Did Germany recover in the period 1924-1929?

After the 1923 inflation, Germany economy was rather mixed depending on who you were. The poor were the real losers, losing what little they had. Big businesses were able to take advantage by buying out small companies, middle classes saw their savings dissolve. Old people’s pensions were useless but anyone who had a job was considered protected. Germany was not able to keep up with its reparations payments, so the French Army occupied the Ruhr, one of Germany’s biggest industrial regions, which was legal according to The Treaty of Versailles. There was only one thing that might be able to help Germany at its weakest. Something that was weak in Germany already, politics.

To be fair, Germany did recover very well. Stresemann, an able politician was heading up a Coalition government, making him very strong in Germany. He was foreign minister from 1924-1929 and Chancellor for a few months. His Coalition Government did not have full support of the Reichstag, as it had some very mixed views, but he still did well in getting Germany out of the problems in 1923. He was very successful in foreign politics as well. He managed to get frontiers on France Belgium, which was known as the Locarno Treaties (Involving Britain, France, and Italy)

He made sure ...

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He made sure Germany was made into the League of Nations; this meant it had a status of power and was alongside Britain and France.

Also apart from that, USA started giving Germany loans, which was known as the Dawes Plan, meaning the economy improved, and in 1928, the industry improved even by pre WW1 standards. Germany was on its way to becoming one of the world’s largest exporters. To make things better, Hindenburg, a very well thought of War leader, was elected President of the Weimar Republic!

Although, not everything was to Germany’s favour. Stresemann may have ensured Frontiers on Belgium and France, but its East side was vulnerable, making the Locarno Treaties somewhat of a waste. The country’s economy may have been improving, but it was completely dependable on the USA’s loans. Unemployment was a huge problem. Although a better commerce and economy Germany now had, there were still thousands left jobless. The employers themselves found taxes far too high. They complained that the Government was spending too much on the unemployed and the poor. There were sectors of the economy that did not pick up; despite the help from America farming was one of them. Farmer’s earning went down by half throughout the period 1925-1929.

In conclusion, Germany’s recovery was not smooth and not overly successful. Stresemann played out his role as a politician, which he did very well. Although many sector of society were suffering, it was gradually picking up. It was not so much a recovery, but a start to a recovery, if things were left as they were in 1923, it could have been a lot worse than it was. So, did Germany recover in the period 1924-1929? In my opinion, yes. It was a very good start and helped some sectors of the society, but not all of them. What Stresemann did, was show the path for Germany to follow, in order to once again, becoming a World Super Power.

By Christopher Pettit-Mee, 10MAE