1923 - 1924-29 Stresemann era

• The Invasion of the Ruhr, Hyperinflation and the Munich Putsch


  1923
• Germany's reparation payments


  • Germany paid her first reparation payment in 1921 but couldn't afford the 1922 payment
• France and Belgium's response to Germany not paying


  1. Decided to invade Germany in January 1923 and take the payment by force

  2. Invaded the Ruhr, Germany's main industrial area, to take goods, such as coal
• Germany's reaction to the invasion

  • Passive resistance
  • Went on strike and refused to make the goods that the French and Belgians wanted
  • Sabotaged factories and flooded mines
• France and Belgium's reaction to Germany's passive resistance


  Used violence: shooting some Germans and expelling some others
• Weimar Government's response


  Supported the strikers by printing more money to pay them so that they could afford to keep striking
• Too many notes in the economy meant that prices went out of control
• November 1923 was the worst month: bread cost 201,000,000,000 marks
• People had to carry their wages home in wheelbarrows
• Prices went up so fast that a day's wages would just buy a cup of coffee the next day
• The middle classes and the elderly suffered badly as their savings and pensions were wiped out
• Hyperinflation


  The situation described above
• Hitler's Munich Putsch


  1. Chose November 1923 as the moment to attempt his Munich Putsch (putsch = take power by force)

  2. On the evening of 8th November 1923, Hitler and 600 Nazis seized a beer hall where a meeting between the Bavarian leaders was taking place

  3. Hitler and his men arrested the three leaders (von Kahr, bon Seisser and Von Lossow)

  4. He made them swear their support for Hitler's takeover before locking them in a room

  5. The three men escaped and called the police, who went after Hitler and arrested him

  6. The Putsch was easily stopped
• Hitler got very useful publicity from his trial, and Hitler's name was known all over Germany
• Whilst Hitler was in prison he wrote Mein Kampf, in which he explained all his ideas for Germany
• Hitler also changed his strategy; he decided it would be best to get power by winning votes, rather than taking power by force
• Ending of hyperinflation

  Stresemann introduced the Rentenmark, and signed the Dawes Plan, which meant America lent Germany money to help rebuild industry so they could pay the reparations
• The Economic Boom of the Stresemann Years

  1924-9
• Gustav Stresemann


  • Germany's Chancellor in 1923-4 and her Foreign Secretary after that
• Stresemann's economic measures


  1. Replaced the old currency with the Rentenmark

  2. The Dawes Plan 1924 (800,000,000 mark loan from the USA)

  3. The Young Plan 1929 (reduced Reparations payments by 67%)
• This increased the amount of money and foreign goods in Germany
• People had more money to spend and the standard of living rose
• This was an age of cinema, clubs, sex, modern art and architecture, industry, radios, cars
• Many urban people loved it; many rural people deeply disapproved
• On the surface, Germany was doing well. Underneath, there were problems: Germany was dependent on foreign loans and not making enough of her own money yet to stay afloat
• The economic Bust and the Wall Street Crash


  1929
• In 1929, the USA's economy collapsed. They recalled all their loans. Germany's money stopped and they spiralled into Depression.
• Unemployment rocketed. It peaked at 6,000,000.
• People lost their homes and had to live on the streets, scavenging on rubbish tips for food.
• The Weimar Government dealt with it poorly – they refused to print more money but raised taxes and cut wages instead. This increased people's suffering.
• Violence began to break out again as people got desperate. The Weimar Government failed to deal with it.