Stressemann and the Great Depression:

german recovery was largerly to do with the work of Gustav Stressemann- his international and economic policies allowed germany to live in peace and prosperity for at least five years.
1. the DAWES PLAN: stressemann realised that germany was not capable of paying such a large amount and persuaded the allies to lower the payments via the dawes plan in august 1924. the reparations were lowered to 1 billion marks for the 1st year and would increase to 2.5 billion marks per year over the period of four years- this was sensible as the germans could actually pay their debt. the allied troops were evacuated from the Ruhr(1925), the reichsbank would be reorganised under allied supervision and the USA would give loans to assist germany with its econocmic recovery.
  1. US LOANS: in relation to the dawes plan, they began with a loan of 800 million marks however, ovver the next six years $3000 million was given by american companies- this helped the germans to meet their reparations.
2. RENTENMARK: the result of hyperinflation in 1923, the value of the german mark was lost. in novmeber 1923, stressemann intoduced a temporary currency called the rentenmark- issues were based on property rather than gold reserves. the introduction of the new currency gave the people hope, later it was coverted into the permanent currency called the REICHSMARK-which was backed by gold reserves.
3. THE YOUNG PLAN: stressemannn had managed to lower the reparations howver, the germans regularly complained about how much they had to pay.in 1929, allied reparartions committee asked an american banker to try and create a new payment plan. the figures were reduced by three quarters from £6600 million to £1850 million- they had 59 years to pay their payments. this should have been considered an acheivement by all but many right wing politicians were not impressed as beleived that no more payments should be made.
4. LOCARNO TREATIES:Stressemann knew that in order to restore Germany's international status, the relationship between the allies and germany had to improve massively. moveover, improving the relationship would help remove certain aspects of the Treaty of Versailles. france needed to feel safe and secure so in 1925, they decided to sign the locarno treaties which stated that the borders between france, belgium and germany would remain the same.
5. LEAGUE OF NATIONS: for the locarno treaties to come into operation, germany fisrtly had to become a member of the league of nations- this organisation was established in 1920 in order to try and maintain peace. in 1926, september germany got a permanent seat on the council, this confirmed germany's return to the great power status.- stressmann also used this position to help with the economic young plan.
6. KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT: this was signed in 1928 by germany and 64 other nations. their armies would only be used for self defence and international disputes would be settled pecefully.- these international policies convinced that it was okay for the french to remove their troops from the Ruhr, the agreement to the Dawes and Young Plan and in 1927 the allied troops taht were stationed in the Rhine withdrew their position.
IMPACT of the great depression: between the period 1924-1929, germany had experienced 5 years of prosperity. howvever, in 1929, there was an economic crisis in america known as Wall Street Crash and the loans that had been given by america had to be repaid as their stock market had collapsed in october. moreover, in 1929, stressemann had died and he was the only person who could steer them out of the crisis.not only did they have to pay back the loans but the international trade decreased massively. unemployment began to ruse as multiple factories closed down. the fall in food prices put a larger strain on the farmers. some couldnt afford their rent and ended up homeless. the unemployment caused many people to move towrds the extrmeist views as they wanted out of this suffering. january 1932 total unemployment exceeded 6 million.
political stability- 1924-1929, was a period of great economic and political stability. despite this a majority of seats in the reichstag was never won but the social democrats always won the most votes. the support for the weimar goverment increased massively and so the vote for the more extreme parties were decreasing. May 1924, the social democrats had 100 seats and the nazi's had 32 in the reichstag however, in 1928 the social democrats rose to 153 wheras the nazi's number of seats fell to 12. this was all thanks to stressmann and hidenburg.
IMPACT ON THE WEIMAR GOVERMENT: the weimar goverment had disagrrements as to how they would handle the unemployment isssue. in march 1930, henrich bruning replaced chancellor muller- however, he didnt have a majority and sp had to heavily rely on article 48 and president hidenburg. when he called the general election in 1930, hoping he would win a majority- to his dismay he had to rely more on hidenburg and article 48. bruning reduced the goverments spending which made him even more unpopular as people were extremly tired of the food shortages. as the banks continued to collapse the economic hopes were falling. in may 1932, bruning resigned. the great depression made the extremist party, known as the nazis more attractive.

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Stressemann and the Great Depression:

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	Created by libi sears over 7 years ago