The Stresemann Recovery

Dancing on a volcano

In August 1923 Gustav Stresemann became chancellor of a Germany in which a loaf cost 200,000 million marks, French troops held the Ruhr, and communists and Nazis were both planning to seize power. He held the office for a hundred days, then served as foreign minister until his death. By 1928 Germany was producing as much as it had in 1913, had a seat on the Council of the League of Nations, and had just given the Nazis 2.6 per cent of the vote. Berlin, meanwhile, had become the most talked-about city in Europe: the Bauhaus was designing the modern house, Fritz Lang was filming Metropolis, and the cabarets stayed open all night. The recovery was built on a new currency, an American loan, and a policy of fulfilment: paying the reparations Germany hated in order to get the terms of Versailles softened one at a time. The Dawes Plan of 1924, the Locarno treaties of 1925, the League in 1926 and the Young Plan of 1929 were the steps. Stresemann did not call the years golden. In 1928 he said Germany was dancing on a volcano, because the recovery rested on short-term American money that could be recalled at any time. He died on 3 October 1929; the Wall Street Crash came three weeks later. AQA asks how far the recovery went, what it rested on, and which of its causes mattered most, and it asks through two interpretations that read the same years in opposite ways. This module gives you the evidence for both.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in an 8-mark answer.

The steps of recovery, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• The Rentenmark replaces the worthless mark and hyperinflation stops
• The Dawes Plan reschedules reparations and brings the first American loan
• Germany accepts its western borders at Locarno
• Germany joins the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council
• Metropolis opens in Berlin and the Bauhaus moves into its new building at Dessau
• The Young Plan cuts reparations, and Stresemann dies weeks before the Wall Street Crash

Why did Germany recover after 1923?

In November 1923 the mark was worthless. By 1928 German industry had regained its pre-war output. Which explanation best accounts for the recovery?

• The Rentenmark of November 1923 ended hyperinflation and restored confidence in money; the Dawes Plan of 1924 made reparations payable and brought an 800 million mark loan that reopened American lending, so that around 25,000 million marks flowed in over five years and were invested in factories, housing and public works; the French left the Ruhr in 1925, restoring German coal and steel; and Locarno and the League seat gave the republic a standing abroad that took the sting out of the nationalist claim that it was the creature of Versailles.
• The Allies cancelled reparations in 1924.
• Germany rearmed and the armaments industry drove growth.
• The success of Berlin cinema and theatre paid for the recovery.

Golden, or gilded?

The extent-of-recovery question asks how far the years were golden. Have both columns ready, with the figures, and notice that the weak points were all visible before 1929.

Question 1: how does Interpretation B differ?

Interpretation A, written for this module: "The years 1924 to 1929 were the golden age of the republic. Stresemann stabilised the currency, brought Germany back into the family of nations, and presided over a return to full output, rising wages and a cultural life the world envied. In 1928 the republic was more secure than it had ever been." Interpretation B follows. Tap the TWO statements from Interpretation B that show a different view from A about the recovery.

• The prosperity rested on around 25,000 million marks of American credit, much of it short-term, so that the republic was solvent only as long as New York stayed confident.
• Industrial output regained its 1913 level by 1928.
• The recovery passed by the farmers, whose prices fell from 1927, the 1.9 million still unemployed in 1929, and the middle class whose savings had gone in 1923, and it was among these that the republic would lose its majority.
• Germany signed the Locarno treaties in October 1925 and joined the League of Nations in 1926.
• The Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925.

Weimar culture

Select the THREE statements that correctly describe the culture of the Weimar years and the reaction to it.

