Frontsheet 2 Flashcards
Steps for economic stability (1)
End Ruhr Crisis
Sept 1923 passive resistance ends
Reparations begin again
Ruhr productive again
(essential to economy)
Not paying striking workers
Steps for economic stability (2)
Balance the budget
Spending cut
Taxes rasied
Steps for economic stability (3)
Issue new currency
Nov 1923
Stressemann & Schact
issue Rentenmark
1 RTM = 1T RCM
Money in circulation tightly controlled
By 1924 currency stabolised & inflation no longer problem
Reichsmark reissued
Savings remianed lost
Dawes Plan background
1924
Stresemann asked Allied ReparationCommittee to address repayment concerns
Owed France reparations
US wanted Britain & France paid so they could repay US war loans
Dawes Plan key agreements
Total reparations not reduced
Next annual instalment reduced to 1B marks
to gradually increase over 5 yrs
then based on industrial performance
Recieve 800M mark loan to start paln &invest in industry
Dawes Plan impact
Allies accept unable to pay
fulfillment succesful
French gradually left Ruhr
Loan helped begin economic recovery
Increased optimism for future
Right attack - believed reject
Stresemann saw as ‘economic armistice’
only agreed for loan
Young Plan background
1929
Intended to be temporary
Allies still in Rhineland
Reparation repayments stopped after Wall Street Crash
Young Plan key agreements
Total reparations reduced to £1.8B
Annual instalments increased over time
paid until 1988
Allied troops withdraw from Rhineland by 1930
Young Plan impact
Angered right
Hugenberg (DNVP leader)
& other right groups (inc. NSDAP)
launch national campaign for
‘freedom law’ - force gov reject Clause 231
Rasied enough support for referendum & Reichstag debate
Both voted against
but 13.8% voted for
Economic recovery
Investment
Positive:
1925-30 25.5B marks foreign investment
enable industrial reconstruction
Schact kept interest rates high
to attract foreign investment
Negative:
Foreign investment fell after 1929
Became reliant on short term foreign loans
not long term investment
Economic recovery
Industrial development & economic growth
Positive
National income 12% higher 1928 than 1913
Industry underwent ‘rationalisation’ (new methods/management/machines)
Advances in some industries eg. chemical/automobile/areoplanes
c. 90% coal & steel produced by cartels by 1925
increased profits
After 1925 tariffs on imports
many industries supported by gov subsidies
Economic recovery
Industrial development & economic growth
Negative
Economic growth unsteady
Growth 1924-5 & 1927
Cartels,tariffs & subsidies harmed competition
industry less efficient
ineffective industries artificially supported
Growth did not meet 1913 levels until 1929
Economic recovery
Standard of living
Postive:
Industrial workers wage increased
1927 real wage increased 9%
1928 increased 12%
Negative:
Mittelstand didn’t enjoy wage increases
some industrial workers earn more than white collar workers
Trade unions kept industrial wages artifcially high
reduced profits & middle-class income
Economic recovery
Industrial persuits
Postive:
Strikes decreased
1972 (1924) -> 351 (1926)
partly because arbitration made compulsory
Negative:
Strike action fluctuated
844 (1928)
Arbitration not always work
1928 workers in Ruhr ‘locked out’ after arbitrator said wages should increase
Many employers angry at state interference in working condtition
Economic recovery
Unemployment
1M unemployed end 1925
over 3M unemployed 1926
c. 1M 1928
Many companies began reduce workforce
Economic recovery
Agriculture
Positive:
Tariffs on food goods protected farmer’s profits
Negative:
Worldwide agricultureal depression
1929 production level <3/4 1914 levels
1923 gov made easier for farmers to get loans
many owed money could not repay
banks took farms & evicted
1928 series of farmer’s riots
Welfare Reforms 1919
Working days limted to 8 hrs
established in law & prevented employers exploiting workers
helped cut accident at work
unpopular with industrialists - affected profits
Government took responsiblity for aid of injured soldiers
helped thousands of veterans who faced homelessness & starvation
from lack of employment
popular with nationalists
Welfare reforms 1922
National Youth Welfare Act
required all local authorities to provide child protection & education
