'By The Beginning of 1929, the prospects for the survival of the Weimar Republic looked good'. Discuss
When looking at the prospects of the Weimar Republic one has to take into consideration many different major facts for the way the republic was running, how it had been running and how it was going to run. As we know many more terrible happenings were to occur in the years after 1929 but was this because the republic was unstable or because it was a sequence of unfortunate events that it led to. Whether you agree or disagree with the statement "By the beginning of 1929, the prospects of the Weimar Republic looked good" or not you must understand there is a strong case on both sides.
Looking at the economic standing in 1929 you must see that there had been disasters leading up to it. One that sticks in the mind greatly is collapse of the mark in 1923. Despite the fact that the mark collapsed many people gained from it, many people in debt paid off debts and other commitments like mortgages with the devalued currency. However this was a disaster for the majority, those with savings and people on fixed incomes like civil servants saw there hard earned earnings disintegrate due to hyperinflation. However had the republic recovered by 1929? The economic growth in the 1920's was non existent and by 1929 Germany was lagging behind the rest of Europe and the USA greatly. To go along with that what little and poor economy they did have was almost being run by American investors. Although things weren't all doom and gloom their trade was balancing out and their imports were higher than their exports. Also prices of products stayed at a steady rate which was encouraging and even the workers were making modest gains. However the economy was still in a very shabby state with unemployment high and rising and the currency looking unstable. The people were angry with the government for making the unwise decision of printing large quantities of money and this left the Weimar Republic looking unstable for the future.
When looking at the prospects of the Weimar Republic one has to take into consideration many different major facts for the way the republic was running, how it had been running and how it was going to run. As we know many more terrible happenings were to occur in the years after 1929 but was this because the republic was unstable or because it was a sequence of unfortunate events that it led to. Whether you agree or disagree with the statement "By the beginning of 1929, the prospects of the Weimar Republic looked good" or not you must understand there is a strong case on both sides.
Looking at the economic standing in 1929 you must see that there had been disasters leading up to it. One that sticks in the mind greatly is collapse of the mark in 1923. Despite the fact that the mark collapsed many people gained from it, many people in debt paid off debts and other commitments like mortgages with the devalued currency. However this was a disaster for the majority, those with savings and people on fixed incomes like civil servants saw there hard earned earnings disintegrate due to hyperinflation. However had the republic recovered by 1929? The economic growth in the 1920's was non existent and by 1929 Germany was lagging behind the rest of Europe and the USA greatly. To go along with that what little and poor economy they did have was almost being run by American investors. Although things weren't all doom and gloom their trade was balancing out and their imports were higher than their exports. Also prices of products stayed at a steady rate which was encouraging and even the workers were making modest gains. However the economy was still in a very shabby state with unemployment high and rising and the currency looking unstable. The people were angry with the government for making the unwise decision of printing large quantities of money and this left the Weimar Republic looking unstable for the future.
