What were Stresemann's Strenghts as chancellor and foreign minsiter?

What were Stresemann’s strengths as a chancellor/foreign minister?

Gustav Stresemann was chancellor of Germany in 1923 and went on to become a very important foreign ministers in Germany’s history; from the year 1924 until his death in 1929.

Before and when Stresemann was chancellor, or Reichskanzler, Germany was in a bad state in every aspect: In terms of territory it had lost Elsass-Lorraine, Eupen and Malmédy as well as the Saarland to France, the Ruhr and the Rheinland were seized by Allied military; Silesia, Posen, West Prussia, Danzig and Memel were also lost – and one must remember that Germany had virtually no significant colonies except for Namibia. Germany’s Economy had lost its main branch – the coalfields of the Rheinland and Ruhr were in the hands of the French. It hadn’t the rights and capabilities to build up armed forces again. The nation was in a constant state of unrests, or Unruhen, and the hastily created Weimar Republic was denounced by many Germans. Good international relations were non-existent. Out of all these factors, the Economy, a stable Government and good international relations were the most important ones.

This is a preview of the whole essay

As a chancellor, Stresemann’s one significant accomplishment was the Dawes Plan. The Dawes Plan was arrange by economists and other experts and was chaired by an American banker called Charles Dawes. Their objective was to find a good solution to Germany’s main problem, which was the reparations payment and hyper-inflation. It included the reorganization of the Reichsbank under Allied supervision, an international loan of 800 million marks for better ability of reparations payment, and that the French leave the Ruhr. Despite the fact that at first many members of the Reichstag disliked aspects of the Dawes plan, it was approved on the 29th August 1924. This was because, although many within the DNVP who pushed the Dawes plan through with their votes, contested the democratic Republic, Versailles and the Dawes plan, others in that party worked well within the system –many of whom were lobbied by members of the business community and Industrialists.

Despite these important changes, Stresemann was replaced as chancellor by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party in November 1923, but continued to act as foreign minister.

Britain elected a Labour government in 1924 with Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister, which had a much more friendly approach to Germany. For Stresemann as Foreign Minister, this was a great chance to rework Versailles and the reparations by productive diplomacy. When in France the mood changed towards Germany and the French felt their security was threatened by their eastern-border arrangements, Stresemann saw this as a longer occupation of the Rhineland and he therefore brought forward a plan of action with which he wanted to settle this security issue. Artiste Briand became French Foreign Minister in 1925 and he agreed to sign a pact with the British to secure France’s eastern borders. Negotiations followed, and they finally ended in a congress at Locarno in October 1925. Here a treaty was drawn up of French-German and Belgian-German borders, and settlements were signed between Germany and Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and France. All parties agreed not to use force to change the situation.

When it was created in 1919, Germany was at first excluded from the League of Nations. In September 1926 however it was accepted and also made a council member of the league of nations and therefore had the same powers as other council members – bar the military strength, as Germany was excluded from the military responsibilities of the League of Nations Article 16 as to satisfy the Russians, who still doubted that Germany had calmed down.

Under Stresemann as Foreign Minister the country was still not politically stable. It’s economy and monetary strength were still decreasing. However, the first step to solve all these problems is good international relations in the eyes of most historians. Stresemann was not too great an economist, despite the Dawes plan, and of course as foreign minister he had no great influence on Germany’s inner politics. However, he built up Germany’s international relations with France and Britain. Germany was now in a much better position through Stresemann’s diplomatic excellence, and therefore I rate his one strength of diplomacy very highly.