The Study Of Four Year Plan In Nazi Germany

Since the industrial revolution, Germany has shown two characteristics in the process of modernization. It is a small state with poor resources, but it is also a big state with high industrial power. Negative geopolitical and shortage of raw material let Germans have a sense of crisis. As a small state with poor resources, the German have explored the strategy which adapted to their national conditions. In the WW I, William Germany was defeated. The fact gives top leaders of Nazi Party an important lesson. They believe that the history of the war was premised on strong economy. And economy is based on resource. So the self-sufficiency of a country is very important. In the 1930s, being faced with the tense international situation and the bottleneck in domestic economic situation, the senior in Nazi Party drafted Four Year Plan, which is carried out in 1936. Its basic political aspiration is to make German economy self-reliance and achieve arms expansion and war preparations.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the main part is divided into five chapters.Chapter one introduces the notion of Four Year Plan. Why does Nazi Party want to carry out Four Year Plan? After analyzing the political and economic environment, this chapter introduces the establishment of Four Year Plan and its relevant functional departments.Chapter two introduces Nazi government’s macro policies and measures. Discussing the implementation of Four Year Plan, this chapter describes Nazi Germany how to obtain the resources of neighboring countries and depicts the development of Four Year Plan’s foreign policy. In addition, this chapter also points out several phases of Four Year Plan, including Karinhall Plan and Speer Central Plan.Chapter three focuses on the analysis of difficulties and solutions in Four Year Plan. A serious shortage of labor and low morale of ordinary people affect the implementation of Four Year Plan, which ultimately affects the completion of the plan.Chapter four analyzes the completion of Four Year Plan by horizontal and vertical view. A longitudinal analysis focuses on Four Year Plan’s completion, which is supported by statistical data. Horizontal view is mainly about the German economic and military situation. This chapter compares Germany with the powers in the same world, which will objectively examine the completion of Four Year Plan.On the basis of the above chapters, chapter five discusses the effects of Four Year Plan in the politics and military through the analysis of Four Year Plan and German war preparedness, social carrying capacity.Four Year Plan is an issue about politics, military and economy, which runs through the history of Nazi Germany. On the foundation of introduce of Four Year Plan, this dissertation gives the plan positive and negative evaluation. In a certain extent, it also explores the Nazi Party’s administrative and institutional characteristics. At last, this dissertation thinks about the status of Four Year Plan in the process of modernization.