The Impact of the Great Depression (1929–1933) on Trade Relations Between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Germany
The Impact of the Great Depression (1929–1933) on Trade Relations Between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Germany

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the impact of the Great Depression (1929–1933), the biggest blow that the capitalist world had undergone in its history up to that point, on trade relations between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Germany. At that time, the trade relations were based on a trade agreement of 1927, which would be cancelled during the crisis and replaced with a new one in 1934. Germany skillfully used the difficulties that the countries of Southeastern Europe, including the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, suffered from the Great Depression regarding the marketing of their main export commodity, agricultural products. A contributing factor to this was the fact that France and Great Britain, the main partners of the aforementioned countries, were losing economic interest in this area, which enabled Germany to impose itself as the leading trade partner through the expansion of existing and the making of new trade agreements. A key factor in this process was the existing economic complementarity of the two countries, which gained special significance in the years following the crisis. In this sense, it can be said that the world economic crisis, i.e., its aftermath, combined with a general state of political affairs in Europe in the 1930s, ultimately contributed to the promotion of economic cooperation between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Germany and the strengthening of the ties between the two countries.

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