established legal necessity for each state to protect vulnerable children from abuse & neglect
compulsory all children entitled to free education
helped thousands achieve basic literary levels
Welfare reforms 1924
Public Assistance System
provided more extensive & easier to access support for those in extreme poverty
helped avoid malnutrition & homelessness
Welfare reforms 1927
National Insurance System
provided essential income
helped tens of thousands of families
who faced homelessness due to loss of employment
helped avoid destitution
Negative impact of welare reforms
Expensive to implement
before 1922 solution print more money
after 1924 taxes increased - unpopular
Tried to reduce costs through means tests
many felt humiliated (especially veterans)
indermined support in gov
Living standards
The poor
Experienced most change & benefit for welfare reforms
Loans helped finance public works programmes
benefitted from imporved availablity of services & jobs created
18.4% working class unemployed 1926
reduced income & living standards for 2M families
Means tests deterred manyfamilies from applying - led to abject povety
Living Standards
Working class
Constitution enshrined trade union powers- often supported workers overemployers
1919 Health Insurance Scheme extended to dependent women &disabled people
Increased wages
Many working days lost to stikes - lost income
Rationalisation meant many industries reduced workforce
high unemployment in some towns
Living Standards
Mittelstand
Hit hardest by hyperinflation
never regained level of wealth & living standard
Not recoup lost of hyperinflation
Most civil servants lost jobs & had wages cut
Taxs for indivudals & businesses increased
hit small business owners
Unemployment levels included soem skilled workers
Living Standards
Industrialists
Most big businesses signifficant improvement in demand & profit after 1924
End hyperinflation brought confidence & better climate for business
Benefitted from improved trading position
Unemployment shows companies lacked demand &profits were falling
Increased taxes after 1924 damaged profit
Living Standards
Farmers
Did not benefit from reforms
& remained in state agricultural depression
Tariffs on food imports had limited but positive impact on demand
Increased taxes imposed a burden
Many owed money counld not repay
banks took farms & evicted farmers
Key features of ‘new woman’
Independent
able support herself finanacially
possibly single & living alone
c. 10,000 teachers & 3,000 doctors
Visible in public life
1919 held 10% Reichstag seats
by 1925 36% workforce
some trained to be lawyes & doctors
Equality in marriage/sexually liberated/more choice & freedom
birth control widely available
abortions increased
birth rate declined
divorce rated increased
Why people believe women’s lives had changed
Impact WW1
more women needed in employment/fewer men to marry
Constitution improved legal position
Media cultivated idea of ‘new woman’
Marlene Dietrich in film ‘The Blue Angel’
Ways women lives remained the same
Most popular women’s group in 1920 was League of German Women (BDF)
promoted trad family values &maternal responsiblity
Abortion remained criminal offence
decline in birth rate & ‘selfishness’ of women attacked by press
Church condemned birth control/abortion/divorce
Civil Code of 1896 meant husband had control of decisions concerning all matters of family life
Post WW1 many had to leave jobs to give to men
press attacked women as ‘selfish double earners’
No female members of Reichsrat/gov & no female party leaders
Position of Jewish people
500,000 Jews lived in Germany 1925
<1% population
Made up significant proportion politicians/bankers/journalists/professionals
Reason:
Migrated Jews tended better qualified
Exclusion from mainstream society led to self-sufficiency
Judaism allowed some money lending - unlike Christianity
Anti-Semitic reason:
Belief Germany overrun
‘Jewish Conspiracy’
Evidence Jews assimilated by 1930
Prominent in important professions
16% lawyers & 11% doctors
Leading political figures Jewish
eg. Walter Rathenau & Theodor Wolff
Jewish companies successful
1/2 cloth firms Jewish owned
Rathenau family led electrical giant AEG
Significant in Geman academia
9/24 German Nobel prizes before 1938
Evidence Jews isolated by 1930
