Entire Section 2: Golden Years of the Weimar Republic

Question 1

In order to recover Germany’s economy, what 3 steps did Stresemann take?

Answer 1

1) Germany ended its policy of resistance, which had led to serious unrest in Germany and had led to the attempted Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. Ending passive resistance meant that the government stopped paying workers who refused to work for the French.
2) In November 1923, a new currency, the Rentenmark was brought in. The government kept tight control of the amount of money in circulation in order to prevent inflation reappearing. In August 1924 the Retenmark became the Reichsmark, backed by the German gold reserve.
3) Stresemann’s government cut expenditure and raised taxes. The salaries of government employees were cut, some 300,000 civil servants lost their jobs and taxes were raised for both individuals and companies. As government debt fell, confidence was restored.

Question 2

How long was Stresemann Chancellor of Germany for?

Answer 2

1) 103 days.

Question 3

What led to the creation of the Dawes plan?

Answer 3

1) Stresemann had asked the Allies’ Reparations Committee to set up a committee of financial experts to address Germany’s repayment concerns.
2) The USA had a vested interest in getting Germany back to a position where reparations could be made to France, because much of this money was passed onto the US in the form of loans

Question 4

Who was Charles Dawes?

Answer 4

1) American banker Charles Dawes became the head of the reparations committee.

Question 5

When was the Dawes plan finalised and what did it recommend?

Answer 5

1) Finalised in April 1924.
2) -Confirmed the original figure of reparations as 123,000 million gold marks.
- Recommended that the amount paid each year by Germany should be reduced until 1929, when the situation would be reappraised. It proposed that Germany should restart reparations by paying 1000 million marks and that this sum should be raised by annual increments over 5 years by 2500 million marks per year. After this, the sum should be related to German industrial performance.
- Germany should receive a large loan of 800 million marks from the USA to help get the plan started and to allow for heavy investment in infrastructure.

Question 6

What benefits did the Dawes plan bring to Germany?

Answer 6

1) The allies accepted that Germany’s problems with the payment of reparations were real.
2) Loans were granted, with which new machinery, factories, houses and jobs could be provided and the German economy rebuilt.
3) The French gradually began to leave the Ruhr during 1924-25, once it became clear that Germany was going to restart paying reparations and the occupation could no longer be justified, which led to German optimism growing.

Question 7

What happened to German industrial output after 1924?

Answer 7

1) German industrial output grew after 1924, but did not reach the levels of 1913 u til 1929.

Question 8

Where were industrial advancements made?

Answer 8

1) Advances were made in the chemical industry, su h as the large scale production of artificial fertilisers.
2) The car and aeroplane industries also developed, although cars were still too expensive for the average German

Question 9

What did the inflation rate look like in 1924?

Answer 9

1) The inflation rate was close to zero and living standards also began to rise.

Question 10

What did government loans help to do?

Answer 10

1) Loans helped to finance the building of houses, schools, municipal buildings, roads and public works.
2) Money was also spent on welfare payments and health improvements and in 1924, new schemes of relief were launched.

Question 11

Why did the number of strikes in Germany decrease?

Answer 11

1) Partly because a new system of compulsory arbitration for settling industry disputes was issued.

Question 12

What were the limits to Germany’s economic recovery?

Answer 12

1) In a speech given shortly before his death, Stresemann warned ‘The economic position is only flourishing on the surface. Germany is a dancing volcano’.
2) Unemployment had become a continuous problem. By the end of 1925, unemployment had reached one million and by March 1926 it had reached 3 million, although it did fall after that.

Question 13

What did farmers gain from the economic recovery?

Answer 13

1) Farmers gained very little from economic recovery.

2) A worldwide agricultural depression kept food prices low and few farmers were able to make profit on their land.

Question 14

What did the government do for farmers after 1923, and were the effects of this?

Answer 14

1) After 1923, the government made it easier for farmers to borrow money.
2) This made matters worse because farmers became saddled with debt at a time when prices were falling and therefore they could not keep up with repayments.

Question 15

How did governments try to rectify the situations that farmers found themselves in?

Answer 15

1) Governments tried to relieve farmers plight by introducing high import tariffs on food products, import controls and subsidies to farmers, but this did not do enough.

Question 16

What was the Young Plan? When was it signed?

Answer 16

1) The Young Plan obliged Germany to continue paying reparations until 1988.
2) The total reparations bill was considerably reduced, with Germany being required to pay £1.8 billion instead of the original £6.5 billion, however the annual payment was required to increase.
3) All foreign control over reparations was ended and the responsibility for paying reparations was placed solely on the German government. In return, Britain and France agreed to withdraw all their troops from the Rhineland by June 1930.
4) Signed in August 1929.

Question 17

Why did the Young Plan come about?

Answer 17

1) Although the French and Belgians left the Ruhr by 1925, Allied forces remained in occupation of the Rhineland.
2) The French would not agree to withdraw these forces unless and until a final settlement of the reparations issue had been agreed.
3) Stresemann, who had continued as Foreign Minister after his own coalition collapsed agreed that the reparations issue should be resolved.

Question 18

What was the reaction to the Young Plan?

Answer 18

1) The Young Plan inflamed nationalist opinion in Germany.
2) The new leader of the right wing DNVP Hugenburg, launched a nationwide campaign against the plan, which involved other conservative groups including the Nazi’s.

Question 19

What was the freedom law?

Answer 19

1) The Freedom law required the government to renounce the war-guilt clause of the TOV.
2) To demand immediate evacuation of the occupied areas and declared that any minister who had signed a treaty that involved acceptance of war guilt would be trialed for treason.

