The February issue of the British magazine, Encounter, contains a heretofore unpublished lecture by the famous novelist, Thomas Mann, which recalls his experience with the great German inflation of 1913-1923. In those days the market woman who without batting an eyelash demanded a hundred million for an egg, lost the capacity for surprise. And nothing that has happened since has been insane or cruel enough to surprise her. They learned to look on life as a wild adventure, the outcome of which depended not on their own effort but on sinister, mysterious forces.
Inflation is a tragedy that makes a whole people cynical, hardhearted and indifferent.
Having been robbed, the Germans became a nation of robbers. Like every other nation involved in that conflict, Germany was entirely unprepared for its intensity. The German High Command shared this optimism, having full faith in the ability of the Schlieffen Plan to bring quick victory. With the resulting total war, outlasting the enemy became the only path to victory for either side. At this point, Germany discovered just how badly it was prepared for this new kind of warfare.