streseman Flashcards
Gustav Streseman
Important politician who served as Chancellor (1923) and later as Foreign Secretary (1923-1929). He helped to improve the German economy and improve confidence in the Weimar government at home and abroad.
French Occupation of the Ruhr (1923)
By 1923 Germany could no longer afford to pay reparations. As a result France sent soldiers into the industrial Ruhr area of Germany to take goods in place of reparations. This action crippled Germany’s economy even more and led to a major economic crisis for the Weimar government
Hyperinflation (1923)(resulted from the French occupation of the Ruhr)
As a result of the occupation of the Ruhr, the German government called for strikes and passive resistance. This resulted in unemployment and shortages of goods. The government printed more money to pay its bills. Prices and wages went up at an abnormal rate. This extreme inflation is known as hyperinflation. This financial crisis ended in 1924 when Gustav Stresemann introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, which brought hyperinflation under control. Most Germans suffered as a result of hyperinflation and many blamed the Weimar government.
Dawes Plan (1924)
After Germany’s failure to pay reparations in 1923, this was a plan agreed by Stresemann to reduce annual reparation payments to the allies to a more affordable level and to get more American investment into the German economy. The Plan was a success which helped the Germany economy to recover. Employment went up as industrial output doubled. However, it was a fragile recovery which was dependent on American money loans. German politicians like Adolf Hitler attacked the Dawes Plan because it did not reduce the reparations total. They also disliked the idea that foreigners would have some control over the German economy.
Young Plan (1929)
New Plan, agreed by Gustav Stresemann, to reduce Germany’s total reparations debt from £6.6 billion to £2 billion. The annual repayments were reduced to £50 million per year. Reparations were to be paid every year up to 1988. Adolf Hitler attacked the Young Plan because he said that extending the length of the reparations payments to 1988 was ‘passing on the penalty to the unborn’. Unemployment as a result of the Wall St Crash (1929) continued to grow in Germany and in 1931 it was decided to suspend all payments of reparations.
Locarno Pact (1925)
Treaty by which Germany agreed to keep its new borders with France and Belgium (as agreed by the Treaty of Versailles) in return for allied troops leaving the Rhineland area of Germany and the start of talks about Germany’s membership of the League of Nations. Regarded as another triumph for Stresemann that helped to improve Germany’s image abroad
League of Nations (1926)
International organisation set up after the war to solve world problems by peaceful means. Germany was not invited to become a member at the start. In 1926 Stresemann persuaded the League to make Germany a member = yet another Stresemann success.
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
An agreement signed by 65 countries including Germany in which countries promised not to use military force to achieve their foreign policy aims. Another success for Stresemann and the Weimar Government