Jewish banks appeared dispropotionally powerful to some non-Jews
families
eg. Rothschilds owned 50% private banks
Right claimed & spread fear Jews association with left
eg. Hasse &Luxemburg Jews
Few Jewish run businesses in Ruhr
Target of anti-Semitic attacks & propaganda
Concerns young people becoming increasing problem
Breaking free from control
constraints of family/school/religion
17% unemployed were 14-23 (1924-26)
Increased no. young boys joining
youth gangs/cliques
looking for sense comradeship & adventure
Increase youth crime & anti-social behaviour
Changes to education
Introduced elementary school
free comprehensive schools
to break down class divide
based on secular lines
Those who didn’t enter Gymnasium
could continue for 4 further yrs
improved educational outcomes
Many children continued attend Church schools
Influence of Church on youth
Catholic & Protestants had youth groups
Catholic groups more members than Protestant
Catholics aimed at different societal groups
eg. ‘New Germany’ for middle class children
Aimed to teach
religious doctrine loyalty & respect for church/family
Political youth groups
SPD
Social Democratic Youth Movement
Founded 1925
Had most members
KPD
Young Communist League
Founded 1925
For party members children
DNVP
Bismarck Youth
Founded 1922
42,000 members by 1928
mostly middle/upper class youth
Strong working-class membership in Berlin
NSDAP
Hitler Youth
Grew slowly 1920s
had 13,000 members in 1929
Wandervogel
Set up 1896
spread quickly 1920s
Mostly middle class boys
Officially non-political
highly nationalistic
Hated industrialists & big cities
extreme groups rejected social conventions
& practiced vegetarianism/nudism
Youth cliques
Largely working class
Welfare improvements
helped some jobless youth
Increasing working class joined gangs
to find comradeship/support/adventure
Red Apaches & Farmers’ Fear in Hamburg
had own uniforms & flags
Alcohol part of culture
challenges maybe set to prove themselves
eg. vandalism & theft
image of toughness/aggression/masculinity
Development of art
Expressionism became predominant
believed work express meaning/emotion
not physical reality
Artists
Kandinsky
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Development of literature
Adopted free form writing from expressionism
focused on character’s internal mental state not external social realities
Authors revolt against parental authority
All Quiet on the Western Front
highly critical of older generations
who sent young men to war
Development of Architecture
Bauhaus influential school
taught art, design & photography too
Students encouraged break down barriers
between art & design
incorporating new materials into design
Development of theatre
Sets stark & plays relied on abstraction & symbolism to convey messages
from expressionism
Plays attacked capitalism, nationalism & war
Brecht & Weill playwrights
‘Threepenny Opera’ shocking
villains respectable middle class
heroes criminals & prostitutes
Right called new artists
‘cultural bolsheviks’
Development of music
Hindemith & Schoenberg composers
Schoenberg attempted
convey powerful emotion
but avoided trad forms of beauty
associated with ‘atonal’ music
Development of film
Lang, Wilder, von Sternberg Jewish producers
Marlene Dietrich played Lola in The Blue Angel
controversial as she was sexy singer in nightclub who seduces innocent professor
Development in nightclubs
New vibrant clubs found in Berlin
Challenged trad values:
renowned for cabaret - featured nudity
gay men, lesbians & transvestites
expressed sexuality freely
Evidence cultural change limited/unpopular
Little change rural areas/small towns
Fear from right
change brought unwelcome foreign influence
Modern culture viewed by conservatives as
decadent, immoral & un-German
Changes provoked fierce conservative reaction
as enemies to Republic fought change
Election of Hindenburg (results)
April 925
Hindenburg (DVP/DNVP): 48.3%
Marx (Centre): 45.3%
Thälmann (KPD): 6.4%
Impact of Hindenburg’s election
Symbol military/authoritarian past
gave hope moving away parliamentary democracy
Political stability
proved loyal to supporting constitution & not abusing power
first 5 yrs
Helped gain support right for democracy
increased legitimacy to right
less extremism & greater stability
Coalitions continued short lived
By 1930 impatient w/ parties
