Weimar Government and the Treaty of Versaillies

Effects of the Treaty of Versaillies on the Weimar

Germans were appalled by the Treaty
the people turned there fury on the Weimar government
they blamed them for the Treaty of Versaillies as they had signed it
political opponents of the Weimar government used this hatred to get support for there own political parties
many people thought they had been 'stabbed in the back' by the government
they thought the government had betrayed them
the reparation payments of £6.6 billion from the Treaty of Versaillies caused an economic crisis in Germany

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in 1922 reparations were not paid as the government wanted to get more time to pay them off
however, the Allies grew impatient as they too had debts to pay to America from the war
so in 1923 French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr and took what they were owed in raw material and goods
this was disastrous for Germany
German workers we ordered to go on strike so that nothing could be taken by the Allies as production stopped
the French reaction to this was to kill over 100 workers
the halt in German production caused the collapse of the German currency (marks)

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there were no goods to trade in Germany so the government decided to print off more money
this meant they could pay off there debts
but because there was more money in circulation prices went up
this lead the money to become worthless
workers had to use wheelbarrows to take home there wages and there were paid daily instead of weekly
poor people suffered but the rich people that had savings saw there money become worthless
the price of a house in 1921 couldn't buy a loaf of bread in 1923!
it was clear that this situation needed urgent action so in 1923 Stresemann took over
he called off the passive resistance in the Ruhr and burned the marks and created a new currency (Rentenmarks)
he helped create the Dawes Plan and renegotiated reparation payments
he solved Germany's economic crisis
Hyperinflation had damaged the Weimar government and its opponents had something else to blame them for so the Weimar government lost much support

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