The Weimar republics failure

Question 1

What was the Young Plan 1929?

Answer 1

In 1929, the committee, under the chairmanship of Owen D. Young, the head of General Electric and a member of the Dawes committee, proposed a plan that reduced the total amount of reparations demanded of Germany to 121 billion gold marks, almost $29 billion, payable over 58 years.

Question 2

Weakness of the Weimar:

• After the Governments failure to address the issues of the Wall Street Crash, BRUNIG resigned in March 1932
• Von Papen, a friend to Hindenburg was appointed in July 1932 hoping to gain support
• However it was a great success for the Nazis who won 230/577 seats and were the largest party in the Reichstag

Question 3

Crisis in Weimar from the start:

• Tov made people despise the Weimar Government in general
• There was strong opposition for power (left and right side)

Question 4

Weimar problems (1929 - 1933):

• The Great Depression 1929
• Growth of Nazi party by 37% in 1932
• Opposition from upper classes
• Centre parties losing support over time
• No party has a majority, therefore nothing gets done
• Growth of KPD inin Reichstag 1932

Question 5

Government Blame;

• The government were blamed for the hardships
• Desperate people listened to extremist parties that criticised the government and promised to solves the nations problems
• Brunig asked President Hindenburg to involve article 48 to reduce te need to agree on new laws

Question 6

Weimar constitution:

• To change up the Weimar constitution, you neededat least 2/3 of the Reichstag
• Hitler didn’t want to co-operate with the DNVP
• To stop this Hitler drew up plans for an enabling act

Question 7

Weimar mistakes:

• Tried hard to rebuild Germany but failed
• Caused Hyperinflation aroud 1923
• Raised taxes causing problems for the economy and getting disliked by the people
• Reduced wages of governement workers
• Reduced unemployment benefits
• Due to many small parties there, no major party could get a majority so decisions were never made, forcing article 48 having to come into play

Question 8

Dawes plan 1924:
Loaned over 800 million marks to Germany through America to help with reparations
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German politicians like Adolf Hitler and Alfred Hugenberg attacked the Dawes Plan because it did not reduce the reparations total. They also disliked the idea that foreigners would have control over the German economy. The Dawes Plan was initially a great success.
-The reliance on foreign loans following the Dawes Plan led to a severe economic depression following the Wall Street Crash. This ultimately led to further political instability, and eventually, contributed to the end of democratic government.

Question 9

Wall Street Crash of 1929:
-Following the optimism of the 1920s, people were keen to invest in stocks and shares, where they believed they could make a fortune.
This burst of investment pushed companies stock market value higher than their real value .
-Oct 21st stockbrokers started askign for large scale margin callls demanding repayment of loans
-On the 3 September 1929 stock prices reached an all-time high.
However, shortly after this, prices started to drop. This led to mass panic selling. By October 1929, the value of the market halved.
-As the world economies were linked through international business, the Wall Street Crash resulted in an international depression . As a result of this international depression, and the need for money at home, the USA called in their international loans.
-Germany was reliant on international loans and investment. They had used these, as explored above, to rebuild their economy after the war and hyperinflation crisis, and invest in new schools, businesses and hospitals. As the USA removed this investment, Germany fell into another economic crisis.
-By mid november, 30 billion had been lost on the stock market