The Recovery Years Gustav Stresemann

Learning Objectives:To know who Gustav Stresemann wasTo understand how he helped solve Germany’s problemsTo be able to evaluate his success

The Recovery Years: The work of Gustav Stresemann

Starter:

How will you alter the course of the Weimar Republic? What will your solutions be?

Problem 1: Hyperinflation

Money had become worthless, people’s lifelong savings had been lost, A loaf of bread cost … Do you

A B C

Print higher value notes. (e.g. 2 billion, 3 billion etc). That way people won’t have to use wheelbarrows to carry their money anymore.

Invent a new currency and use it to completely replace the old German mark

Wait for the currency to recover by itself. That way all those people’s savings will become worth something again.

The work of Gustav Stresemann

LO: To be able to evaluate his success

Problem 2: French troops in the Ruhr

French troops had invaded because Germany had not kept up their reparation payments.

A B C

Stresemann, you must meet up with the Americans and ask them to reduce the reparation payments.

No! Invade the Ruhr and fight the French forces. You may only have 100,000 soldiers left but it should be enough.

Refuse to pay reparations any more; you can’t afford it can you?



Problem 3: Poor International relations

Other countries don’t want to make alliances with Germany. They have been left out of the League of Nations

A B C

I know we’ve been banned from the Anchluss (making alliances with Austria). But they are our natural ally. We need to make the Anchluss once more

We can get involved with lots of peace treaties with other countries. Let’s join the League of Nations too! Just sign on the dotted line….

We want to rebuild the German Empire. That way we can defend ourselves from our enemies.



Problem 4: German industry is run down after the Great War

Factories are run down, there are only a few jobs, and poor schools, housing and hospitals.

A B C

Organise a MASSIVE loan from America to help pay for new schools, house and hospitals and to create new jobs.

Quietly build up the Germany army. This will help create new jobs.

Let the economy recover on its own- it may be slower, but it is much cheaper and it will recover eventually




LO: Who was Gustav Stresemann

Who was he?• Credited with recovery of

the Weimar Republic after 1923

• Right Wing Views – German Peoples Party (DVP)

• At first opposed to the Weimar Republic, but changed when he realised alternative was anarchy.

• Stresemann took over as Chancellor Aug -Nov1923

• Foreign secretary 1924-29• More able than Ebert

Annotate your sources • What can you see? • What does this

suggest?What do Sources A and B suggest about the role that Stresemann played in leading the Republic?


LO: Who was Gustav Stresemann

Problems Stresemann’s solution: how good was it?

Hyperinflation

French occupation of the Ruhr

International Relations

German industry is in trouble



Stresemann Policies – Success or Time bomb?

Use this PowerPoint and your analysis from your homework to assess the effectiveness of Stresemann’s policies

Problem 1: Hyperinflation



• Stops printing money. • Replaces mark with

Rentenmark (1 = 1 billion old marks)

• Pegged to US Dollar

SUCCESS?

People adapted quickly to new currency and it made things easier. But, people who had lost savings never got them back, and blamed the government

Problem 2: French troops in the Ruhr



• 1924 talks between France, USA, Italy, Belguim and Great Britain lead to Dawes Plan.

• Negotiates reparations talks• End of passive resistance

SUCCESS? French troops left the Ruhr. Germans think that Stresemann has ‘given in’ to the French ~ many think that Germany should pay nothing.

1929 Young plan further reduced what Germany owed, but they were still paying reparations until 1988.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=german+workers+in+the+ruhr&prev=/images?q=german+workers+in+the+ruhr&hl=en&biw=1599&bih=643&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&imgurl=08a7c5bd189ffeca

Dawes Plan



• Agreed to return the Ruhr to German

• Reparations were reduced to 1 billion marks for the initial year. Would increase as economy stabilised.

• USA lent US$2.5 to help redevelop war torn Germany

Young Plan



• Allied Reparations Committee assess Germany reparation progress.

• 1929 Young Plan in aimed to support German by reducing reparations further, reducing reparations to 112 billion Gold Marks – then equal to about $8 billion.

• Reparations to be paid over 59 years - equivalent of $473 million paid each year.

• Only a third of this sum was mandatory each year – about $157 million. The other two-thirds only had to be paid if Germany could afford to do so in a manner that would not harm her economic development.

• Many believed this was too generous. However, Russia was now public enemy number one and communism seen as ‘the plague of the East’.

Problem 3: Poor International Relations



• Improves relationships• Locarno Treaty: GB, France, Italy, German

and Belgium agree not to invade each other• 1926: Gets Germany into League of

Nations• 1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact: 69 countries

agree not to go to warSUCCESS? Germany becomes major European power again under Stresemann. League of Nations gives Germany some status (they are now able to take part in major decisions). But, League of Nations was ultimately a failure, and some Germans were critical of Stresemann for not using this new power to demand land back off the Allies.

Locarno Treaties



• France, Germany and Belgium agreed to accept their borders as were stated in the Treaty of Versailles.

• France and Belgium would never repeat an invasion of the Ruhr.• Germany would never attack Belgium or France again. • Britain and Italy agreed to police this part of the treaties.• Germany also accepted that the Rhineland must remain

demilitarized. • France promised to protect Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia

if Germany attacked any one of them.• Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland and

Czechoslovakia all agreed that they would never fight if they had an argument between themselves - they would allow the League to sort out the problem.

League of Nations



• The League of Nations was the fore runner of the United Nations

• Its aims were to: • prevent aggression by any nation• Encourage co-operation between

nations• Work towards international

disarmament• Improve the living and working

conditions of all people• The core was collective security –

members of the League could prevent war by acting together .

Problem 4: Germany industry run down



• Dawes Plan: gets German industry moving and reparations paid

• Schools, hospitals, roads built• US companies such as Ford and

Gillette build factories in GermanySUCCESS?

Germany slowly prospers, some call it a ‘Golden Age’, but relied heavily on American loans ~ Stresemann fearful that USA could recall them at any time.

Problem 5: Political Instability



Stresemann wasn’t popular with either the extreme nationalists like Hitler and the Nazis, or with the Communists

Hitler disliked the League because it supported the Treaty of Versailles

BUT both the Nazis and the Communists made little progress in these years because people were much better off and their EXTREME ideas did not appeal to people

Problem 5: Political Instability



• Stresemann arranged a 'Great Coalition' of the moderate pro-democracy parties (based around the SDP, the Centre party and Stresemann's own 'German people's Party', the DVP).

• Move away from left wing state governments won the support of the army – used to crush any right wing uprisings.

• United together, they were able to resist the criticism from smaller extremist parties, and in this way, he overcame the effects of proportional representation - the government had enough members of the Reichstag supporting it to pass the laws it needed.

Problem 6: Economic Reforms



Stresemann introduced reforms to make life better for the working classes - Labour Exchanges (1927) and unemployment pay. Also, 3 million new houses were built

HER R.I.P.



Hyperinflation

Economic Growth

Ruhr

Reform

International Relationships

Political Stability

Education

The Recovery Years Gustav Stresemann