The Weimar Republic under Stresemann 1923-1929 Flashcards
Although Stresemann was only Chancellor of the Weimar Republic for three months from 1923.
1
Q
What was the Dawes Plan?
A
- Proposed April 1924, agreed September 1924.
- Amount of reparations to be paid: Stayed the same overall (50 billion Marks) but Germany only had to pay 1 billion Marks per year for the first 5 years and 2.5 billion per year after that
- Amount of time over which they would be paid was indefinite
- Germany was loaned 800 million Marks from the USA
2
Q
What was the Young Plan?
A
- Proposed August 1929, agreed January 1930
- Reduced the total amount by 20 per cent.
- Germany was to pay 2 billion Marks per year, two thirds of which could be postponed each year if necessary
- 59 years, with payments to end in 1988
- US banks would continue to loan Germany money
3
Q
Who was Gustav Stresemann?
A
Stresemann was Chancellor for only three months but continued to serve as Foreign Minister, rebuilding and restoring Germany’s international status until his death in October 1929.
4
Q
The Stresemann Era: Economy (Achievement 1)
A
- Stresemann slowly rebuilt Germany’s prosperity
- Under the Dawes Plan, reparations payments were spread over a longer period, and 800 million marks in loans from the USA poured into German industry
- Some of the money went into German business, for the latest technology, public works like swimming pools or apartment blocks
- By 1928 Germany finally achieved the same levels of production as before the war
5
Q
Politics: Achievement 2
A
- There were no more attempted revolutions after 1923 and the Republic was beginning to settle
- By 1928 the moderate parties had 136 more seats in the Reichstag than the radical parties
- Hitler’s Nazis gained less than 3 per cent of the vote in the 1928 election
- Some of the parties who had cooperated in the ‘revolution’ of 1918 began to co-operate again
6
Q
Achievement 3: Culture
A
- In the Kaiser’s time there had been a strict censorship, but the Weimar Constitution allowed free expression of ideas
- Writers and poets flourished, artists tried to represent the reality of everyday life and the famous Bauhaus style of design developed
- The 1920s were a golden age for German cinema, producing one of the greatest actors, Marlene Dietrich
- Going to clubs was a major past time
- Songs about sex that would have shocked an earlier generation of Germans
7
Q
Achievement 4: Foreign Policy
A
- Stresemann’s greatest triumphs were in foreign policy
- In 1925 he signed the Locarno treaties, guaranteeing not to try to change Germany’s western boundaries with France and Belgium
- In 1926 Germany was accepted into the League of Nations
- Stresemann slowly tried to reverse some of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
- In 1929 Stresemann enforced the Young Plan
- He also removed British, French and Belgian troops from the Rhineland
8
Q
What were the Locarno Treaties/Pact?
A
- In October 1925 Germany, France and Belgium agreed to respect their post-Versailles borders, whilst Germany agreed with Poland and Czechoslovakia to settle any border disputes peacefully.
- Germany had previously complained bitterly about their loss of territory.
9
Q
Problems during the Stresemann Era: The economy (Problem 1)
A
- The economic boom in Weimar Germany was precarious
- The US loans could be called in at short notice, which would cause ruin in Germany
- Boom increased inequality
- Economic winners were big businesses (like steel and chemical industries)
- Other winners were landowners
- Unemployment began to rise, 6 per cent of the working population by 1928
- Main losers were peasant farmers and sections of the middle class
10
Q
Why did the peasant farmers/shopkeepers have a hard time during the Stresemann Era?
A
- The peasant farmers had increased production during the war and in peacetime, they were producing too much
- Had loans to pay back but not enough demand for the food they produced
- Small shopkeepers saw their businesses threatened by large department stores (many of whom were owned by Jews)
11
Q
Problem 2: Politics
A
- Both the Nazis and Communists were building up their party organisations
- Around 30% of the vote regularly went to parties that opposed the Republic
- The threatening right-wing organisations that opposed the Republic were quiet rather than destroyed
- Nazis began to make themselves more respectable
- In 1925, German people elected a new president who was opposed to democracy, Hindenburg
12
Q
Problem 3: Culture
A
- The culture of the cities represented moral decline, made worse by Jewish artists and musicians
- The Bauhaus design college was in Dessau since it was forced out of Weimar by hostile town officials
- The Wandervogel movement called for a return to a simple country values
13
Q
Problem 4: Foreign Policy
A
- Nationalists attacked Stresemann for joining the League of Nations
- Also angry he signed the Locarno Pact since it made Germany accept the Treaty of Versailles
- Communists also attacked the Locarno, seeing it as part of a plot against the communist government in the USSR.
