Stresemann Era Flashcards
What was the ‘Golden era’?
-The period of ‘recovery’ after the disasters of 1918-23 is sometimes know as the ‘Golden era’.
How long was Stresemann Chancellor for?
-He was Chancellor for five months in 1923.
How long was he a member of every Government (as Foreign Minister) for?
-He was a member of every Government from 1923 - 1929 (as Foreign Minister - for five years).
Who was Stresemann?
-The most influential politician in Germany.
What was the Foreign Policy?
-Stresemann was Foreign Minister from the end of 1923 - 1929 (for five years).
What was the Dawes Plan?
- 1924.
- Germany was lent 800 million marks by theUSA to invest in economy and helped German businesses export goods.
What was the circle of the Dawes Plan?
- The USA lends Germany money (800 million marks).
- The Germany economy prospers.
- Germany pays reparations to the Allies.
- Th Allies pay back war debts to the USA.
What was the Locarno Pact?
- Germany signed this pact with Britain, France and Italy. They guaranteed Germany’s western border with France and Belgium.
What was the League of Nations?
- Stresemann took Germany into the League of Nations. It’s status as a great power was recognised as it was given a permanent seat on the League’s council.
What was the Young Plan?
- This plan finally settled the payment of reparations.
- The amount of reparations was cut by nearly 70% and the payments were to be made annually until 1988. (N.B. Reparations were stopped forever in 1932).
What is the acronym for evidence of recovery in he ‘Golden period’?
-PICE.
What does the P stand for in the evidence of recovery in the ‘Golden period’?
- Political.
- 1924-29 saw more stable coalition governments.
- One politician who had been a leading opponent of Ebert in 1923 said that ‘the Republic is beginning to settle and the German people are becoming reconciled to the way things are’.
- Parties that supported the Weimar democracy did well in these years.
- Extremist parties, like the Nazis - wanted to remove the Weimar Republic - gained little support. For example, in the 1928 election, the Nazis only won 2.6% of the vote.
What does I stand for in the evidence of recovery in the ‘Golden era’?
- Improved international relations with other countries.
- Shown by the signing of the Locarno Treaty, Germany’s acceptance into the League of Nations and the reduction of reparations in the Young Plan of 1929.
What does the C stand for in the evidence of recovery in the ‘Golden era’?
- Cultural.
- In the 1920s saw a ‘Golden period’ for German culture.
- There was a tremendous amount of talent at work, e.g. Thomas Mann - Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1929; in cinema there was Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ (1927).
- In architecture and design, there was also the ‘Bauhaus’ movement.
What does the E stand for in the evidence of recovery in the ‘Golden period’?
- Economy.
- By the late 19s, Germany had a stable currency as was respected by other countries.
- This helped foreign investment in Germany (mainly from the USA).
- This helped the Germany economy grow (e.g. 40% increase in exports from 1925-1929).
- In 1928, Germany finally achieved the same levels of production as before the war.
What is the acronym for why the ‘recovery’ in the ‘Golden period’ was fragile?
-PECS.
What does the P stand for in why the ‘recovery’ the ‘Golden period’ was fragile?
- Political difficulties.
- Coalition governments were not strong (25 separate governments in 14 years); Stresemann’s foreign policy was not popular and the Treaty of Versailles had only been modified, not overthrown; extremist parties such as the Nazis and the Communists made no secret of their wish to overthrow the Republic.
- Weimar Government had lost much sympathy for their mistakes in 1923; President Himdenburg (elected in 1925) disliked the Republic yet still voted President by the German people.
