Hermann Göring’s Four Year Plan
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| Hermann Göring’s Four Year Plan | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hermann Göring’s Four Year Plan |
| Dates | 1936–1940s |
| Location | Nazi Germany |
Hermann Göring’s Four Year Plan was a comprehensive program initiated in 1936 under the aegis of Adolf Hitler and administered by Hermann Göring to prepare Nazi Germany for rapid rearmament and strategic self-sufficiency within four years. Combining directives from the Reichstag mandate with ministerial coordination among agencies such as the Reich Ministry of Aviation and the Reichswerke Hermann Göring, the plan sought to transform Weimar Republic-era industry and finance into instruments of Third Reich policy. It operated at the intersection of industrial planning, resource allocation, and military preparation amid intensifying diplomatic crises including the Remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Spanish Civil War.
Background and Political Context
The Four Year Plan emerged from political dynamics involving Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Paul von Hindenburg's legacy, and factional competition among figures like Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Wilhelm Keppler. After the 1933 consolidation of power by the Nazi Party and the passage of laws such as the Enabling Act of 1933, pressure mounted to convert economic recovery under the New Plan (Schacht) into explicit preparations for conflict. International developments including the Abyssinia Crisis and the League of Nations' sanctions, plus the ideological tenets of Lebensraum and National Socialism, shaped a policy environment privileging rapid militarization and resource control over market liberalization.
Objectives and Economic Policies
The plan's stated objectives included rapid rearmament, acceleration of industrial production, reduction of import dependence through synthetic alternatives, and centralized allocation of capital and raw materials. Göring prioritized strategic commodities such as coal, iron ore, synthetic fuel, rubber, and steel while seeking to insulate the Reich from economic coercion by states like France and United Kingdom. Policy instruments combined price controls, credit allocation through institutions like the Reichsbank and the Reichskreditbank, procurement guarantees for firms such as Krupp, Thyssen, and IG Farben, and measures targeting workforce mobilization intersecting with organizations like the German Labour Front and Reichsarbeitdienst.
Organizational Structure and Administration
Administration of the plan centralized authority in Göring's offices, creating entities including the Reichswerke Hermann Göring and the Four Year Plan commissioner’s bureaucracy with plenary powers over ministers. Coordination involved ministries such as the Reich Ministry of Economics led at times by Hjalmar Schacht and Walther Funk, the Reich Ministry of Aviation under Göring himself, and industrial conglomerates like Rheinmetall and Focke-Wulf. The plan relied on technocrats and managers drawn from IG Farben, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, and state agencies, producing rivalries with the Wehrmacht leadership including Werner von Blomberg and Walther von Brauchitsch over priorities and resources.
Key Programs and Industrial Initiatives
Major initiatives included expansion of the Reichswerke Hermann Göring for heavy industry and mining, scaled-up production of synthetic gasoline and Buna rubber via IG Farben projects at Ludwigshafen and Schkopau, and investment in armament firms like Krupp and Mauser. Infrastructure projects such as the Autobahn network and construction enterprises undertaken by firms like Hochtief served dual economic and propaganda aims. The plan fostered state contracts for aircraft production by companies such as Messerschmitt and Heinkel, while promoting coal-to-liquids ventures to reduce oil imports sourced formerly from suppliers like Standard Oil-affiliated arrangements and foreign markets.
Military Rearmament and Autarky Efforts
Rearmament under the plan accelerated production of Luftwaffe aircraft, Panzerkampfwagen tanks, artillery, and munitions, aligning industrial policy with strategic aims articulated in documents overlapping with Z Plan naval ambitions and the Hossbach Memorandum context. Autarky efforts targeted food through agricultural initiatives involving the Reich Food Estate and commodity substitution strategies, and targeted raw materials through overseas projects, territorial acquisitions like the Sudetenland and Austria annexation, and protective tariffs. These measures increased dependence on state direction, set the stage for later wartime economic institutions such as the Reichswerke expansions in annexed territories, and intersected with forced labor policies later implemented via organizations including SS-linked enterprises.
Economic Outcomes and Criticisms
Short-term outcomes included rapid growth in armaments output, expanding employment in heavy industry, and greater state control of investment, but persistent shortages and inefficiencies emerged. Critics such as Hjalmar Schacht and contemporaneous economists pointed to unsustainable balance-of-payments pressures, inflationary credit expansion, and distorted industrial priorities favoring military over civilian goods. International observers from United Kingdom and United States intelligence noted vulnerabilities in raw material supply chains and dependence on synthetic substitutes. The plan’s emphasis on quantitative targets often produced bottlenecks in sectors managed by conglomerates like Krupp and IG Farben, while fiscal strains compounded by rearmament financing created tensions with institutions including the Reichsbank and later fiscal measures under Walther Funk.
Legacy and Historical Assessment
Historians debate the Four Year Plan's legacy: some view it as a decisive enabler of early Blitzkrieg capabilities and the Luftwaffe expansion, others argue it created structural inefficiencies that constrained German war sustainability beyond initial successes. Scholarship ties the plan to broader themes involving Total war, economic mobilization, and the criminal policies of the Nazi Party including forced labor and expropriation in occupied territories. Postwar assessments in the Nuremberg Trials and subsequent historiography involving historians like A.J.P. Taylor and Richard Overy have weighed Göring’s administrative centralization against long-term strategic failures, situating the Four Year Plan as central to understanding the economic origins of World War II.