1 - stresemann & the golden years

Question 1

currency introduced after hyperinflation of 1923

Answer 1

Rentenmark (equal to 1 billion old marks)

Question 2

Dawes Plan (1924)

Answer 2

• international loan of 800 million gold marks financed by the USA as they were the least economically depleted after WW1
• new Rentenmark
• new Reichsbank set up under Allied supervision
• reparation payments to be paid annually over a longer period

Question 3

social improvements of the Weimar Republic

Answer 3

• culture -> art, nightlife, entertainment, music, film, etc.
• women’s rights improved
• wider acceptance of LGBTQ+ through cabaret

Question 4

political improvements of the Weimar Republic

Answer 4

• first German democratic party
• periods of stability under Stresemann
• foreign relations (eg. with USA) improved

Question 5

economic improvements of the Weimar Republic

Answer 5

• certain borrowers were able to pay off debts
• pensions added under Stresemann
• Dawes Plan added some relief

Question 6

social-economic improvements under Stresemann

Answer 6

• wages for workers ^
• eight-hour work day
• standard of living ^
• welfare benefits & pensions ^

Question 7

social-economic problems under Stresemann

Answer 7

• farmworkers’ earnings = 1/2 national average (by 1929)
• still extremes of wealth & poverty
• wage disputes & strikes
• concern over cost of welfare system & level of taxation

Question 8

Locarno Treaties (1925)

Answer 8

guaranteed Germany’s frontiers w/ France & Belgium, but not east

Question 9

When did Germany join the League of Nations?

Answer 9

1926

Question 10

When did the Allied Disarmament Commission withdraw from Germany?

Answer 10

January 1927

Question 11

When did Allied troops withdraw from garrisons in the Rhineland?

Answer 11

August 1927

Question 12

Young Plan (1929)

Answer 12

reduced reparations, & Britain and France agreed to evacuate the Rhineland by the end of June 1930

Question 13

culture improvements under Stresemann

Answer 13

• architecture flourished
• painters formed New Objectivity Movement
• film industry grew & produced controversial films (eg. ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’)
• jazz = popular in nightclubs & bars

Question 14

New Objectivity Movement

Answer 14

artists group created under Stresemann, including Otto Dix

Question 15

failures of the Golden Years

Answer 15

• Republic did not win loyalty from either the left or right
• many scandalised by the culture (especially cabaret clubs)
• economy burdened by the war, cost of welfare, & reparations
• governments were short-lived (unstable coalitions)

Question 16

Great Coalition

Answer 16

September 1923, Stresemann’s coalition of SPD, DDP, Centre & DVP, continued under Müller

Question 17

When was Gustav Stresemann appointed?

Answer 17

September 1923

Question 18

Rentenmark

Answer 18

currency introduced after hyperinflation of 1923