DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 07. STRESEMMAN ERA 1924-1929
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Gustav Stresemann was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1923 during the Weimar Republic period. As Chancellor and later as Foreign Minister, he implemented policies that helped stabilize Germany's economy and improve its international standing. This included establishing a new currency to end hyperinflation, crushing communist uprisings, and pursuing diplomatic agreements like the Locarno Pact to normalize Germany's relations with other European powers. However, the economic and political stability of the Weimar Republic remained fragile.
DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 07. STRESEMMAN ERA 1924-1929
- 1. DEPTH STUDY NAZI GERMANY WEIMAR REPUBLIC STRESEMANN ERA 1924-1929 07
- 2. THE APPOINTMENT Gustav Stresemann was appointed chancellor and his policies would help to transform the fortunes of Weimar. He had been a strong supporter of Germany’s involvement in World War I and advocated unrestricted submarine warfare as the only means to defeat Britain.
- 3. OWN PARTY At first, Stresemann felt no loyalty to the new Weimar Republic, and he opposed the Treaty of Versailles. He set up his own party the German People’s Party (DVP). His views developed and he advocated a great coalition from the SPD to the DVP to consolidate democracy against the extremes of left and right.
- 4. ACTIVITY AS CHANCELLOR He became Chancellor in August 1923. His government lasted a hundred days until November 1923 but he remained as foreign minister in successive coalitions until his death in October 1929. As Chancellor he took the crucial step of ceasing financial support to the general strike in the Ruhr. He introduced a new and stable currency (the Rentenmark) that ended the hyper-inflation. He also crushed a communist revolt in Saxony and faced down the threat from Hitler in Bavaria.
- 5. POLICY OF FULFILMENT During six years, as foreign minister he wanted to improve Germany’s international position, cooperate with France and Britain in order to secure a revision of some of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This policy became known as fulfilment.
- 6. THE PERIOD OF PROSPERITY He achieved success. Under Anglo-American pressure France withdrew from the Ruhr. Stresemann accepted the recommendations of the Dawes committee for a settlement of the reparations issue. A moderate scale of payments was fixed rising from £50 million to £125 million after 5 years and a 2-year moratorium (suspension) on reparation payments was set. A loan of $800 million was raised for Germany, mainly in America. For the next 5 years American loans poured into Germany which greatly improved the economic position.
- 7. EVACUATING RHINELAND As part of this policy of co-operation, the first of the three Rhineland zones which had been placed under Allied military occupation by the Treaty of Versailles were evacuated in 1926. In 1927 the Inter-Allied Control Commission to supervise German disarmament was withdrawn.
- 10. YOUNG PLAN The Young Plan agreed in 1929 greatly reduced German reparations to a figure of £2 billion and Repayments were to be made over a period of 59 years. Stresemann also won complete allied evacuation of the Rhineland by June 1930 (five years ahead of schedule).
- 11. DID WEIMAR ECONOMY REALLY RECOVER? The years 1924 to 1929 have been referred to as Weimar’s ‘Golden Years’, but historians disagree as to just how much the German economy recovered from the effects of World War One and hyperinflation.
- 13. FOCUS FOR HOPES It is hardly surprising that when he died of a stroke in October 1929 at the early age of fifty-one Stresemann’s reputation stood very high. He had also become a focus for hopes of European peace. Hitler is reported to have remarked that in Stresemann’s position “he could not have achieved more”.
- 14. CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ERA The Weimar Republic, however weak its economy and its political system, was one of the most fertile grounds for the modern arts and sciences in history. The republic also saw greater sexual freedom and tolerance. Berlin became a center of many new art movements such as expressionism. Its status in the world of the arts resembled the place of New York after 1945.
- 15. PAINTING THE NEW OBJECTIVITY Before the war, most German art was detached from everyday life. In contract, most Weimar artists tried to show everyday life; they wanted to be understood by ordinary people, and they believed that art should comment on the society of the time. This new approach was given the name NEUE SACHLICHKEIT, because artists tried to portray society in an objective way. New objectivity was associated with painters such as George Grosz and Otto
- 16. ACTIVITY – Source 1 THIS PICTURE CONTAINS A NUMBER OF SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS. WHO OR WHAT DO YOU THINK EACH OF THEM REPRESENTS? Grey Day by George Grosz, 1921. Grosz had been wounded in the war and often shows war disabled in his paintings, along with robot- or doll-like figures who seem to have no control over their lives. His characters are placed in hectic and depressing cities. He joined the Communist Party in 1918 but remained pessimistic about the chances of social improvement. In the same year as he completed this painting, he was taken to court on a charge of insulting the German army. The man with the moustache is wearing a badge which shows he supports the monarchy, not the Republic.
