Germany's Golden Years: Stable or Unstable Notes PDF

GERMANY'S GOLDEN YEARS -- STABLE OR UNSTABLE NOTES +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Evidence of stability | Evidence of instability | +===================================+===================================+ | Stressemann's belief in...

GERMANY'S GOLDEN YEARS -- STABLE OR UNSTABLE NOTES +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Evidence of stability | Evidence of instability | +===================================+===================================+ | Stressemann's belief in the Dawes | When Stressemann's government | | Plan -- greater raw materials, | collapsed in late November 1923, | | new markets for its goods and new | the Republic was in a state of | | sources of capital. Slogan | emergency that was only lifted in | | 'business not politics'. | early 1924 | | Suggested French leave the Ruhr, | | | reparations paid over longer | | | period of time, Reichsbank | | | reorganised under allied | | | supervision. Reparation payments | | | paid in such a way as not to | | | threaten the stability of the | | | German currency | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 1928 saw changes in the DVNP -- | Growth of fringe extremist groups | | fairly far right, nationalist | (communists and nationalists) -- | | party. Sharp fall in vote from | KPD (communists) election results | | 20.5% in 1924 to 14.2% in 1928. | gained 12.6% of the vote, and the | | Publishing of the Lambach article | NSDAP (nationalists) gained 6.5%. | | which urged DNVP members to | | | renounce their desire for the | | | return of the monarchy and become | | | reconciled with the permanence of | | | the republic. | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Monetary stability between 1924 | Difficulties in passing the Dawes | | and 1929 due to monetary | plan -- many parts of the dawes | | stability which particularly | plan disliked by many parties | | supported those classes impacted | within the Reichstag, Especially | | most by the hyperinflation of | the acceptance of the | | 1923. Dawes plan -- influx of | continuation of reparation | | foreign capital, around 25.5 | payments. | | billion marks between 1924 and | | | 1930. | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Growth in available capital in | Stresemann years (1924 -- 9) saw | | Germany also due to the delaying | the beginnings of an economic | | of reparation payments at the | depression and social discord | | highest rate, suggested by the | which would worsen after 1929. | | dawes plan, allowing german | | | investment in the economy.As a | | | result, national income was 12% | | | higher in 1928 than in 1913 and | | | industry experienced growth. | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Hermann Mullers Young Plan 1928:\ | The modernism of the 'Weimar | | - Time scale of reparations set | culture' stood in stark contract | | -- Germany to make payments for | to the conservatism of large | | the next 59 years until 1988 | sections of disapproving society. | | | These years were ones of cultural | | \- Responsibility for paying | division that was to be reflected | | reparations was germany's | in the events of the early 1930s | | | and beyond. | | \- Payments to increase gradually | | | and from 1929 to 1932 german was | | | to pay 1700 million RM less than | | | it would have done under the | | | Dawes plan | | | | | | \- If Germany agreed to the young | | | plan, the fend would leave the | | | Rhineland by June 1930, 5 years | | | ahead of schedule | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | The DVNP was largest party on the | | | right in the period and were made | | | up of former members of the | | | conservative party, the national | | | liberals and Christian social | | | groups. Many within the party | | | opposed both Versailles, the | | | democratic republic, and the | | | Dawes Plan. Although, there were | | | still divisions within the party | | | as there were others who were | | | prepared to work within the | | | system as this vote shows. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | The new coalition of January 1925 | | | led by Hans Luther excluded the | | | socialists but included members | | | of the nationalist DNVP for the | | | first time. Was to prove the | | | undoing of this government as the | | | DNVP objected to the terms of the | | | Locarno treaties. GOV MOVING | | | FURTHER RIGHT | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | New coalitions sought but the SPD | | | still objected to joining a | | | coalition with Bourgeois Parties | | | -- coalition with the bourgeois | | | parties would lead to a | | | compromise of the party's ideals. | | | This belief was strengthened by | | | the adoption of a Marxist based | | | series of policies by the | | | Heidelberg programme of 1925. