Weimar's 'golden years' Flashcards
How did social welfare improve during the German Economic Recovery?
- outlined in constitution’s bill of rights
- progressive taxes
- Stinnes-Legien agreement
- Benefits and pensions for widows and wounded from 1920
- National Youth Welfare Law 1922
- National Insurance Code BUT
- employers concerned about growing cost of contributions whilst peasantry grew resentful as they did not benefit
How were progressive taxes implemented during the German Economic Recovery?
Erzberger increased taxes on capital and high income from 4 to 60 per cent
What was the National Youth Welfare Law in 1922?
Youth clubs and sports facilities for poor
What was the National Insurance Code?
Extended welfare 1923-1925
- standardised pensions
- better health insurance
- accident insurance for occupational diseases
How did health improve during the German Economic Recovery?
- 143 in 10,000 died of tb in 1913, but only 87 in 1928
- 119 in 10,000 died of pneumonia in 1913, but only 93 in 1928
- 4.8 doctors per 10,000 people in 1909 increased to 7.4 in 1930
- 63.1 hospital beds per 10,000 in 1910 increased to 90.9 in 1930
How did industry improve during the German Economic recovery?
- By 1928 heavy industry achieved the same levels of production as 1913
- more efficient methods of coal and steel production
- increased investment as foreign banks were attracted by high interest rates and large American corporations invested massively in factories with more efficient methods of mass production e.g. Ford and General Motors
How did cartels help improve the economy?
Cartels were an arrangement between businesses to control the market with a joint monopoly, creating a better purchasing power than small industries
lowered costs
e.g. IG Farben became largest manufacturing enterprise in Europe
How did exports improve the German economy?
rose by 40 per cent 1925-1929
What impact did the economic improvements have?
Hourly wages rose every year between 1924 and 1930, rising by 5 to 10 per cent between 1927 and 1928
What were the weaknesses in the German economy?
- economic growth was uneven with a production decline in 1926
- unemployment never fell below 1.3m in this period and even before the effects of the Wall Street Crash was felt, unemployed workers averaged 1.9m in 1929
- in agriculture, grain production was only 3/4 of 1913 figure
- farmers already in debt and facing falling incomes
- late 1920s - income per head in agriculture was 44 per cent below national average
Why did world economic conditions not favour Germany?
- relied on exports for growth and trade had not returned to pre-war level
- exports hindered by protective tariffs in many countries
- loss of valuable resources from Alsace-Lorraine, Silesia etc from TOV
Why did the changing population affect the German economy?
From mid 1920s there were more school-leavers due to a high pre-war birth rate
Available workforce increased from 32.4m in 1925 to 33.4m in 1931 - unemployment likely even without a recession
How did the discouragement of savings and investment affect the German economy?
- savers lost out in Great Inflation, less enthusiasm to invest
- economy came to rely on investors abroad e.g. in USA who were attracted by high interest rates
- well-being depended on foreign investment
Why did government finances affect the German economy?
- balanced budget in 1924 but in ongoing debt by 1925 but continued to spend more money
- 1928 - expenditure was 26 per cent of GNP, double the pre-war figure
- not base for solid future growth
What was the impact of the German economy on agriculture and what was the outcome?
- peasants were 1/3 population and struggled due to worldwide pressures
- fall in world prices in the 1920s caused strain on farmers, failing to profit
- government financial aid and tariffs only partially reduced problem
- spent less - fall in demand within economy as a whole
What were the fundamental weaknesses in the German economy?
- savings and investment discouraged
- changing population
- German agriculture
- government finances
- world economic conditions did not favour Germany
Why did the German economy struggle?
- problems before depression in 1929 were disguised by foreign capital and development of welfare state
- foreign loans meant they were likely to suffer from problems in the world economy
- investment too low to encourage growth
- cost of welfare state could only be met with taking on debt
- agriculture faced problems from mid 1920s
- various sectors of economy slowed down from 1927
- Stresemann said in 1928 “Germany is dancing on a volcano”
Why were there reasons to be optimistic about political stability?
- extreme parties received less than 30 % of votes
- Nazi vote reduced to 12 seats in 1928
- KPD gained 54 seats, far less than what the KPD and USPD gained in 1920
- parties sympathetic to the republic maintained vote and SPD won 153 votes in 1928, with a massive gain
- 1928 a ‘Grand Coalition’ of DDP, DVP and ZP formed under the SPD leader Hermann Muller achieved over 60 % of the support in the Reichstag, with democracy properly emerging
What were the underlying political problems in Germany?
Proportional Representation and difficulty maintaining coalitions due to parties putting own interests first
Parties reflected religion and class, hard to widen appeal
Differences between main parties meant workable coalitions were limited - the SPD/DNVP couldn’t work together as the DNVP rejected Weimar System whilst the KPD was totally isolated
Centre right parties agreed on domestic issues but not foreign policy issues
A minority government needed support of the left or right
Of 7 governments between 1923 and 1930, only 2 had a majority; the longest was 21 months as opposition parties were unable to unite and there were conflicts between parties
Why did the attitudes of the parties affect the political stability of Weimar?
In order for parliamentary democracy to be a success within the Weimar system there was a requirement for political parties to be responsible in their attitudes towards government - putting the running of the government before their own personal aims.