- 17. ACTIVITY – Source 2 WHAT IS DIX’S ATTITUDE TO THE URBAN MIDDLE CLASS? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER WITH REFERENCE TO THE SOURCE. Big City by Otto Dix, 1927-1928. Dix lived in the cities of Dresden, Dusseldorf and Berlin during the 1920’s. He searched for personalities he could include in his paintings to show the uglier side of human nature. He said that it was his wartime experiences which had made him aware of this. The central panel shows a nightclub with a jazz band playing to fashionably dressed, middle-class urban people. The other two panels show the revelers on their way home, confronted by the other side of city life.
- 18. ACTIVITY – QUESTION WHAT DO SOURCES 1 AND 2 HAVE IN COMMON?
- 19. GERMAN CINEMA AND MUSIC Great film companies made German cinema one of the most notable in the world (never again achieved). Fritz Lang’s work was regarded as pioneering at the time. Leading composers of music taught and heard their works first performed in Weimar Germany. Cabaret was popular and the singer Marlene Dietrich’s
- 20. METROPOLIS - BY FRITZ LANG THE MOST TECHNICALLY ADVANCED FILM OF THE 20’S (SILENT MOVIE) PRODUCED IN 1927, IS ONE OF THE FIRST SCIENCE FICTION FILMS IN HISTORY WIDELY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST AND INFLUENTIAL FILMS EVER MADE AN ART DECO & GOTHIC MOVIE, INSPIRED BY THE SKYSCRAPERS IN NEW YORK EXPLORES THE THEMES OF INDUSTRIALISATION AND MASS PRODUCTION, TWO DEVELOPMENTS PLAYING A ROLE IN THE WAR THEMES IN METROPOLIS INCLUDE THE WEIMAR VIEW OF AMERICAN MODERNITY, FASCISM, AND COMMUNISM. SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdtZv3XROnc&ab_channel=Rott enTomatoesClassicTrailers
- 22. THE BAUHAUS SCHOOL The Bauhaus school near Weimar was well-known for its architecture, and the theatres in Berlin and Frankfurt led the way internationally.
- 23. LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY Thomas and Heinrich Mann and Bertolt Brecht were world famous writers. Philosophy also flourished.
- 24. ACADEMIC WORLD The Weimar Republic "inherited" excellent universities and science centres from the Wilhelmine period. German was the international language in physics and chemistry. Albert Einstein lived and taught in Berlin.
- 25. THE WILHELMINE PERIOD FACT: The Wilhelmine Period comprises the period of German history between 1890 and 1918, during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck until the end of World War I and Wilhelm's abdication during the November Revolution.
- 26. CONSERVATIVE VIEW Not everyone was happy with the new cultural freedom in Weimar. To the right, Weimar Culture confirmed the image of a hedonistic, amoral, and degenerate society. The fact that many leading artists associated with the Communist Party (which was fashionable in intellectual circles all over Europe) and the strong representation of Jews in the new artistic movements increased this hostility.
- 27. WEIMAR CULTURE EMIGRATION When the Nazis came to power most of the leading figures of Weimar culture had to emigrate. A mass exodus of academics, physicists, film directors, and writers took place, and many went to the United States, which inherited Weimar culture. 20 Nobel prize winners left and over 2000 people involved in the arts.
- 28. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS After losing World War One, being forced to take the blame for the conflict and the subsequent issues surrounding payment of reparations, Germany was an international outcast. Germans were still incredibly bitter about their treatment in the Treaty of Versailles, where they also lost territory on all sides. Stresemann oversaw a dramatic improvement in Germany’s relationship with the rest of Europe between 1925 and 1928. This is best illustrated by three
- 29. THE LOCARNO PACT In 1925 he took the initiative that led to the Locarno Pact. Under this agreement, Germany recognised her Western frontiers as final and agreed to use peaceful means to ensure revision of her frontiers in the east. Stresemann was a German nationalist and was not prepared to give up what he saw as legitimate demands for the return of Danzig and the northern half of the Polish Corridor.
- 30. THE TREATIES Pact of Locarno was signed on December 1, 1925. It consisted as a series of agreements in which Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy mutually guaranteed peace in western Europe. The treaties were initialed at Locarno, in Switzerland, on October 16 and signed in London on December 1.
- 31. TERMS The agreements consisted of (1) a treaty of mutual guarantee between Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Italy; (2)arbitration treaties between Germany and Belgium and between Germany and France; (3)a note from the former Allies to Germany explaining the use of sanctions against a covenant-breaking state as outlined in article 16 of the League of Nations Covenant; (4)arbitration treaties between Germany and Czechoslovakia and between Germany and Poland; and (5)treaties of guarantee between France and Poland and between France and Czechoslovakia.
