On the 11th of January 1923, Poincaré the French prime minister ordered 60,000 French and Belgium troops across the River Rhine to occupy the Ruhr. The region was the industrial heartland of Germany where the whole economy was dependant. As the issue escalated into a trial of strength between France and Germany, the Weimar government ordered an indefinite suspension of all reparation payments and instructed German workers not to cooperate but to engage in a campaign of passive resistance. This meant that Germany’s bad relationship with France had resulted in the German economy to be paralysed as industry came to a standstill. This was a cause of hyperinflation and meant the Republic had to deal with immense pressure as the German populations discontent grew. This all made the Republic unstable, as they had to control the hyperinflation crisis by keeping control of law and order and trying to suppress any extremist uprisings that would threaten the power of the government.
Chancellor Stresseman tried to improve relations with the French from 1923 onwards. He firstly called off passive resistance, which was good for the economy but caused more discontent among Right Wing supporters who saw this as giving into the French. Stresseman also worked hard in improving the issue of reparations and in 1924 the Dawes Plan did just this. Reparations were reduced to 50 million per annum and the Reichsbank was to be reorganised under Allied supervision. On top of this, Germany was to receive a loan of 800 million gold marks to stabilise the new currency introduced to try and solve the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. This break through meant Germany had a break from massive reparation payments and could use the loaned money for reinvestment, which could in the long-term help to stabilise the Republic. Germany were able to pay the payments on time and in full and this meant relations with France were beginning to improve and this lead to Germany persuading the French to remove the troops in the Ruhr in 1924-25 allowing Germany to be in better control of their industry.
Relations were improved further in 1929 with the Young Plan. This reduced the amount due to 37,000 million marks. Allied supervision of railways and the Reichbank were discontinued and Germany was able to recover from the economic crisis, decreasing threats from extremist groups.
Germany had now improved relations with France to a great extent when compared to the relationship between them after the end of World War One. This meant that that the German people in theory would be content with the stable economy and the Republic would be stabilised.
This was not necessarily what happened in practice however. This ‘political stability’ only appeared to be stable in comparison of the period 1918-25. Improved relations with France realistically did not help the Republic substantially. The structure of the government was still very weak with 6 failed coalitions between 1924 and 29. Most parties did not have a secure majority in the Reichstag and parties often stuck to their political principles rather than accept compromises necessary for an effective government. As a result, no chancellor was able to hold a government together for more than two years. In addition, a series of apparently minor issues showed the deep divisions within Germany with one example being the fierce controversy over the new national flag. Extremist parties were also gaining power with more people voting them into the Reichstag. People were also beginning to see that there was no inspiring leadership as the Weimar lacked a charismatic leader to gain people’s support.
Overall, the relations with France did improve after 1924 with the signing of the Dawes Plan that helped Germany to meet the reparation fees and recover from economic crisis and the Young Plan in 1929 improved the relationship further. However, this did not make the Weimar Republic stable as it continued to battle with coalitions within the government as well as keep law and order among the German people who were beginning to search for a more charismatic leader, with many turning to extremism. This all threatened the stability of the Weimar Republic further into the beginning of the 1930’s.