Discuss the fortunes of Germany during the Weimar Republic 1919 - 1923.

Discuss the fortunes of Germany during the Weimar Republic 1919 – 1923, under the following headings:

Economic Developments
Foreign Relations;
Cultural Activities. (1983 Exam Question)

The German economy collapsed between 1919 and 1923. Four main factors were responsible for this collapse. Firstly, the end of the war dislocated industry geared to the production of war material, while demilitarisation threw millions of ex-soldiers on to an unprepared labour market. Secondly, the reparations demanded by the Treaty of Versailles drained the country of capital which would have been required to restructure the economy; thirdly, the government’s attempt to solve currency led to hyper-inflation. Paper money became worthless and so did savings. Those on regular incomes and pensions found themselves unable to make ends meet. Finally, the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 precipitated a general strike in that region which deprived German industry elsewhere of vital raw materials and unemployment reached ever higher levels.

Within a few months, however, the work of Gustav Stresemann and his colleagues went a long way to reversing this situation. A new currency was introduced and those who had most greedily profited under inflation were penalised – up to a point. The reparations clauses of the Versailles Treaty were renegotiated and the Dawes Plan allowed for smaller annual payments as well as providing an 800 million dollar loan to redevelop German industry.

The air of confidence that now prevailed encouraged state and municipal authorities to borrow money abroad to build schools, hospitals and other amenities. When the loans because due for repayment, the borrowed the necessary cash for that too. However, unemployment remained high, and though the profits of the ‘big businesses’ increased through its cartels and combines, the lower middle classes who had lost out in the great inflation never recovered their former economic power.

Germany’s air of economic prosperity in the years 1923 – 1929 was therefore due to self-deception and the illusion was finally shattered with the advent of the great Depression.

The American banks now called in their short-term loans and no institution was willing to grant any more. There was therefore no money to fuel the German economy, while reparations (albeit reduced by the Young Plan) continued to drain badly-needed capital from the country. Unemployment rose steeply, and the necessity to provide unemployment benefit proved an additional benefit drain on the economy.

Chancellors Muller and Bruning were haunted by the memories of the great inflation of 1923 and they resisted the temptation to spend their way out of the Depression by printing additional currency. Their solution to Germany’s economic problems involved reducing the public service, cutting wages, increasing taxes and reducing unemployment and welfare benefits. The consequent hardship undermined support for the moderate parties they represented. Electors transferred their support o more extreme parties, ad it was from the resulting instability that Hitler emerged to "conquer" Germany in 1933.

The Allies trusted the Weimar Republic only marginally more that they trusted the Hohenzollern empire, and if the Germans had hoped that their change of government in 1918 would win them a lenient peace treat, they were to be sadly disappointed. Indeed, all Germans felt the conditions of the Versailles Treaty to be so harsh that much of their political activity in the inter-war years was geared to circumventing them.

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In 1922, Germany and Russia concluded the Rapallo Treaty, which established diplomatic relations between them, renounced financial claims on one another and pledged future cooperation. This co-operation involved German assistance in setting up industries in Russia, and it involved Russian co-operation with the German army in developing tanks, aircraft and military tactics. The German "right" might be happy to slaughter Communists at home, but they saw no contradiction in helping them abroad.

Gustav Streseman was foreign minister from 1923 to 1929. He hoped to win acceptance for Germany amongst the powers by fulfilling the Versailles Treaty, while at the same time working to modify its less palatable terms. His efforts culminated in the Locarno Treaty (1925) in which Britain, France, German and Belgium recognised each others borders and the demiliterisation of the Rhineland. Allied troops were to be withdrawn from the Rhineland , and Germany promised to seek revision of this eastern frontier only through negotiation.

Germany was now invited to join the League of Nations, and Stresemann used the League as a platform to win the final evacuations of Allied troops from the Rhineland in 1928 and the Young Plan (reducing reparations) in 1929.

Stresemann died in 1929 and his policies died with him. Few Germans understood – or accepted – his policies of gradually destroying Versailles through wining international acceptance of Germany as a democratic law-abiding country. However, the economic problems that followed hard on Stresemann’s death removed foreign policy from the centre of the German political stage to which it was not returned until the advent of Adolf Hitler in 1933.

Culture during the Second Reich might best be described as dull and formal. The collapse of the old Germany led to the breaking of those restraints, official and unofficial alike, which had fettered culture, and the Weimar Republic was characterised by one of the greatest explosions of cultural activity witnessed in modern times.

The Bauhaus at Weimar was the centre of architectural artistic and design education, first under Walter Gropius and then under Mies van der Rohe. The Bauhaus tried to break down the distinctions between art and craft and between decoration and utility, while rejecting the heavy elaborations of the late 19th century in favour of clear simple lines. A basic aim was to produce designs suitable for mass production. The art of the Bauhaus is therefore clear, simple and austere, and is exemplified I the buildings of Gropius and the paintings of Paul Klee.

These new departures in art were also reflected in the theatre, where old fashioned stages cluttered with scenery gave way to bare stages almost devoid of props. In plays such as Brecht’s "Mother Courage and her Children", the language itself became a vehicle for heightening the spectators awareness and forcing them to think more deeply on the significance of the plot. Many of the plays of the period were directly critical of capitalism, conservatism and war and there fore unacceptable to the conservative forces which still dominated the Weimar Republic.

