Benji Gourgey Weimar Republic solved problems 17/10/2008 After the war, Germany was in a very bad situation, with the treaty of Versailles imposing crippiling reperations, which led to France invading the Ruhr land as the Reperations had not been paid in 1922, causing the country to go on strike which meant there was no more money, so the government tried to produce more money, which lead to hyperinflation, making all savings worthless. Once the G the political system a mess after the Kaiser had been abdicated and Germany were very unpopular amongst the world. The Weimar republic had solved the problem very well, but there were still flaws to their solutions. In terms of economy, since Stresemann had become chancellor, the economy had improved drastically. He called off the passive resistance in the Ruhr as well as this, he got all the worthless marks and burned them, replacing them with a new currency called the Rentenmark. He negotiated to receive American
loans under the Dawes plan, which meant that America would loan Germany 800 billion, on top of all this he renegotiated reparation payments. There was both some threat from the left and the right, but they were reasonably weak, in terms of popularity by 1924, for the Weimar campaign had been going very well. The communists were no longer a big threat, for every time they tried to revolt, Ebert had easily stopped them by using the Freikorps, and this generally scared off any future revolutions, so much so that when they did have revolutions, only fifteen percent of communists ...
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loans under the Dawes plan, which meant that America would loan Germany 800 billion, on top of all this he renegotiated reparation payments. There was both some threat from the left and the right, but they were reasonably weak, in terms of popularity by 1924, for the Weimar campaign had been going very well. The communists were no longer a big threat, for every time they tried to revolt, Ebert had easily stopped them by using the Freikorps, and this generally scared off any future revolutions, so much so that when they did have revolutions, only fifteen percent of communists were turning up. In terms of a threat from the right, it was slightly bigger, for Hitler was beginning to become more popular and he led an attempted rebellion in Munich, known as the Munich Putsch. The government could not stop it and it was the people of Germany who ended it by going on strike, so there was no transport, power or water, proving that the people of Germany supported the Weimar Government. The Weimar Republic had also had a big impact on foreign affairs. In 1924, Germanys relations with other countries had improved significantly. Gustav Stresemann, sought to end Germany's international isolation. In November 1923 the German government called off the non-violent resistance in the French-occupied Rhineland. The Dawes Plan of 1924 reorganized reparations payments, somewhat relieving the financial burden on Germany. This resulted in the USA lending Germany large sums of money, which would have brought the countries closer together and showed some sign of support. Germany had made a huge effort before 1924 to become closer with other countries under Stresemann. There is evidence for this for In 1925 Germany and France signed the Treaty of Locarno. In this treaty, Germany recognized its new borders in the west, thus accepting that Alsace-Lorraine was French. The French agreed to withdraw the forces occupying the Ruhrgebiet and Rhineland step by step (1925-1930). The French evacuated the city of Cologne in 1926. In 1926, Germany and the USSR signed a Pact of Friendship. Germany was admitted to the League of Nations. As a result of all of this, countries were more sympathetic to Germany, for Germany was growing in popularity again amongst the world, for they could see that Germany was making an effort to cooperate. In terms of culture, germany had experienced a revolution. Writers and poets flourished, especially in Berlin. Artists produced powerful painting. The famous Bauhaus style of architecture developed. 1920 was golden age of German cinema Berlin was famous for daring and liberated nightlife. The Weimar government had taken off censorship, so artists performed songs criticising political leaders. They had really contributed to the change in German culture. However there were still problems that the Weimar Republic had not been able to solve. For one thing the economic boom in Weimar German was precarious. The US loans could be called in at short notice, which would ruin Germany and if the US did call in these loans, then Germany would be in the same state it was in before. In terms of politics, Hitler was beginning to rise in popularity and was becoming more a formidable force, as he demonstrated when he started a rebellion in Munich. He also had his own Freikorps, so he had military muscle to carry out revolutions, so much so that the German army could not stop him. In Germany, there were also a lot of Nationalists who attacked Stresmann for joing the Leauge of Nations and for signing the Locorno Pact seeing it as an acceptance to the treaty of Versailles. Stressmann for all his support, mainly from big businessman, was not that popular amongst the middle class or farmers who had lost there jobs (as they had overproduced during the war, and therefore when it was peaceful found them self with too much produce, and therefore did not have the money to pay their mortgages on their farms, for there was not enough demand on their produce), small business owners had to go out of busniess as well as bigger shops were being built. These people were not happy with the Weimar campaign Overall, the Weimar republic had overcome the majority of its problems, it was still not fully recovered. The Weimar Government, had helped Germany out of a dark time and was fully responsible fore the success they were beginning to experience.