Another problem was the fact that Germany was not trusted by other countries, so Stresemann decided to co-operate with the other countries in Europe, a positive outcome of this was in 1925 when Stresemann signed the Locarno pact with Britain, France and Belgium. They promised not to invade each other. This took Germany to the League of Nations in 1926 which had given them great power, which meant that they had a say in major decisions. This shows that Stresemann had succeeded in finding a way of countries trusting Germany again.
However Germany was facing massive reparations, Stresemann promised to pay reparations. He hoped that the allies would lower the payments. Luckily the Dawes Plan gave Germany longer to pay the allies, it reduced the initial payments to allow German industry to re-equip itself. It also helped to stabilise the new Rentenmark and allowed reparations schedules to be met by loans. Another positive result from this was that in 1929 the Young Plan lowered reparations from 132,000 to 37,000 million marks.
The other problem that was faced was that Germany needed to rebuild its economy, there was an employment crisis in 1926, and the country was unable to repay the full term reparations.
Stresemann organised big loans from the USA as part of the Dawes Plan, and as a result the German government improved housing, hospitals, schools and roads. Loans were given to private German firms. Many US firms set up factories in Germany, this allowed pensions and wages to rise. This support enabled not only the stability of Germany but enabled the high levels of payments that the Weimar government was making on benefits and health care. This shows that overall Germany had become more stable and Stresemann was able to solve the problems faced.
However, Stresemann’s polices were short -term solutions, they did not solve Germany’s problems in long-term. He only papered up the cracks. All the problems that were faced had lead to negative results. The first negative result came from hyper inflation. Stresemann did solve hyper-inflation and the Germans accepted the new currency. However, Germans never forgot hyper-inflation. People who had lost their savings were not compensated. They felt cheated and blamed the Weimar republic.
This shows that not all of Stresemann’s solutions catered to everybody. Another negative result came from his solution to withdraw from the Ruhr and call of passive resistance; this was a very unpopular policy in Germany, especially amongst extremist. They claimed that it was a sign of a weak government and that Stresemann had given in. this shows that not everyone trusted Stresemann because he seemed weak.
The Locarno pact that was signed also lead to a negative outcome as some Germans thought that Stresemann was weak because he said that Germany would not try to regain the land that it lost. Also army generals believed that Stresemann should have built up the army instead and tried to regain by force the land lost in the treaty of Versailles. This shows that Stresemann was more interested in making peace with other countries than trying to regain Germany’s power.
Stresemann’s solution to Germany facing massive reparations also had a negative result; the Dawes plan and the young plan were hated by many Germans who thought that Germany should not have to pay reparations at all. Even under the young plan Germany would be paying reparations until 1988.
This had worried a lot of Germans.
Another negative result came from Stresemann policy to organise big loans from the USA. This made the German economy rely heavily upon the ongoing support of the USA. But Problems in the USA would cause massive problems in Germany.
Also wages did not rise for everyone, farmers got poorer because food prices stayed low, unemployment fell bellow 1 million. Rich people then had to pay more taxes and they complained that the government was spending too much money on the poor and unemployed. This shows that Stresemann failed to solve the really important problems faced by the Weimar republic.
In conclusion Stresemann did succeed in solving the problems faced by the Weimar republic. He rebuilt a strong Germany. He came up with clever solutions by the time he died in 1929. Germany had become one of the strongest economies in Europe; it was trusted and well respected
Stresemann was also personally responsible for improved relations with USA and ensured the economic stability of the nation through the successful negotiation of the Dawes and Young plans.
Also as Foreign Minister, Stresemann had numerous achievements. His first notable achievement was the Dawes Plan of 1924, which reduced Germany's overall reparations commitment and reorganized the Reichsbank.
During the time of Stresemann, German culture evolved more, it boomed in the German film industry, productivity rose resulting in more jobs, Art and literature began to prosper. The years of 1923 – 1929 were known as ‘The Golden Age'
Stresemann’s solutions had also pushed back the start of World War 2 and helped Germany to get back to pre- war conditions.