After the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which formally ended [[World War I]] in 1919, Germany faced a damaged economy and a requirement to pay largeimmense [[World War I reparations|reparations]]. At the beginning of 1921, the German currency was relatively stable at about 60 [[German Papiermark|Marks]] per [[United States dollar|US Dollar]], <ref>Laursen and Pedersen, page 134</ref> but inflation rapidly increased after August 1921, and the Mark fell to less than one third of a cent by November 1921 (approx. 330 Marks per US Dollar). The Mark stabilized again at the beginning of 1922, but when there was no resolution to the reparations problem, the inflation changed to hyperinflation and the Mark fell to 8000 Marks per Dollar by December 1922. The inflation reached its peak by November 1923, but ended in the same year when a new currency (the [[German rentenmark|Rentenmark]]) was introduced.
