Why was the recovery of the Weimar Republic from 1924 to 1929 not actually a great success?

Another big underlying problem with this economic recovery was that it was largely as a result of the Dawes Plan i.e. a loan from America. This over-reliance on foreign aid is very dangerous and risky because if something suddenly goes wrong and America called in its loans it could have disastrous effects on Germany.

The politics of Germany was still not in a great state either. In this period the chancellor changed 4 times and no single party ever got a majority. This caused an unstable government and one that could not make quick decisive decisions as each party had its own view. The parties only managed to stay in coalition because of the actions of their leaders. In fact, Gustav Stolper a DDP Reichstag member said that “There are no government parties, only opposition parties.” 

Another political problem was that a considerable amount of votes were still going to parties who were opposed to the Republic such as the Communist party, DNVP (German National People’s Party) and the Nazi’s e.g. in 1928, 23% of the MPs elected were from either the Communists of Nazis. In this period the Nazis also managed to set themselves up as a respectable party and Hitler was still working hard to gain support.

Stresemann’s foreign policy and his attempts to form friendlier relations made some Germans, especially the Nationalists, see him as weak because he was not standing up for Germany’s rights while the communists saw joining the League of Nations as a plot against Russia. The feelings of the German people were shown when Hindenburg was elected president in 1925. He was an old war leader in the First World War and opposed to the Republic, he even asked the permission of the Kaiser.

The culture changes that occurred in this period due to more freedom may have seemed great but it was not seen that way by a lot of Germans. The culture changes in places like Berlin made some people shocked. Most people had been used to the Kaiser’s time and supported old conservative values. However Germany seemed to be going into moral decline. Groups such as the Wandervogel formed where they returned to traditional country values to avoid the moral decline in urban areas. These feelings meant the government was seen as too liberal and many people were unhappy and also the Nazis could use these feelings to gain support in the future.