In 1919 Germany was forced into signing the Treaty of Versailles. They had no choice but to sign the peace treaty after the First World War as Germany was being blamed for the war in the first place. The Treaty stated that Germany was to pay reparations of £6600 million, to be military restricted and to loose territory. This caused resentment from the German public and many wanted the Treaty to be overthrown, they felt as though they had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by their own government.
The government clamed they could not possibly afford to pay the instalments, but the French did not believe this and so they invaded the Ruhr, which was the richest industrial area in Germany. The Germans responded to the invasion by passive resistance, this lead to hyper-inflation. Hyper-inflation meant that the government kept printing more money in order to pay the workers for the passive resistance. This soon got out of hand and money soon be came incredibly worthless. This made Weimar Republic unstable as their money was worthless, the public were loosing money and things were spinning out of control.
So in 1923, Gustav Stresemann, the chancellor, decided that Germany would give into France. He ended the policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr. To some German parties this was seen as weak, but it was actually a very sensible move, as now the worthless money could be burnt and the temporary currency, the Rentenmark could be bought in to help get the country back on it’s feet, which in turn would help stabilise Germany again.
The German government then agreed to start paying reparations again. And in 1924 The Dawes Plan made a huge loan of 800 million marks available to Germany. This also helped stabilise Germany, as they were now paying reparations again and sticking to the Treaty of Versailles.
Then in 1925 Germany signed the Locarno Treaty which guaranteed Germany’s frontiers with France and Belgium, and in 1926, as a result of her co-operation over Locarno, Germany was allowed into the League of Nations. This helped stabilise the Weimar Republic as Germany was now considered equal amongst the Great Powers again.
Although the economy was made strong through the Dawes Plan, Germany still depended highly upon the American loans so she could pay the reparations. There was lots of unemployment and employers complained about the money the government spent on welfare benefits for the poor and unemployed, they said taxes were too high. So many Germans were still resentful.
Looking over the strengths and weaknesses the Weimar Republic had, I think by 1928 it was becoming more stable. Although Germany still had the fear of America withdrawing it’s loan, and many people of high administrative positions would have preferred to return to monarchy, and the matter of resentment, I believe that they came through it quite well. The most important reason for them dealing with their problems was Gustav Stresemann. I think he played the most important part in helping Germany get back on its feet as he was willing to co-operate with such situations as the Passive Resistance. He may well have disappointed some Germans in giving in but overall this was a very sensible decision. He was a strong politician for Germany and without him I doubt Germany would have been able to stabilise so quickly.
