The reparations became a real strain on the Germany economy. The First World War had brought Germany to the brink of economic collapse. The main concern for Ebert, the new leader of the Weimar Republic, who was voted in, in 1919, was to rebuild Germany; this though would be impossible because of reparations. In 1922 Germany failed to pay its 2nd instalment and the consequences for this absent payment was bad. In 1923 French and Belgium troops occupied the Ruhr land to take what was owed to the allies in the form of raw materials and products. The Ruhr land was Germanys most economic area. Ebert instructed workers in the Ruhr to follow the policy of passive resistance. This meant that the workers refused to work and produce goods or raw materials. The first effect on the Weimar Republic during Ruhr land crisis was humiliation. This was because for a nation with a long and proud military, soldiers such as Hitler were ashamed that passive resistance was used instead of using the German army to evict invaders.
The effect of passive resistance on the Germany economy was that it brought the German industry almost to a standstill. Germany was not providing wealth, but instead of failing to print fewer notes, the Government began to print more. Soon printing presses were working flat out to cope with the quick rising inflation, which caused hyperinflation. The suffering of small businesses, farmers and thrifty citizens was the effect of hyperinflation. The currency became worthless and people lost their savings and prices increased per hour. The German people fell desperate and looked towards the Nationalists, socialists and Nazi Communists to help solve the problem. In 1923 Gustav Stresemann became the new Chancellor. He began to solve the problem of hyperinflation. He replaced the old currency with the new Rentenmark and backed it up with and values. He also called off the campaign of passive resistance, which meant people would begin to work and produce goods again.
After this Hitler slowly began to rise in power. He stayed in the army after the war, working in Munich for the intelligence services; it was in this job that he came across the leader of the Nazi Party, Anton Drexler. Drexler saw that Hitler had great talents like propaganda, and political ideas of the party. The Nazi party changed in 1920 when the party renamed itself the National Socalist German Workers’ Party or Nazis for short. In 1921 Hitler removed Drexler and Hitler became leader himself. Hitler’s appeal was clear, he stirred Nationalists’ passions and he gave them scapegoats’. The Munich Putsch took place in November 1923. Hitler believed that the moment had come from him to topple the Weimar Government. The Weimar Government reacted to Hitler’s actions by hitting back the next day. Police has a brief exchange of 16 shots and the police killed 16 Nazis. Hitler had miscalculated the mood of the German people as the people were still satisfied with the Weimar Government and did not want to rise and revolt. This was a failure for Hitler as Hitler and other leading Nazis were arrested and charged with treason Hitler realised while he was in prison that the Nazis would not be able to seize power by force. Hitler began to change the Nazi Part so that it could take part through democratic means. They built up their strength through youth organisations and recruitment drives.
Although people may think that the Weimar Republic was a total failure during 1919 – 1928, it did have many successes; the Dawes Plan was one of them. The Dawes Plan was a treaty signed in 1924 between France and USA. The treaty was based on the lending of USA’s money to France so that France could begin to rebuild itself after almost being destroyed after the First World War. This treaty also reduced conflict. This is because the France troops were only in the Ruhr land because it didn’t get its share of the reparations it was owed by Germany, but when USA offered to help and gave money to France, France no longer needed that money form Germany for a period of time. This helped Germany as it didn’t have to use passive resistance in the Ruhr land and it didn’t have French or Belgium troops in its land. France could begin to rebuild and Germany could begin to produce goods again to make money to pay the reparations.
Another success of the Weimar Republic was the