The Worst Market Intervention of All Time

An inhabitant of Berlin, who in 1914 would have been jubilant upon receiving an unexpected legacy of 1,000 marks, did not think an amount of 1,000,000,000 marks worth his attention in the fall of 1923. — Ludwig von Mises, Interventionism, An Economic Analysis

World War I could be said to have produced the incredible destruction of the mark, but guns didn’t fire upon the German currency.  Like the currencies of other belligerents the mark was switched from a gold to a fiat currency to provide the...