Weimar Republic

1.  
   • Stresemann was Chancellor in 1923 only.
   • His main role was as Foreign Minister from 1924
   • He was a right-winger and more able than Ebert
   • He built up Germany’s prosperity again although all of Europe was recovering
   •  He signed Germany up to the Dawes Plan in 1924 

• Germany’s reparations paid over a longer period
• America lent money to German industry and also to the Government to pay reparations
• German currency reorganised
• USA payed loans to Germany. Germany paid reparations to GB & France. GB & France paid war debts to USA.

Stresemann showed real skill in foreign policy - 1925

1. Locarno Treaties - 1925 

2. 1926 - Germany joined the League of Nations

3. Young Plan - 1929

Aftera a number of years in the wilderness Germany was accepted back into the international community.

• Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland met at Locarno in Switzerland.
• Signed a number of treaties to settle disputes between themselves
• France, Belgium and Germany agreed to accept borders as drawn up by Treaty of Versailles
• Rhineland stayed demilitarised
• France would protect Poland and Czechoslovakia if attacked by Germany
• Germany would not use force to settle disputes with neighbours

• The League of Nations was the fore runner of the United Nations
• Its aims were to:
•  prevent aggression by any nation
• Encourage co-operation between nations
• Work towards international disarmament
• Improve the living and working conditions of all people
• The core was collective security – members of the League could prevent war by acting together .

• Golden age of German cinema
• Night life, cabaret
• Removal of censorship
• Unemployment and poverty still high
• Growing prosperity based on USA loans
• What would happen if USA wanted the money back?

• Stresemann wasn’t popular with either the extreme nationalists like Hitler and the Nazis, or with the Communists
• Hitler disliked the League because it supported the Treaty of Versailles
• BUT both the Nazis and the Communists made little progress in these years because people were much better off and their EXTREME ideas did not appeal to people