Question 20

What happened to the Freedom Law?

Answer 20

1) Hugenburg and other conservative parties demanded that it should be submitted to a national referendum.
2) Hugenburg’s group launched a petition in support of their freedom law and attracted 4,135,000 signatures, enough to ensure it would be put to a referendum and debated in the Reichstag.

Question 21

What was the result of the Reichstag debate on the ‘freedom law’ and the referendum result on it?

Answer 21

1) In the Reichstag the ‘freedom law’ was decisively defeated.
2) Defeated in the referendum, however received 13.8% of the populations vote.

Question 22

What did the ‘freedom law’ referendum show?

Answer 22

1) It was an indication of the depth of support for right-wing nationalism.
2) Also Adolf Hitler’s leading role in the campaign, financed by Hugenburg which enabled Hitler to make a decisive breakthrough as a national political figure.

Question 23

What was the German policy of fulfilment? What did Stresemann hope to get out of it?

Answer 23

1) Involved Germany cooperating with France, Great Britain, the USA and Italy on issues such as reparations and removing removing allied occupation forces from Germany.
2) Such cooperation was hoped to have led to more revision of the treaty than a confrontational approach.

Question 24

How did certain countries going into the signing of the Locarno Pact?

Answer 24

1) Stresemann was anxious to restore Germany’s position internationally and avoid any hostile alliance between Britain and France.
2) France were suspicious of Germany, but eventually agreed to attend as well as the USA, Britain and Italy.

Question 25

What 5 things did the Locarno Pact set out?

Answer 25

1) Germany, France and Belgium promised to respect the western frontier, as drawn up at Versailles. The frontier was to be regarded as fixed and internationally guaranteed.
2) Germany agreed to keep its troops out of the Rhineland, as demanded at Versailles.
3) Britain and Italy promised to aid Germany, France or Belgium if any of them were attacked by its neighbours,
4) Germany agreed with France, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia that any dispute between them should be settled by a conciliation committee to hold talks.
5) France signed treaties of ‘mutual agreement’ with Poland and Czechoslovakia. These said that France would make sure Germany did not break no.4.

Question 26

What did the Locarno Pact set out in terms of there being any conflicts between western borders?

Answer 26

1) The Locarno Pact also agreed that any conflict should be referred to the League of Nations.

Question 27

What was the League of Nations?

Answer 27

1) A permanent forum of states established after WW1 to meet and resolve disputes without resorting to war.
2) USA declined. Germany and Russia were initially excluded.

Question 28

Why was the Locarno Pact seen as a huge triumph?

Answer 28

1) First time that Germany had recognised the western border imposed at Versailles and accepted the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France.
2) For the French, there was a guarantee of support from the British should there ever be another German attack.
3) For the Germans, it meant that the occupation of the Rhineland would not happen again.
4) Stresemann regarded the Locarno Pact as his greatest achievement.

Question 29

What did the Locarno also eventually lead to for Germany?

Answer 29

1) Germany was accepted into the League of Nations, with Stresemann as a permanent member of the council.
2) Stresemann also was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.

Question 30

What were the similarities of Russia and Germany’s post war position?

Answer 30

1) Both had been defeated in the war and had suffered from peace treaties.
2) Both felt that the existence of an independent Poland supported by the French was a threat to their security. Poland also contained large German and Russian minorities.
3) Both were treated as an ‘outcast’ by the victorious powers and weren’t allowed to join the League of Nations.

Question 31

What did the similarities of Russia and Germany’s post war situation lead to?

Answer 31

1) Led to some Germans such as Walther Rathenau who thought that working with Russia would bring some advantages.
2) Led to the Treaty of Rapallo of April 1922.

Question 32

What did the Treaty of Rapallo mean?

Answer 32

1) Germany and Russia resumed trade and economic cooperation.
2) Diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored.
3) All claims for compensation for war damage were dropped.
4) Germany was allowed to develop new weapons and train pilots in Russia, away from the scrutiny of the Allied powers.

Question 33

How did certain nations react to the Treaty of Rapallo?

Answer 33

1) For Germany it was an important step away from its post war isolation.
2) Angered the French and the allies since it showed Germany’s intention to get around the disarmament terms of the TOV.

Question 34

Which treaty reinforced the Treaty of Rapallo and what did it show?

Answer 34

1) The Treaty of Berlin in April 1926.
2) Basically added nothing other than Germany remaining neutral if the USSR were to be at war, as long as the USSR was not the aggressor.
3) Showed how Stresemann had not lost interest in German revision of its eastern frontiers.

Question 35

What did the Allies set up in order for the Germans to comply with the disarmament clauses of the TOV?

Answer 35

1) Set up the Inter-Allied Control Commission, mainly staffed by the British and French.

Question 36

What did Germany’s secret rearmament mean?

Answer 36

1) Ensured that Germany did not fall behind other powers in technological developments.

Question 37

How did Germans find a way around the limit to the size of the army?

Answer 37

1) Under General von Seeckt, most recruits to the army were enlisted for short periods, during which they would receive intensive military training, which ensure that there would be a reserve of highly trained men who could be recalled to the army at short notice..

Question 38

What did General Seeckt seek to do with the Russians>

Answer 38

1) Aimed to restore Germany’s military might and be worked towards a military alliance with the USSR which aimed to destroy the newly developed Poland.

Question 39

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

Answer 39

1) In 1928, Germany signed the kellogg-briand pact with France and the USA.
2) International agreement was drawn up under which states would agree voluntarily to renounce the use of offensive wars to resolve disputes.