increasingly used Article 48
in interest army/nationalist elites
Political stability by 1928
After 1923 politics more peaceful
No attempted coup/major political assassinations
Frequent fights between SA & KPD
By 1928 72.8% vote pro-Weimar
Coalition parties tend stick to own principles
constant bargaining & manoeuvring
discredited parliamentary democracy
Army/judiciary/civil service remain unreformed
Industrialists resent burden of welfare state
Political statistics
SPD in coalitions
Feb & June 1919
Mar 1920
May 1921
Aug 1923
June 1928
stopped jointing due to welfare cuts
Right joined coalitions after 1920
more so after 1924
1924 pro-repulican parties collectively
61% (May) & 67% (Dec)
International position 1923
Isolated start 1924
few allies & excluded from LoN
France & Britain did not trust to adhere to ToV
after 1922 reparations failure
maintain military presence in Rhineland
Foreign policy goals 1919-1933
Revise ToV terms
Extreme right wanted confrontational approach
total rejection
& rearmament - take boarders by force
Moderates wanted cooperative approach
policy of fulfillment
&working with allies to revise terms
Locarno Pact
Oct 1925
Germany, France, Britain, Italy & US
met on Stresesmann’s suggestion
wished to restore international position
& prevent hostile Britain/France alliance
Rhineland Pact & Arbitration Treaties
collectively Locarno
Rhineland Pact
Germany/France/Belgium
promise respect western frontier agreed in ToV
Germany keep troops from Rhineland
Britain/Italy agree help
Germany/France/Belgium if neighbour attacked
Abritration Treaties
Germany/France/Belgium/Poland/Czechoslovakia
agree any dispute settled
by conciliation committee
France promises support Poland/Czechoslovakia
if Germany not agree
but France not allowed cross into Germany
Locarno success for Germany [4]
France can never invade again
French troops withdraw from Rhineland
achieved over 5 yrs
Eastern boarder not fixed like western
left open possibility to revise eastern
Established pos as equal partner
Locarno success for other countries [4]
Germany recognise western boarder
imposed by ToV - first time
French guarenteed support
if Germany attacked again
Stresemann appeased Allies
& given too much away
(opinion of nationalists)
Confirms loss of Alsace-Lorraine
League of Nations
Allowed join 1926
Significant improvement to international status
Relations with USSR
Similarities led to working relationship:
lost war
exclusion for LoN
treat as ‘outcasts’ by victorious countries
resented existence strong independent Poland
Signed Treaty of Rapallo & Treaty of Berlin
Treaty of Rapallo
1922
organised by Walter Rathenau
Resume peaceful diplomatic relations
Trade & cooperate economically
Outstanding reparations claims dropped
eg. from Brest-Litovsk
Germany allowed
develop new weapons & train pilots in Russia
Treaty of Berlin
April 1926
Renewed Rapallo
Added clause
if USSR involved in war
Germany stays neutral
Shows Stresemann not abandoned attempts
to revise eastern frontier
Kellogg-Briand Pact
1928
Kellogg - US Sectratary of State &
Briand - French Forign Minister
drew up international agreement
Voluntarily agree to
renounce use of offensive weapons
to resolve disputes
Symbolic importance
international agreement to avoid war
no enforcement mechanism
so limited effectivness
Secret rearmament (weapons)
Sought ways to circumvent disarmamant clasue
Agreement build
submarines in Spain
tanks/artillary in Sweden
Allowed to keep up with advances
not build fully operational force
Secret rearmament (army)
Gen. von Seeckt found ways around limit
1. train recruits expensively
for short period
then place in reserves
- Sponsor paramilitary groups
even after Freikorps disbanding
Army generals dealt directly with Russian forces
kept ‘secret’ from politicians
but tacitly approved by them
End of allied occupation
Fulfilment secured withdraw by 1930
Compromises made by both France & Germany
Dawes & Locarno show
German wilingness to cooperate
some withdraw begins
Young finalised reparations issues
remaining forces withdraw
5 yrs ahead ToV schedule
1928 international position
Period of isolation ended
alliance w/ US, Russia & LoN membership
Won trust of west & gained benefits
Rebuilt relations w/ Russia & Spain
used to help begin rearmament
make less vulnerable
