UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
GERMANY, 1923
During 1923, paper money in Germany was worth so little that children used it to play with. World War I had sent the country into debt and, when it fell behind on its reparation payments, France and Belgium occupied the industrial Ruhr Valley. Factories closed, but more money was printed for the workers. The economy suffered crippling rates of inflation, rendering the German mark worthless. A loaf of bread cost over 200,000 million marks by the end of the year.