Question: To what extent can the period between 1924-1930 be classified as the golden years of Weimar Germany? The period between 1924-1930 marked the resurgence of Germany as a cultural and political power in Europe. Germany began to recover from its crushing defeat in the war thanks to the resolution of a host of issues that were plaguing its very foundation, namely the partisan divide of its politics, the disastrous hyper inflation, and its isolated status as a state. In contrast to the previous five years, it enjoyed relative prosperity, social advancement, and stable international relations. It is for these reasons that this essay will argue that the period between 1924-1930 in Weimar Germany can be appropriately termed as the Golden Years.
As well as this, the Young Plan in 1920 was introduced which was even seen as a better stabiliser for Germany for their political problems. The French and Belgians withdrew from the Ruhr in April 1924 which meant that there was a huge difference in the progress of the political calm in the period of mid 1920’s as more responsibility was given to the Germans. However,
“Germany experienced a period of political calm, economic development and social progress in the mid 1920s.” How far do you agree with this judgement? The Stresemann years of 1924-29 have often been portrayed as the “golden years” of Weimar Germany; however this idea has been challenged my many historians. During this period there was an element of political calm but it was mainly typified by political inaction and a failure of coalition governments to agree on any important issues. Economic development did occur but was minimal, and the period was one of slow economic growth and “relative stagnation”. Similarly, there were several signs of social progress and cultural development, but the years were significantly characterised by cultural polarisation.
Germany, after their defeat in World War I, was especially affected by the recession. For this reason, the Lausanne Peace Conference was held. At the Conference, Britain decided to provide Germany with a form of economic aid in return for peace. Because of this, Germany now had the economic resources required to remilitarize. Britain unknowingly was succumbing to Germany’s desire to rearm by providing them with economic aid.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Germany economy was in a desperate state and still reeling from the effects of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Hitler decided that a revival of the economy was a necessity in order to achieve his ideological aims for the future of Germany. He even stated that ‘the needs of the state, varying according to time and circumstances are the crucial factor’, and Hitler believed that Germany was a great state, and therefore needed a strong economy in order to achieve her potential, which arguably Hitler perceived, as world power. There were four basic aims for the economy. Firstly, Hitler wished to tackle the depression which Germany was suffering from, and to generate employment, as unemployment was close to six billion in 1930.
Stresemann ended the hyperinflation crisis of 1923 by introducing a new currency, the Rentenmark, which was backed by US loans to replace the now worthless mark. This suggests that the period 1924-1929 were ‘golden’ to a certain extent as they managed to stabilise the German currency. In addition, the introduction of a new currency encouraged foreign investment in the German economy as other countries could be sure that the currency was stable and therefore a worthwhile investment and also increased industries and therefore solved the vast unemployment which had been a problem within Germany for many years previous to the Weimar constitution. The increase in industry is shown through the fact that by 1929 Germany was producing 33% more produce than in 1913, thus inferring that the ‘golden years’ were a turning point for Germany. Additionally, Stresemann negotiated the Dawes Plan in 1924 which softened the blow of reparations on Germany as well as securing loans from America which proved invaluable in turning around the German
In the year 1924 one of Stresemann’s aims as Foreign Minister of Germany was to get the country back on its feet financially so that it would be possible to keep up with the set negotiations by the Treaty of Versailles. Being that when the Weimar Government signed the Treaty they agreed to pay reparation to all of the allied countries at a cost of £6.6 Billion, this proved to be very hard for German economy to keep up with after the First World War. Stresemann helped Germany at this point by adding reforms to the country such as the Dawes Plan; this was an agreement made between he and American banker Charles G. Dawes had made that stated that the Ruhr area was to be evacuated by Allied occupation troops, the Reichsbank would be reorganized under Allied supervision, and sources for the reparation money would include transportation, excise, and custom taxes. This ended the hyperinflation and also gave Germany longer to pay reparations. Stresemann was also able to make the agreement with the USA that America would be lending Germany 800 million gold marks, which kick-started the German economy.
By convincing Hindenburg that there was a large communist threat the country was put into a state of emergency and, with Hindenburg’s backing, Hitler was allowed to pass decrees to govern Germany anyway he liked, with the financial backing of krupp and bosch etc, which in this case is fortunate for the question at hand. Consequently this is why I believe it was the most important event to dictatorship because it was the “spark” that allowed any other event to happen and without it democracy may have just struggled on. One of these events was the election in 1933. Now Hitler had the power to convince Hindenburg to allow him
The years 1924-1929 were seen as the golden period for Weimar Germany both politically and economically. There were many achievements at this time such as the introduction of a new currency and the signing of treaties which many people considered to be signs of economic and political stability. To a certain extent there was stability in Germany however there were factors such as reliance on foreign loans and the change in government which arguably showed that Germany was not in a stable position after all. Political stability is when a state of peace is experienced both in and out of the country due to the activities of the government and economical stability can be shown when a country has steady and constant growth without any inflation. To a large extent Germany was very economically stable as Stresemann introduced a new currency and gained loans from the USA under the Dawes plan.
There were many attributes that aided Hitler in his rise to power. Since the First World War in 1914 Germany’s government had been very unstable, and of course was not helped by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Due to the reparations evoked by the treaty and the cost of war, Germany experienced hyperinflation that was only solved in 1924 with a series of loans from America. Just as Germany’s economy was improving the Wall Street crash occurred in 1929 where America requested repayment of all their loans. These events created the perfect conditions for a new radical party to rise to power: The Nazis.