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Actions of the SPD, in rejecting | | | political responsibility, | | | weaknened the whole process of | | | democracy as it contradicted the | | | concept of representation and | | | accountability. Actions of the | | | SPD played into the hands of the | | | opponents of the republic and | | | weakened its political | | | legitimacy, | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | From the start of his presidency, | | | Hindenburg made it clear that he | | | would not accept SPD | | | participation in coalition | | | government. Was more aligned with | | | the german nationalists -- was a | | | conservative from an aristocratic | | | background | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | In Jan 1926 Hans Luther formed a | | | minority coalition with the | | | centre party, DVP and DNP, which | | | was not to last long. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Reichstag election of May 1928 | | | saw the left make important gains | | | -- SPD increasing share of seats | | | by 22 to 152, and the KPD showing | | | a rise of 9 seats to 54. Also saw | | | rise of splinter groups such as | | | the Bauernbund (4.5% of vote) | | | which represented farmers | | | interests | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | The publishing of the Lambach | | | agreement, however, saw Hugenberg | | | elected leader of the DNVP, who | | | brought the party closer to the | | | NSDAP. Revealed anti democratic | | | feelings of the majority of the | | | DNVP membership. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Main reason for growing | | | dissolusionment with the Weimer | | | Republic was deteriorating | | | economy. Kurt Borchardt argues | | | that 1924-29 were years of slow | | | growth and relative stagnation -- | | | main reason for this was that | | | trade union power kept wages high | | | and therefore squeezed profits | | | and middle class income. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Whilst electoral popularity of | | | centre party sustained from 1920 | | | to 1929, the DDP saw a | | | considerable drop, along with the | | | DVP whose votes fell from 3.9 | | | million in 1920 to 2.7 million in | | | 1928 | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | High unemployment -- in late | | | 1928, the figure of those without | | | work was 3 million or 14.5% of | | | the workforce. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Collapse in food prices from 1922 | | | led to widespread rural poverty | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Industrial unrest -- mid 1920s | | | saw an increasingly organised | | | attack by employers on labour | | | rights. In 1923, the legislation | | | of 1918 which enforced an eight | | | hour work day was altered to | | | allow employers to institute a 10 | | | hour work day. Employers resisted | | | union demands for higher wages in | | | this period that around 76000 | | | cases were brought to | | | arbitration. In late 1928, over | | | 210,000 workers in the Ruhr were | | | locked out because ironworkers | | | would not accept the results of | | | arbitration. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | Opposition to the 1928 young plan | | | | | | \- Opponents aimed to use the | | | fact that Germany was still to | | | pay reparations as proof of the | | | Republic's failiure. | | | | | | \- Article 73 allowed a | | | referendum to be petitioned for | | | -- Hugenberg formed the Reich | | | committee for a referendum to | | | oppose the young plan and the | | | Stahlhelm (far right nationalist | | | group) leader raised 4 million | | | signatures. Campaigned involved | | | the invitiation of Hitler. | | | Managed to raise enough | | | signatures for a referendum, | | | which was held in December 1929 | | | and resulted in defeat for the | | | right. Reichstag passed the | | | relevant Young Plan legislation | | | in March 1930. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | The Wall Street Crash 1929\ | | | - Economic success of 1920s | | | depended on short term foreign | | | loans, which, following the | | | crash, were demanded back by US | | | and other countries | | | | | | \- High unemployment -- 17.7% of | | | population were unemployed | | | | | | \- Law on unemployment insurance | | | in 1927 meant that the Reich | | | Instutition was in charge of | | | unemployment benefits and was to | | | pay a fixed charge to all those | | | who were out of work. In 1927 | | | with only 1.3 milion unemployed | | | this was attainable, but with the | | | mass unemployment by 1929, the | | | Reich Institution had borrowed | | | 342 million RM to pay | | | unemployment insurance, which put | | | a serious strain on the | | | government budget. | | | | | | Result:\ | | | - SPD said the contributions to | | | the fund to help unemployed | | | should be the same or increased, | | | where DVP disagreed and advocated | | | for benefits cuts. Centre party | | | suggested a compromise to delay | | | decision until 1930, which the | | | SPD rejected, causing political | | | suicide which led to the forming | | | of the first bruning cabinet | | | without any SPD ministers. | | | DECLINING LEFT-WING INFLUENCE | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+