Afghanistan,
officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country
located in Central Asia and South Asia. It has a population of around
31 million people, making it the 42nd most populous country in the
world. Wikipedia
Actual Taliban banknote. When the Taliban took control of the country they also took control of the printing presses for the money. To take advantage of the situation they printed 5,000 and 10,000 denominated banknotes for themselves. As such there where plenty of these banknotes discovered when Coalition forced took control of the money in 2002. Front: Jama Masjid of Herat Back: Arch at Qala Bist Back: Arch at Qala-e-Boat
Belarus,
officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern
Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland
to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Wikipedia
Brazil,
officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in
both South America and the Latin American region. It is the world's
fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. Wikipedia
Burundi
or, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the
African Great Lakes region of Southeast Africa, bordered by Rwanda to
the north, Tanzania to the east and south and the Democratic Republic of
the Congo to the west. Wikipedia
Cambodia,
officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer
Empire, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina
Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Wikipedia
China,
officially the People's Republic of China, is a sovereign state located
in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a
population of over 1.35 billion. Wikipedia
The
Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, DRC, Congo,
Congo-Kinshasa, DROC, or RDC, is a country located in Central Africa. Wikipedia
Croatia,
officially the Republic of Croatia, is a unitary democratic
parliamentary republic at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast
Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. Wikipedia
Egypt,
officially: the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country
spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia,
via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Wikipedia
Estonia,
officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region
of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland,
to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, and to the east
by Lake Peipus and Russia. Wikipedia
The
German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from
the unification of Germany in 1871 to the defeat in World War I in 1918,
when Germany became a federal republic. The state was the predecessor
of today's Germany. Wikipedia
Interestingly Germany released two designs for the 100 mark banknote. Here is the second design. (If you have purchased the Banknote set you will receive both versions) Banknote World - Bank notes of Germany 1908
The
Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the federal republic
and semi-presidential representative democracy established in 1919 in
Germany to replace the imperial form of government. Wikipedia
Government: Federal republic, Semi-presidential system, Representative democracy, Parliamentary system
10 Million Mark 1923
The back of this banknote is blank to save on printing costs.
Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic - Background
In order to pay the large costs of the First World War, Germany suspended the convertibility of its currency into gold when that war broke out. Unlike France, which imposed its first income tax to pay for the war, the German Kaiser and Parliament decided without opposition to fund the war entirely by borrowing, a decision criticized by financial experts like Hjalmar Schacht even before hyperinflation broke out. The result was that the exchange rate of the Mark against the US dollar fell steadily throughout the war from 4.2 to 8.91 Marks per dollar. The Treaty of Versailles, further accelerated the decline in the value of the Mark, so that by the end of 1919 more than 6.7 paper Marks were required to buy one US dollar.
German currency was relatively stable at about 60 Marks per US Dollar during the first half of 1921.[4] Because the Western theatre was mostly in France and Belgium, Germany had come out of the war with most of its industrial power intact, a healthy economy, and in a better position to become the dominant force on the European continent.[5] However the "London ultimatum" in May 1921 demanded reparations in gold or foreign currency to be paid in annual installments of 2,000,000,000 (2 billion) goldmarks plus 26 percent of the value of Germany's exports.
The first payment was made when due in June 1921.[7] That was the beginning of an increasingly rapid devaluation of the Mark which fell to less than one third of a cent by November 1921 (approx. 330 Marks per US Dollar). The total reparations demanded was 132,000,000,000 (132 billion) gold marks, of which Germany only had to pay 50 billion marks (a sum less than what they had offered to pay).
Because reparations were required to be repaid in hard currency and not the rapidly depreciating Papiermark, one strategy Germany employed was the mass printing of bank notes to buy foreign currency which was in turn used to pay reparations. This greatly exacerbated the inflation rates of the paper mark.
