by Brandon Zubek

Created on: July 05, 2009

German currency, like that of many European countries, is closely intertwined with the history of that nation. From the days of the Holy Roman Empire, to the squabbling duchies of the 19th century and finally to the unified economic power of the 21st, Germany's currency has changed quite frequently over the ages, leaving an intricate paper trail for us to follow.

In 1566, Germany was encompassed by the Holy Roman Empire, which had existed since the late 10th century AD. At that time, there was considerable debate in the city of Leipzig as to what the currency of the Holy Roman Empire should be. Eventually, the 'Reichsthaler' was adopted as the official currency, being made up of approximately 26 grams of silver (or one-ninth of a Cologne mark, a unit of the weight of metal at the time). However, the Holy Roman Empire was made up of various German states, and whilst the rulers of the states adopted the Reichsthaler as the base unit of currency in their jurisdiction, various subdivisions of the unit were issued, meaning that German currency was still not yet unified.

In 1754 the unit of currency changed, but only in name and value. The new 'Conventionsthaler' was made up of a coin consisting of one-tenth of a Cologne mark of silver (approximately 23.4 grams), and the system of local subdivisions continued. In between 1837 and 1857, the currency of Germany changed again to the 'Prussian Thaler', or sometimes more simply just 'Thaler', however in a gradual fashion, keeping the differing subdivisions by state. In 1857 the Thaler was superseded by the Vereinsthaler, which was also a coin.

In the 1870s, after German unification, the currency of the land became much more simple and standardised. The Mark was introduced across Germany and became the sole legal tender on New Years' Day 1876.It consisted of coins and for the first time in Germany, banknotes, with subdivisions of one, two, five and ten pfennig initially and ten, twenty, twenty-five and fifty pfennig being phased in later, with banknotes of five to one thousand Mark issued by the Imperial Treasury and the Reichsbank until 1914.

The Mark had been attached to the value of gold until 1914, when World War I broke out. To distinguish the 'old' Mark from the new one, the superseded version was called the Goldmark (for its connection to the gold standard) and the new version the Papiermark. However, after World War I Germany went through a period of hyperinflation, where a loaf of bread could cost billions

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