The new art of the cinema threw up great producers and directors such as Joseph Von Sternberg and Fritz Land, but while there were some fine films such as "M", "The Blue Angel" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", most films of the time were simply vehicles of escapism.

Exam tips

Although it would be acceptable to go through each problem in date order in your essay, it would be much better to structure your essay by having a section on political problems, another section on economic problems and a separate section on social problems.

Political - things to do with the government and authority.
Economic - things to do with money (this would also include trade and industry).
Social - things affecting people's ordinary lives and the way different groups of people interact with each other.

The problems

Here is a chronological list of the problems faced by the Weimar Republic. Read through them and think about how you might group them according to political, economic and social problems.

Treaty of Versailles - The government had signed the Versailles Treaty even though this included Clause 231. This was sometimes called the 'war guilt' clause which stated that Germany had to pay reparations to make up for the cost of damage during the war. It was a common belief that the army had not been defeated but had been betrayed by the politicians. Hitler and many others believed that they had been "stabbed in the back" by the "November Criminals", the politicians who had signed the Armistice which had brought the Great War to an end on 11th November 1918.
Social divisions - There were deep divisions within society. Some people wanted a revolution like the one that had happened in Russia, to give power to the workers, while others wanted a strong government which would protect industry, and the rich, against trade unions and the threat of Communism.
Communistrising Communist risingroup called the Spartakists, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Carl Liebknecht, attempted to begin a revolution but the rising was suppressed with the help of the army and the leaders were executed.
Kapp Putsch - Wolfgang Kapp led a right-wing attempt to seize power in Berlin in 1920. The army refused to act against Kapp's supporters who were often ex-soldiers, and the official government actually left Berlin; but a general strike by the trade unions meant that Kapp could not control the situation and the rebellion failed.
Reparations - The Allies now fixed the total amount of reparations at 132,000 million marks (6,600 million British pounds). Germany claimed this was completely unrealistic since she had lost important resources and industrial land because of the Treaty in 1919.
Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr - The government continued to print paper money even when it did not have sufficient resources to support the currency; this led to constantly rising inflation. By 1923 prices had become ridiculous, although people who had taken out large loans (such as industrialists) benefited, and German goods were cheap for other countries to buy, which stimulated trade and employment. When Germany could not make the reparations payment due in 1923, France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, which made the economic situation even worse.
Social effects of hyperinflation - As a result of the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, money was almost worthless and many people found they could not keep up their standard of living. The middle classes were possibly the hardest hit because they were more likely to have savings, which were wiped out, and they tended to be professionals who depended on cash payments, and, in a crisis like this, there was less demand for their services, e.g. doctors, teachers, lawyers. Unemployment was rising and there was a high level of discontent within society.
Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch - In 1923 Hitler led a right wing attempt to seize power in Munich but his attempt collapsed when he faced opposition from the police

Essay introduction

Your introduction to an essay should show that you have understood the question and outline your reaction. Which one of the introductions below is the best?

Mark - The problems of the Weimar Republic can be divided into three groups, political, economic and social. In this essay I will look at each of them in turn, starting with the political problems.

Sardev - The first problem that the Weimar Republic faced was the actual signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This meant that they were blamed for accepting the harsh conditions and there was a great deal of resentment against the new government from the very beginning.

Winston - The new government of Germany, the Weimar Republic, was set up in 1919. From the very beginning it faced a range of problems, including several rebellions, economic problems and deep divisions between different groups of society. Although the government survived the first problems, more appeared afterwards so that the first few years, until 1923, consisted of one crisis after another.

Examiner's view - All these answers are an acceptable way of starting an essay, although Sardev has started to give the main answer straight away rather than giving an overall introduction.

Mark's answer is OK but doesn't really tell me very much. Winston's answer is the best. He is the only one who has made any reference to the second date in the title. He has classified the problems in the same way that Mark did, but his groupings are better explained because they are related to the events in Germany. Essay conclusion

Now let's work on the conclusion. This should round up your main points and show that you have answered the question. Here are two alternatives:

Maxine - It seems amazing that the Weimar republic could survive so many problems. The government faced challenges from left and right wing groups not just in 1919 and 1920 but right up to 1923. Meanwhile, the economic problems, which were bad in 1919, seemed to get worse during this period until there was a crisis in 1923. These economic problems also made the social problems worse. Out of them all, the economic problems were probably the worst and without them there would probably have been fewer social problems and less opposition to the government.

Diana - In this answer I have shown that the Weimar government faced a range of problems from 1919 to 1923. There were political challenges, economic problems and social discontent yet, somehow, the republic survived.

Which do you think is best, Maxine's or Diana's?

Examiner's view

Maxine's answer is clearly the best but this is not just because she has written more than Diana. Maxine has done more than just summarise the points she has already made; she covers the whole period and has added her own view of what was the most important of these problems, so her conclusion includes a judgement rather than just being description. The conclusion is not the place to raise an important new point - if it is important it should be in the main essay - but it should do more than just repeat what you've already said.