2. Weimar’s Golden Years

Question 1

What events of September 1923 are seen as the beginning of Weimar’s Golden Years?

(The appointment of who and the establishment of what?)

Answer 1

the appointment of Gustav Stresemann, and the establishment of a ’Great Coalition’

Question 2

Economic disadvantages in the Golden Years

Answer 2

• stability of economy -> increase in the cost of exports
  > industrialists had to cut down on their costs by making workers redundant
• Heavy dependence on loans; the economy would be damaged if withdrawn
• global overproduction -> agricultural depression
  (food had been imported so that Germany could export industrial goods)

Question 3

Poliical stability in the Golden Years

Answer 3

• Democracy-supporting parties gained 136 seats more than radical parties

Question 4

Poliical instability in the Golden Years

Answer 4

• SPD & Liberals disagreed over social/economic policies
  > coalitions remained unstable
• Hindenburg [president since 1925] wanted to exclude SPD from government and bring in the DNVP (right-wing)

Question 5

Social improvements in the Golden Years

Answer 5

• increase in workers’ wages
• introduction of an 8 hour work day
• increase in the standard of living
• increase of welfare benefits & pensions

Question 6

Social disadvantages in the Golden Years

Answer 6

• By 1929: the earnings of farmworkers were only 1/2 of the national average
• there were still extremes of wealth & poverty
• wage disputes & strikes

Question 7

How successful were Stresemann’s foreign policies?

Answer 7

Stresemann’s foreign policies were successful in the sense that they caused the revision of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany’s favour. However, the policies angered the nationalists, who didn’t want to negotiate with their former ‘enemies’.

Question 8

What were Stresemann’s foreign policy successes?

Answer 8

• 1925: Locarno Treaties: guaranteed Germany’s borders with France & Belgium (but not their borders in the east)
• 1926: Germany joined the League of Nations
• Jan 1927: Allied Disarmament Commission withdrew from Germany
• Aug 1927: Allied troops were withdrawn from garrisons in the Rhineland
• 1929: Young Plan

Question 9

Flaws within the Golden Years?

Answer 9

• the republic did not win loyalty from either the left or the right
• many were scandalised by the ’Old Germany’ culture (e.g. cabaret clubs; mocked their values with jazz and nudity)
• the economy was burdened by the war, welfare costs, and reparations
• unstable coalitions -> short-lived governments