Hyperinflation/Archive

Cases / After the Great War / Austria

Austria
1921–1922

After 1918, Austria was a small country left with the capital of a large empire, cut off from the farmland and coal it used to rely on, and it ran its budget on the printing press.

129%prices in the worst monthAugust 1922
25.5 daysfor prices to doubleat the peak (Hanke & Krus)
Oct 1921 – Sep 1922above 50% a monththe hyperinflation itself
2banknotes in the collectionKrone

Currency reform: 1 schilling = 10,000 kronen · Cause: Post-war collapse, a deficit paid with new money · Resolution: League of Nations loan (Oct 1922) with budget control; schilling (1924)

In short

Inflation passed 50 % a month from October 1921. It peaked in August 1922 at 129 % in the month, with prices doubling every 25.5 days (H&K). By then, consumer prices were 14,000 times their pre-war level. A League of Nations loan in October 1922, conditional on budget control, stopped it within weeks.

The curve

Kronen per 1 USD, logarithmic scale: each line up is many times the one below.

10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1919-01: 16 1919-06: 30 1919-12: 105 1920-01: 140 1920-06: 180 1920-12: 280 1921-01: 310 1921-06: 595 1921-08: 1,240 1921-10: 3,300 1921-12: 5,275 1922-01: 6,100 1922-03: 8,500 1922-05: 14,500 1922-06: 22,500 1922-07: 39,000 1922-08: 77,500 1922-09: 74,000 1922-10: 71,000 1923-05: 70,800 Worst month

Peak monthly inflation 129% in August 1922 (Hanke & Krus); prices were then 14,000 times their pre-war level. A League of Nations loan (Oct 1922) stabilised the krone at 14,400 paper kronen per gold krone; the schilling (10,000 kronen) followed. Approximate series, kept for its shape; individual points are not sourced one by one. Source: Oesterreichische Nationalbank, ECAEF - Austrian Hyperinflation After WWI.

What happened

The events in order, with the banknotes at the date on them.

dated
1902
1,000 kronen (1902), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
1,000 kronen (1902), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
dated
1918
10,000 kronen (1918), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
10,000 kronen (1918), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
12 Mar 1919
The notes are stamped "Deutschösterreich".
1920–1921
The money supply goes from 12 billion to about 147 billion kronen.
Oct 1921
Monthly inflation passes 50 % (H&K start).
Aug 1922
The peak: 129 % (H&K). Prices are 14,000 times their pre-war level.
4 Oct 1922
The Geneva Protocols are signed. The League of Nations lends 650 million gold kronen, a League commissioner controls the budget, and an independent central bank is created.
20 Dec 1924
The schilling is adopted (10,000 K = 1 S) and enters circulation in 1925.

Context: why it happened

  • The empire broke apart. Each successor state stamped or replaced the common Austro-Hungarian notes; Austria stamped its own "Deutschösterreich" on 12 March 1919.
  • A state that could not pay for itself. Food subsidies, a large civil service sized for the empire, and war debts, all paid with new money: the money supply grew more than tenfold between 1920 and 1921.

How it ended

Stopping the inflation needed two things at once: an outside lender that controlled the budget, and a central bank that was no longer allowed to finance the state. The krone stopped falling as soon as the loan was announced, before any money arrived, because expectations turned.

Consequences & lessons

  • The quickest case in the set: credibility came from an outside commitment, so the currency stabilised before the reform itself took effect.
  • It is a template for the "anchor + ban + fiscal fix" pattern (see , pattern 5).

The banknotes

10,000 kronen (1918), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
10,000 kronen (1918), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
1,000 kronen (1902), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"
1,000 kronen (1902), overprinted "Deutschösterreich"

The data

figurevaluesource
Hyperinflation (≥ 50%/month)Oct 1921 – Sep 1922H&K
Peak monthAugust 1922H&K
Peak monthly inflation129 %H&K
Doubling time at peak25.5 daysH&K
Prices, Aug 1922 vs pre-war× 14,000Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
Kronen per USD6.50 (1915) · 16.1 (Jan 1919)Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
Money supply12 → 30 billion K (1920), ≈ 147 billion K (end 1921)Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
League of Nations loan650 million gold kronen (Oct 1922)Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
Stabilisation ratio14,400 paper kronen = 1 gold kroneWikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
Largest note500,000 kronen (1922)Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
Schilling1 S = 10,000 K (law of 20 Dec 1924)Wikipedia (Austro-Hungarian krone)
The series, point by point
Monthper $
1919-0116
1919-0630
1919-12105
1920-01140
1920-06180
1920-12280
1921-01310
1921-06595
1921-081,240
1921-103,300
1921-125,275
1922-016,100
1922-038,500
1922-0514,500
1922-0622,500
1922-0739,000
1922-0877,500
1922-0974,000
1922-1071,000
1923-0570,800
Case data (JSON)Series (CSV)Banknotes (ZIP)
Cite this case
“Austria 1921–1922”, Hyperinflation Archive, hyperinflation.rogzy.org/austria-1921-1922/ (2026). Figures: Hanke & Krus (2012) and the sources listed below.

Sources

  1. Hanke & Krus (2012) — episode, peak, doubling time.
  2. Wikipedia, "Austro-Hungarian krone" (read 2026-10-05): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_krone
  3. Fergusson, A. (1975), When Money Dies — Vienna chapters.
  4. Sargent, T. J.

H&K = Hanke, S. H. & Krus, N. (2012), World Hyperinflations, Cato Institute Working Paper no. 8.

Further reading

When Money Dies

Adam Fergusson · 1975 · intermediate

When Money Dies by Adam Fergusson is a book that explores the hyperinflation that occurred in Germany during the early 1920s, in the aftermath of World War I. The book provides a detailed…

Read more

More in the Library. Books, covers and descriptions from Plan B Network’s open educational content, CC BY-SA 4.0, with titles, names and punctuation corrected.