This increased production incited a wave of investment; both from abroad and from inside the country. Foreign bankers were lured by attractive interest rates, and the foreign investors were enticed by cheap labour and low production costs. More money in the economy allowed the government to introduce more social policies, and thus subdue the troubled population.
Not only had the investment strengthened, Cartels increased in popularity. A cartel is where different industrial groups worked together for mutual gain. This improved the strength of the industry and in turn the economy and Weimar Government profited.
Exports of materials; which was a traditional German route of income was up by 40%, and between 1924 and 1929 wage rates rose yearly, therefore increasing the popularity of the Weimar government with the population and helping it stay in power.
Apart from the economical reasons for success; there are also political reasons for the existence of the Weimar Republic until 1929.
One of these reasons was the strong base upon which the Weimar Republic was founded. The structure of the government appeared to be flawless and it had a good, strong constitution; and because of this the Weimar Republic was strong, as it had a good framework to rely on; as long as it wasn’t abused.
Gustav Stresemann and his foreign policies helped to keep the Weimar Republic afloat. His foreign negotiations helped pacify the Allies and convince them of a strong democracy and peace loving state in Germany and in 1926 it was allowed to join the League of Nations. Although many may have looked upon Gustav Stresemann with contempt and though of him as a traitor (especially the right wing), he did achieve breakthroughs with reversing clauses of the Treaty of Versailles; such as the French evacuating the Ruhr five years earlier than set out in the Treaty. These breakthroughs lessened the ‘fuel’ for the Right Wing to work with, as one of their main aims was the elimination of the Treaty of Versailles, and Gustav Stresemann was slowly accomplishing this; and to many moderates in society he was seen as a good man, and his success helped the Weimar Republic stay in favour, especially with the Allies.
The political left was also kept quiet by the Government, and occasional concessions to the left wing were made within the Reichstag, more than likely because of the SPD’s presence in the coalitions made in the Republic.
The policy of social welfare adopted by the Government was representational of economic wealth; as welfare states are notoriously expensive to run; but this kept the public happy, along with the wage rises, for if they were working they could take advantage of the wage rises and but if they found themselves outside of employment they had the social welfare to rely on.
This point leads into the social reasons as to why the Weimar Republic was still in existence in 1929.
As well as funding a welfare state, the German Government was also putting a lot of money into the leisure industry and were subsidising things such as schools are parks. As well as a sign of economic buoyancy this would keep the public in favour as they can see the efforts made to improve Germany.
Apart from this, the public hadn’t quite lost faith in the democratic system yet, as they were seeing the rewards and the more moderate members of society could see the achievements made by the Weimar Republic (the end to hyperinflation, wage rises, social welfare, etc) and thus be more willing to give the Republic more of a chance.
This is apparent in the 1928 elections where extremists suffered a loss of seats and the moderates experienced a gain. Another explanation for this, however, is the utter disorganization of the extreme left and extreme right. They were spread out across the country, not united and therefore unable to make a succinct and successful attack upon the Weimar Republic.
Another reason for the survival of the Republic was the diversion in the form of public hatred of the French, especially after the disaster that was the invasion of the Ruhr in 1923. This took pressure off of the Government and made it easier for them to take control.
Overall I feel that the Republic survived for a variety of reasons, and in my opinion the main reasons were the decline in extremism in the late 1920’s and the improvement of the economy. The public began to accept the Republic and were not drawn wayward by any extremists during the ‘boom’ years in the late 1920’s, so the Republic was still in existence in 1929.