STRESEMANN & WEIMAR STABILITY Germany 1924-1929

STRESEMANN WAS HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE NEGOTIATIONS + HIS DEMAND FOR ALLIES TO ACCEPT GERMANY AS AN EQUAL was successful as under Dawes Plan;

- France and Belgium withdraw from the Ruhr mid-1925, freeing up Germany’s industrial resources there
- under the Dawes Plan, Germany’s annual reparation payments would be reduced, increasing over time as country becomes more independent financially, this allowed Germany chance to rebuild its nation  
- Reparations reduced in the short term to 2.5 billion marks per year, but 1 billion marks for the first year 
- US would give loans to Germany to be used on their industrial capacity, loans totalled $25 billion.
- German economic growth after 1924 exceeded that of France and Britain

SO, Dawes Plan allowed more sympathy towards Germany, common ground with allies as Dawes Plan adressed the issue that germany couldn't pay reparations in full due to its economic instability, allowed Germany to not be burdened by their financial issues, chance to rebuild its international position as a great power  

STRESEMANN MADE PROGRESS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS and in 1925 he signed the Locarno Pact, a treaty between Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Belgium;

- Germany agreed to border with France and Belgium and in return the last Allied troops left the Rhineland, 

- France promised peace with Germany,warming up to Germany 

- the powers agreed to start negotiations regarding Germany joining the League of Nations, 

- Germany’s frontiers in the east were regarded as negotiable giving Stresemann the opportunity in future to negotiate the frontiers with Poland and Czechoslovakia as it meant that Germany's lost territories could be regained  

- treaty would make a conflict in Europe less likely to occur between the European powers = less conflict means more allies = strong defence = strong country

Stresemann saw this as a triumph as Germany was being treated as an equal, not being dictated to and forced upon them like TofV+ development of foreign relations, not isolated as showed that Germany was starting to be treated as an equal partner in foreign affairs

STRESEMANN MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR GERMANY TO BECOME PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS A GREAT POWER, as when the League of Nations was set up as part of the Versailles agreement Germany was initially excluded but by  1926, Germany joined the League of Nations

- by signing the locarno treaties, Germany showed that it was accepting the Versailles settlement so a year later was accepted as a permanent member of the League of Nations,

- one of the most powerful countries in the League 

- Germany not isolated anymore, accepted into international community + Stresemann saw this opportunity as a way wherein GR could lessen the limitations imposed upon them as of TofV

- For example, 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.

Stresemann continued to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union;

- signed the Treaty of Berlin, a Soviet-German agreement renewing the Treaty of Rapallo that they had signed back in 1922 

- promoted economic co-operation this treaty set up the opportunity for Germany to secretly build up its armed forces on Soviet territory, so the Allies couldn’t find out about this breach of the Versailles treaty 

-by 1929 Germany was producing 33% more than before the war and had regained her status as the second-highest producing industrial nation after the US, slowly regaining its international position as a country of great power

- maintaining foreign relations + building defence, 

STRESEMAN ACCEPTED THE YOUNG PLAN after making agreements w/ France + Brit to withdraw FR & Brit troops from Rhineland 

- The Young Plan agreed in 1929 greatly reduced German reparations to a figure of £2 billion

- Repayments were to be made over a period of 59 years

- Stresemann also won complete allied evacuation of the Rhineland by June 1930, meaning that the last of the occupying troops would leave German soil, five years ahead of the original schedule made at TofV

- no more foreign supervision shows they were allowing Germany to be trusted more by foreign powers = gaining back status as a great power, becoming more independant

However, some historians would contend that the improvement in Germany's international position was due to its dependancy on American loans rather than Gustav Stresemann as the economic growth of Germany made the nation a well-sought for trading partner;

- 1924 and 1929 the dying German economy was injected with more than $25 billion of foreign money

- More than half of this money came from American loans & many was organised by American bankers acting as intermediaries e.g. Germany was loaned 800 million Marks  from the USA

- The American government and US corporations also provided Germany with financial and industrial expertise, e.g. JP Morgan was a lead coordinator in aiding German finances, and he was one of the world's leading bankers

SO, actually it was perhaps the significant contribution of the US that allowed improvement

IMPORTANT TO NOTE IN THE INTRO THAT: in 1923, the Weimar Republic was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which consequently isolated  the nation as of the "war guilt" clause that placed all the blame on Germany for starting the war. However, this crisis was followed by a period of relative stability and success from 1924 to 1929 as this was a time when the Weimar economy and foregin relations developed due to Stresemann as he allowed Germany’s international position to slowly grow and regain its status as a power nation. 

REMEMBER;
- Line of Argument: 
- Factors agreeing with question
- Counterargument

IN THE CONCLUSION: Stresemann's role was significant as achieved a lot as his attempts to make Germany a great power nation was to an extent, successful (give some examples). However, as some historians argue, Germany was dependant on US loans + nationalist opponents & Weimar citizens thought of his developments as a betrayal