German Relations with other countries

• Gustav Stresemann:

  • son of a well-known restaurant owner
  • studied political economy, literature and philosophy in Berlin and Leipzig
  • 1901- he was a clerk at age 22
  • 1906- seat of the town council of Dresden
  • originally pro war
  • 1917- National Liberal Party
• The Weimar was allowed to join the League of Nations in 1926
• The Rentenmark:

  • Introduced November 1923 to tackle hyperinflation
  • The Rentenmark was used to stabilize the economy
  • Wasn't backed by Gold but by industrial and agricultural land -> only backed by gold in 1924 in which it was only reserved at 30% of the reichsmark (rentenmarks) worths
  • Hjalmar Schacht helped keep the Rentenmark in its direction -> eventually working with Hitler
• Ending Passive Resistance:

  • Stresemann called off passive resistance in the Ruhr in September
  • This was seen as a risky move
  • Led to the Munich Putsch as it was that unpopular
  • If Stresemann didn't, the economy would be in ruin
  • Reduced government expenditure on paying the workers who were resisting the French
• Balancing the Budget:

  • cutting expenditure and raised taxes
  • wages of government cut
  • civil servant jobs cut - 300 000 lost their jobs
  • companies began to not build as much debt, as 6000 companies went bankrupt
  • government debt fell and confidence was restored
• The Dawes Plan (signed 1924):

  • Plan was drawn under US Banker Charles Dawes
  • France and Belgium to leave to ruhr
  • Reparations are the same, but $800 million in US loans
  • Germany mainly optimistic
  • Opposition from the DNVP
  • Apparently Stresemann didn't like the plan as he said -> no more than an economic armistice
  • Dawes won 1925 Nobel Peace Prize
• Charles Dawes:

  He became Vice-President of the US in 1924. Studied law for 2 years.
• The Young Plan (signed 1929):

  • Owen D. Young
  • reduce reparations to £2 billion
  • extension to 1988
  • Bank of International Settlements
  • 85% of electorate voted for it
  • alot of opposition
• Owen D. Young:

  He was a US lawyer and a businessman. He also helped with the Dawes plan
• In 1926, Germany were allowed to join the League of Nations
• The Kellogg-Briand Pact (signed 1928)

  • 65 other countries
  • promised to not use violence when settling disputes
  • didn't work
  • The first major test of the pact came just a few years later in 1931, when the Mukden Incident led to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Though Japan had signed the pact, the combination of the worldwide depression and a limited desire to go to war to preserve China prevented the League of Nations or the United States from taking any action to enforce it
• The Locarno Pact (signed 1925):

  • Belgium, France, Britain, Italy and Germany
  • No USA
  • Outlined western borders
  • Germany and France + Belgium to not attack eachother other wise Britain and Italy would side with the victim
  • Not eastern borders, as the Germans didn't agree with the eastern borders
• What caused resentment and friction between the USSR and Weimar:

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – very harsh treaty forced onto Russia by Germany when they exited the war
  • Spartacist revolt – Spartacists had been supported by Comintern (an organisation controlled by Russian state to spread communism and support groups around the world. They were brutally put down and leader executed
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk:

  • Lost Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland. (Ukraine was recovered in 1919, during the Russian Civil War.)
  • Lost 50% of industry
  • Lost 27% of farmland
• The Treaty of Rapallo, signed in 1922, reestablished diplomatic relations between Germany and the Soviet Union and allowed for economic cooperation.
• What caused friction between Germany and the USSR?

  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the Spartacist uprising
• What drew Germany and the USSR together?

  Both having lost the war, both threatened by an independent Poland, both seen as outcasts
• The Treaty of Rapallo (1922)

  • Germany allowed to train pilots and develop weaponry in the USSR
  • Resumed trade and economic cooperation
  • Claims for war damages/ compensation was dropped
  • Diplomatic Relations restored