- Because it had no goods to trade following the halt in industrial production, the government simply printed money, and they saw this as an attractive solution. IT paid off its debts and £2200 million pounds worth of war loans. The great industrialists were also able to pay off their debts. However workers soon noticed their money was worthless. The problem was finally solved when Stresemann called in the worthless marks and burned them, replacing them with a new currency, the Rentenmark.
6a) The Dawes Plan made sure that Germany would not have to pay any more than they could affordin reparations each year. Stresemann negotiated to receive American loans. The USA would lend money to Germany, who would pay back Britain and France for reparations, and Britain and France would pay back debts to USA.
- The Dawes Plan was important as it did not hinder the recovery of the German currency by not asking Germany to pay more than they could afford, and also ensured America would receive money owed from Britain and France for war debts, and improved international relations. Stresemann wanted International Cooperation. He believed Germany’s best chance for recovery came from working with other countries.
- Diagram showing the flow of money between Europe and the USA following the introduction of the Dawes Plan.
- Nationalist critics who felt the Dawes plan made Germany a slave to the USA took this point of view because it was up to Germany to sort out war debts owed to America by Britain and France, as the cycle of money shows. The USA did not need to invade or halt trade with Britain to get money owed to them.
- In 1929, the Young Plan replaced the Dawes Plan. Reparations would be reduced by one-quarter of the amount, and Germany was given 58 years to pay them.
7) Stresemann was Chancellor for a few months, then Foreign Minister. Stresemann wanted International Cooperation. He believed Germany’s best chance for recovery came from working with other countries. In September 1923 he told the workers in the Ruhr to return to work. He accepted the Dawes Plan in 1924. In October 1925 he agreed to the Locarno Settlement where the Western borders of Germany were agreed, but not the Eastern. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in this field. In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations, and became one of the permanent members of the Council. All these actions are examples of how Stresemann wanted to improve international relations between Germany, Europe and the USA.
8a) In the Locarno Treaty of 1925, Germany accepted the borders with France and Belgium that were laid out in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany accepted that the Rhineland would remain a demilitarised zone. France and Germany agreed to settle any disputes through the League of Nations.
b) If a country guarantees the borders of another country, it means they will respect their boundaries and will ensure they are not invaded by another country.
c) The Treaty of Versailles was a “punishment” for Germany for starting the war, and affected the industry, colonies and armed forces. But the Locarno treaty sorted out problems with borders and militarised zones that were not sorted out following the First World War. The Versailles treaty sorted out problems immediately after the war, but the Locarno sorted out problems that existed a long time after the war.
d) The Germans felt that by not ruling out changes to their eastern border, this meant they could invade eastern countries, e.g. Poland, Czechoslovakia, to gain power and improve their status. Germany did not want France to be more powerful than them, and did not want to be restricted by accepting eastern borders.
9) It was important that Germany joined the League of Nations because their trading with countries within the League, e.g Britain, would improve and was a sign they had disarmed and were prepared to work with the rest of Europe. Countries now felt Germany were part of Europe and were no longer outcasts, they were seen to be equal with Europe, and that if they invaded another country, trading may be stopped.
10a) Three examples of political stability of Weimar Germany in the late 1920s:
- Germany were given 58 years to pay reparations and had agreed a plan that suited all nations involved
- The threat from the Left and the Right was weak and did not threaten the Weimar government
- The appointment of Hindenburg as President of the Weimar Republic was a peculiar choice. He couldn’t find a Chancellor who had support in the Reichstag, and was opposed to democracy, which was shown when he appointed Franz von Papen as Chancellor, an inexperienced man who couldn’t govern. When the Weimar took over, the new government was democratic- they believed the people should say how the country was run.
11) Conservative Germans may feel that developments of Weimar Germany were strange.
12) Two of the most serious problems within the Weimar:
- It was difficult to make decisions because there were so many parties in the Reichstag. The system of Proportional Representation was where the number of seats a party wins in Parliament is worked out as a proportion of the number of votes they win. This often led to lots of political parties in the Reichstag - making it harder to get laws passed.
- There were many outbreaks of trouble, and Ebert agreed to form the Freikorps, a body of soldiers to keep the peace. In 1919, the Communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg tried to take over Berlin in the Spartacist Revolt, but they were defeated. In 1920, some of the right wing Freikorps took part in the Kapp Putsch, and took over Berlin to form another government.
13) Reasons why the “Golden Years of the Weimar” deserved its title:
- Germany joined the League of Nations in 1926
- The Dawes Plan and the Young plan helped Germany pay reparations over a longer time and reduce the amount owed by one quarter
- Stresemann ended the hyperinflation, and introduced the Rentenmark to make the currency more stable.