his personal skills to charm or blackmail other authorities –Employed more women in war factories –Using concentration camp prisoners as workers –Preventing skilled workers being lost to military conscription

Success and limitations In 6 months –Ammunition increased 97% –Tank production up 25% –Total arms production up 59% But –Gauleiters remained powerful at local levels –The SS remained a law unto themselves in conquered lands

Allied Bombing After 1942 the Allies began to bomb civilian and industrial targets in Germany, upto then Britain had followed a campaign of strategic bombing, only attacked certain targets This was known as area bombing where a certain area would be more or less flattened This caused industrial destruction and broke down communications and certainly halted the increase in war production When production peaked in 1944 it was at a level well below its full potential

Effects of bombing 24 th July a massive raid on Hamburg created a fire storm that killed civilians and left one million homeless Feb 1945 Dresden was bombed by 1300 heavy bombers dropping 3900 tonnes of bombs destroying 13 square miles of the city By 1945 – Germans were killed – were wounded –3.6 million homes were destroyed.

Effect of War Economy –Lack of food, rationing, clothes production declined, boots and shoes in short supply, magazines and sweets no longer existed –Working hours increased, non essetial businesses were closed, many foreigners were used as labour

Role of women Women –Caught between the Nazi’s belief of the traditional role of women and their need for workers. –German women encountered considerable hardship working in factories or farms and balancing family roles Research –Dissent, youth, churches,