Germany desperately needed to rebuild her economy following problems such as defeat in the First World War and hyper-inflation. Stresemann organised massive loans from the United States as part of the Dawes plan to assist in Germany’s economic recovery. The government used money from the loans to improve housing, hospitals, schools and roads and give loans to private firms. Many American firms built factories in Germany and German pensions and wages rose.
Germany was not trusted by other countries and to regain the trust she had once had Stresemann decided to co-operate with other countries in Europe. He signed the Locarno Pact in 1925 with France, Belgium, Britain and Italy this was a joint agreement not to attack or invade each other. In 1926 Germany was accepted into the League of Nations the international organization established to promote world peace and co-operation and also in 1926 Stresemann was awarded the Nobel peace prize along with Aristide Briand the French prime minister as the lead negotiators of the Locarno Pact.
Stresemann’s solutions to the problems faced by the Weimar Republic were not always appreciated as being the correct action to take. His decision to call of passive resistance in the Ruhr and continue the reparation payments to France was an unpopular policy especially among extremist right wing parties; they thought that he had “given in to the French”.
Stresemann’s solution to the problem of Hyper-inflation caused many Germans to loose their savings, these people were never compensated and therefore they felt cheated and the blame fell on the Weimar Republic.
Even in light of the reduction of the total reparations Germany had to pay due to the Young Plan Germany continued to pay until 1988. A lot of Germans thought they shouldn’t pay reparations at all and this caused a lot of negativity towards the Weimar Republic. The loans Germany had from the USA meant that Germany was very dependant on the USA and problems in the USA would cause massive problems in Germany for example after the wall street crash America gave Germany ninety days to start repaying the loans she had given her. America needed the money to assist her faltering economy and no other world power had the money to help Germany pay Britain and France were still recovering from the First World War and was still in a desperate state and embarking on the . Companies throughout Germany went bankrupt and unemployment affected nearly every German family just 6 years after the last major economic disaster, Hyper-inflation.
The Locarno Pact was seen by many Germans as a sign that Stresemann was weak and that he had once again “given in” to France. It was widely considered that he should have built up the Army and regained land by force.
Stresemann’s solutions to the problems faced by the Weimar Republic were the key to re-building a strong and united Germany. This is evident in the reduced political violence when he became chancellor and the way in which he solved the immediate problems caused by the French occupation of the Ruhr and hyper-inflation, by calling of the passive resistance and promising to pay reparations he persuaded the French to leave the Ruhr and by introducing the new currency he stabilised the economy. When the economy was stable it was possible for Stresemann to begin reinstating Germany as a world power. By securing a reduction in payments from the Young Plan and getting a longer period in which to pay the reparations from the Dawes Plan Stresemann helped Germany rebuild her economy and by signing the Locarno Pact and entering the League of Nations he started to bring Germany back into the international community.
