At the time, Stresemann was regarded as a hero, both within Germany, and by the rest of the world. The prosperity brought with it, higher living standards and higher wages, with lower unemployment. With the money coming in from foreign loans, German industry was thriving as the economy was being rebuilt. In 1925, Paul von Hindenburg was elected as president of Germany, although a nationalist at heart, he was not extreme, and he beat the candidates supported by the extreme parties. His election victory also pleased many conservatives, who were starting to lose faith in Weimar, as they appeared to be accepting the Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar Republic brought greater freedom than the old, nationalist regime. People now enjoyed listening to jazz music and other trends came over from America.
However, although everything seemed well between 1924 and 1929, this view was slightly false. Stresemann was hailed as a hero in Germany, but his actual motives were unclear. His background shows that he was a nationalist, and it may have been the case that he turned to the Weimar Republic to initially gain respect, then try and gain concessions for Germany. Similar to before 1924, the governments in power were always coalition governments, and between August 1923 and June 1928, there were seven different governments in power. This showed that the parties often disagreed, even Stresemann's government only lasted five months, and governments could be brought down on fairly minor issues. This showed that the Weimar system was not perfect and a government was never settled in power. Although Weimar was doing better between 1924 and 1929, it still had its opposition. Weimar was still blamed by some people for the Treaty of Versailles, and that in the Dawes Plan and Locarno Pact, they were accepting the terms, produced more opposition, especially from the conservatives. There was still high opposition from the extreme left, as in the 1928 election, the KPD won 54 seats. This potentially posed a problem, because if there was still fairly large opposition in the years when Weimar was thriving, if there was to be a depression again, like that of 1923, the opposition would pose a large threat.
German economy was only really thriving because of the loans from America. This was dangerous for Germany, because it was not a stable foundation with which to rebuild their economy. America could call back their loans at any time, and instantly, Germany would be put into trouble. This meant that the survival of the Weimar Republic was dependent on another country's fortunes. Also, Germany's economy still had problems, large industries were not strong supporters of Weimar, because it supported the costly welfare state. the military was still not a strong supporter of Weimar, in 1920, they did not fight against Kapp in the Kapp Putsch, and were more inclined towards the traditional views of a hierarchy. There was also opposition against the view of Weimar that there should be more freedom. Many people disliked the fact that dancing girls and pornography was allowed, and turned to more right wing governments. In 1929, Stresemann unexpectedly died, and this meant that Germany had lost one of its most able politicians, whom the Western nations trusted, and was clearly able to help Germany, after how he recovered the economy after the hyperinflation in 1929.
It is fact that by 1929, Weimar was thriving, with living standards higher than they had ever been, and large support for democracy. International relations had improved, and reparations had been cut. People were enjoying greater freedom, and German industries were doing well. Therefore, it appeared that the prospects for the future were good, as there was little reason for people to expect the good times not to continue. However, the fact that by the end of 1929, Germany was once again plunged into depression, and Weimar faced fierce opposition from extremist governments, showed that the high period could very quickly turn into a low period. This means that the prospects for the future in truth, were not good, although people at the time believed them to be good. The main problem was that German relied too much on America's loans, and when the Wall Street Crash happened in 1929, America recalled all their loans, and there was nothing that Germany could do to stop themselves plunging into another depression, similar to the one in 1923, only this time, the Nazis took over power, and turned Germany away from democracy and towards fascism. This shows Germany's weakness in their apparently thriving economy, and shows that although in the beginning of 1929, the prospects did seem to be good for the future. However, in reality, they relied too much on Stresemann, and help from other countries, without which, the Weimar Republic would struggle, and collapse.
