Another blow to Hitler’s dream came from a incredibly influential foreign minister called Gustav Stresemann. He brought a whole new light to Germany and greatly improved her economic and political standings. In early 1924 the German economy seemed to experience a mild period of economic stability and seemed much more in control. This period of time was often referred to as “The Stresemann Era”. Stresemann, with the help of foreign loans mainly from America, issued a new currency called the Rentenmark. This helped the economy to recover quickly after the period of hyperinflation and the value of the Rentenmark was similar to how much the old currency had been worth before World War One and before inflation. Germany was also helped greatly by the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan which issued Germany with large loans from America, reduced the reparations that Germany had to pay as a result of World War One and gave Germany 59 years to pay the reparations. At the same time Stresemann was also improving Germany’s image abroad. He included Germany in several agreements with other nations such as the League of Nations. He was trying to show the rest of the world that Germany was a reformed country and that there was a good case for easing the burdens (such as the reparations) that had been placed upon it in the Treaty of Versailles. The loans were also used to get Germany’s industries back into production. As a result of this more goods were produced, exports rose, the labour force increased therefore unemployment dropped and most Germans were better off. In this “Era” there was much more freedom for Germans. The French had left the Ruhr therefore Germany felt less humiliated and more self sufficient. Most Germans on average were happier, women could vote an have a wider variety of jobs, there was much excitement and relief after the shaky period that Germany had been through and many people developed a taste for fashion, fine arts and music. There was more economic and political stability therefore more people were content with the democratic Weimar government. This sudden confidence and improvement in the way the country was run meant that there was less radical party followers. Most Germans were voting for middle democratic parties and less were voting for extremist left and right wing parties such as Hitler’s Nazi party. Extremist parties generally tend to prosper in times of weakness and instability in a country’s economy. Therefore Hitler and his Nazi party were doing particularly badly. Between 1924 and 1828 they only managed to secure between sixteen and nineteen seats in the Reichstag each year. Fortunately for Hitler his luck was about to change.
Towards 1929 dislike for the Weimar Republic slowly grew. The republic’s survival depended on the German people’s trust and throughout their rule they gradually lost it. It started with the Treaty of Versailles where the Weimar Republic was blamed for everything that happened as a result. During the economical crisis and hyperinflation it seemed that their faith in the constituency was hugely diminishing and there seemed very little hope for the Weimar Constitution especially since much of the population had lost their life long saving almost over night. This tended to be the middle class who later on became supporters of Hitler. Stresemann managed to save the Weimar republic for a little longer by restoring the economic situation and gaining a little more respect for Germany but the Wall Street Crash was the final straw and the people lost all trust in the government. Since the German economy was built on foreign loans mainly from the United States when the Wall Street Crash happened, which had a knock on effect round the whole world, America recalled it’s loans to Germany since it was having such a political crisis. Therefore German banks and industries started doing really badly and the United States weren’t buying any German goods and Unemployment rose drastically. In 1928 the number of unemployed was 1,862,000, this figure had risen to 6,042,000 by 1932. The German people began searching for other alternative parties to govern their country. Since this was an unstable time in Germany this meant that extremist parties were likely to gain supporters such as the Nazi party. Due to radically increasing unemployment caused by the Wall Street crash at this time Hitler cunningly recognised a possible solution to attract the attention of the farming and rural community. He took advantage of Germany while it was vulnerable, he exploited the trust of the German public and he succeeded using clever tactics, good oratory, good timing and luck. He campaigned hard to win over the votes of the farmers and rural workers by promising tax reductions, cheaper electricity and promises to rebuild the farming industry. These were the majority of the people that voted Hitler into power in the early 30s.
A number of factors contributed to Hitler’s earlier failure of taking over the government. These included the beer hall putsch; Gustav Stresemann; and the poor economic and political stability in Germany. Although he then became one of the most powerful and influential leaders that Germany had ever had.