- 32. MUTUAL GUARANTEE The treaty of mutual guarantee provided that the German-Belgian and Franco-German frontiers as fixed by the Treaty of Versailles were inviolable. Also, provided provisions that Germany, Belgium, and France would never attack each other except in “legitimate defense” or in consequence of a League of Nations obligation. All their disputes will be settled by pacific means; and that in case of an alleged breach of these undertakings, the signatories would come to the defense of the party adjudged by the League to be the party attacked and also in case of a “flagrant violation.” The treaties of guarantee between France and Poland or Czechoslovakia provided for mutual support against unprovoked attack. A further consequence of the pact was the evacuation of Allied troops from the Rhineland in 1930, five years ahead of schedule.
- 33. ULTIMATE MEANING OF THE TREATIES The clear meaning of Locarno was that Germany renounced the use of force to change its western frontiers but agreed only to arbitration as regards its eastern frontiers, and that Great Britain promised to defend Belgium and France but not Poland and Czechoslovakia. In March 1936 Germany sent troops into the Rhineland, which had been demilitarized by the Treaty of Versailles, declaring that the situation envisaged at Locarno had been changed by the Franco-Soviet alliance of 1935. France regarded the German move as a “flagrant violation” of Locarno, but Great Britain declined to do so, and no action was taken. Germany made no effort to arbitrate its dispute with Czechoslovakia in 1938 or with Poland in 1939.
- 34. JOINING THE LEAGUE In September 1926 Germany joined the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council in recognition of her status as a great power. In October 1925 Germany, France and Belgium agreed to respect their post- Versailles borders, whilst Germany agreed with Poland and Czechoslovakia to settle any border disputes peacefully. Germany had previously
- 35. KELLOGG- BRIAND PACT 1928 Germany was one of 62 countries that signed up to this agreement, which committed its signatories to settling disputes between them peacefully.
- 36. KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, also called Pact of Paris, was signed on August 27, 1928. It was a multilateral agreement attempting to eliminate war as an instrument of national policy. It was the biggest of a series of peacekeeping efforts after World War I. Hoping to bring the United States into a system of protective alliances directed against a possible resurgence of German aggression, the French foreign minister, Aristide Briand, first suggested a bilateral nonaggression pact in the spring of 1927. The U.S. secretary of state, Frank B. Kellogg, proposed that the pact be converted into a general multilateral treaty, which the French accepted.
- 37. KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT 1928 As a result of Kellogg’s proposal, nearly all the nations of the world eventually subscribed to the Kellogg-Briand Pact, agreeing to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and to settle all international disputes by peaceful means. The treaty failed to establish a means of enforcement, so the agreement was completely ineffective.
- 38. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY These developments meant that Germany was accepted into the emerging ‘international community’ that sought to work together during the 1920s to avoid another destructive war. It also helped Germany’s internal wounds to heal – the government was seen to be taking decisive action to make life better for people and right some of the wrongs that the Treaty of Versailles had caused. This led to greater political stability and less extremism. This ethos of collaboration and peaceful cooperation only lasted, however, until the onset of the Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash of October 1929.
- 39. CHANGES IN SOCIETY 1924-1929 There is doubt from some historians as to whether the ‘Golden Age’ existed. There were improvements that helped ordinary working Germans. • Hourly wages rose in real terms (above inflation) every year from 1924 to 1930, with a rise of 10% in 1928 alone. • Pensions and sickness benefits schemes were introduced. • Compulsory unemployment insurance was introduced in 1927, which covered 17 million workers. • Government subsidies were provided for the building of local parks, schools and sports facilities, and there was a massive programme of council house construction. Despite all of this, a large increase in the working age population during the mid-20’s led to increasing unemployment, and farmers in
- 40. CHANGES IN THE POSITION OF WOMEN German women contributed a lot to the war effort during WW1. After the war the government ordered women to return to their pre-war roles, in low-skilled jobs or in the home, to allow returning soldiers to take up work: • Women were pressured to return to their ‘traditional’ role as wives/mothers. • Attitudes towards women changed according to how well the economy did. • During times of economic crisis, such as the hyperinflation of 1923 and during the Great Depression, women returning home were seen as a solution to the problem of unemployment.
- 41. CHANGES IN THE POSITION OF WOMEN 2 • During the recovery of the mid-1920s women were welcomed into the workforce. • The number of women in work was 1.7 million higher in 1925 than it had been in 1907. • Women were increasingly taking on white collar jobs, though these were mainly done by single women under 25. • The percentage of women in work only rose by less than 1% between 1907 and 1925.