Part 5/15:
The situation worsened significantly after the war’s end in November 1918. With the collapse of the German imperial government, the subsequent economic bubble burst abruptly. A vivid sign of this impending chaos was a protest in Munich over a minor price increase—just six pfennigs per liter of beer—highlighting the population’s fragile state and plunging purchasing power. Post-armistice, the economy was further crippled by lost colonies, the Allied blockade until 1919, occupation of the Rhineland, and territorial losses to Poland and France. Internally, revolutionary upheaval, strikes, and armed insurrections created a paralytic effect on production and trade.