To What Extent Can the Weimar Republic Be Seen as the Golden Years 1924-1929?

773 Words4 Pages
To what extent can the Weimar Republic be seen as the Golden Years 1924-1929? The apparent stability and growth of Germany from the years 1924-1929 appeared to be a small miracle after the turmoil of the early post-war years however was Germany going through a real recovery or rather a false one built on foreign and a fake image? Personally, despite the arguments against this, I believe that the years 1924-1929 were not Golden Years for the Weimar Republic. The German economy in these years appeared, to the outside world, to be strong. Manufacturing and exports were up, unemployment was decreasing and the government appeared to be able to afford to offer a more socialist policy of state welfare, improved education and good public services. Despite this it is now obvious that this is a false image of the German economy at the time. One reason why this is the case is that the Government was in heavy debt and was over reliant on foreign loans and aid that could be withdrawn at short notice. This debt problem was not helped by the fact that, although exports had increased, they were still below imports and that they could not really afford the welfare state that they were trying to create. There was also a lot of conflict between trade unions and employers, with strikes and lock-outs frequent. Finally, the agricultural sector of the economy did not share in the general prosperity with food prices remaining low and farmers’ feeling abandoned by the government. All of these factors meant that the Government were spending more than they were receiving and that this ‘boom’ did not affect all parts of society, showing that these were not golden years for Germany. The German Political situation at home also appeared to be good. There were no more attempted revolutions and voting figures showed that extremist parties, such as the KPD were losing
Open Document