• The Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and moved to Dessau in 1925, taught that form should follow function and produced the steel chair, the flat-roofed house and the typography that defined modern design; the Nazis closed it in 1933.
• German cinema led Europe: Metropolis by Fritz Lang in 1927 was the most expensive film yet made, The Blue Angel in 1930 made Marlene Dietrich a star, and Berlin had more cinemas than any city outside America.
• The culture was attacked as decadent by the churches, the nationalist parties and the Nazis, who saw the cabarets, the paintings of Grosz and the new freedom of women as proof that the republic had corrupted Germany.
• The Nazi Party funded the Bauhaus as a showcase of German design.
• The Weimar constitution banned jazz and cabaret as foreign influences.
• The new culture was as popular in the villages as in Berlin.

Two interpretations, and why they differ

AQA Paper 1 Section A opens with two interpretations and three questions: how they differ, why they might differ, and which is more convincing. The pair below were written for this module to show the shape; the exam prints real historians. Interpretation 1. The years 1924 to 1929 were a genuine recovery. Stresemann stabilised the currency, brought Germany back into the family of nations at Locarno and Geneva, and presided over a return to full industrial output and rising wages. The republic was never more secure than in 1928, when the parties that supported it won a clear majority and the Nazis were reduced to a fringe. Interpretation 2. The recovery was a facade built on American credit. Reparations were paid with borrowed dollars, unemployment never fell below a million, farming was in depression from 1927, and the middle class had lost everything in 1923. The republic survived because the money kept coming; when it stopped in 1929, the weaknesses the golden years had hidden reappeared within months. Why might they differ? Evidence chosen: Interpretation 1 measures the years against 1923 and reads output, diplomacy and votes; Interpretation 2 measures them against 1930 and reads where the money came from and who it missed. Purpose: 1 is written to explain why the republic lasted; 2 to explain why it fell. Time frame: 1 stops at 1928; 2 runs on to the Crash. This meant that both are true of the figures they choose, and the convincing question turns on whether a recovery that could not survive the withdrawal of foreign money deserves the word.

In the shoes of Stresemann

Four decisions between 1923 and 1929. Choose what Stresemann actually did, and notice what each choice cost him at home.

• September 1923. You are chancellor. Passive resistance in the Ruhr is bankrupting the state and the mark is worthless. What do you do?
• 1924. You are foreign minister. The Americans offer a plan: pay reparations on a sliding scale, accept Allied supervision of the Reichsbank, and receive an 800 million mark loan. The DNVP calls it a second Versailles. What do you do?
• October 1925. At Locarno the French want a guarantee of the Rhine frontier and the Poles want the same for theirs. What do you sign?
• 1929. The Young Plan will cut reparations by a fifth and end Allied control of German finances, but Hugenberg and Hitler are collecting signatures for a referendum to reject it as slavery. You are ill and have months to live. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because the Rentenmark of November 1923 was backed by land and industry and exchanged at a trillion to one, prices stopped rising within _____. Because the Dawes Plan made reparations payable, the _____ agreed to leave the Ruhr in 1925 and American banks began to lend. Because Germany accepted its western borders at _____, it was admitted to the League with a Council seat in 1926. Because the loans were mostly _____, the recovery depended on American confidence. And because that confidence broke in October _____, the weaknesses under the golden years surfaced within months of the death of Stresemann.

Work out the Dawes payments

Under the Dawes Plan of 1924, reparations payments started at 1,000 million marks a year and were to rise to 2,500 million marks a year by 1929. By what percentage were the yearly payments to rise?

Question 4: describe two ways

AQA Question 4 might read: Describe two ways in which Stresemann improved the position of Germany abroad. It is marked as a way plus supporting detail, twice, for 4 marks. Which answer scores all four?

• One way was the Locarno treaties of October 1925, in which Germany accepted its western borders and the demilitarised Rhineland as permanent, which won Stresemann the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 and led to the French leaving the Ruhr. Another was membership of the League of Nations in September 1926, with a permanent seat on the Council, which put Germany back among the great powers seven years after Versailles.
• He signed Locarno. He joined the League.
• Stresemann made Germany respected again and everyone trusted it.
• He improved the position of Germany abroad because he believed cooperation would get Versailles revised.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question 6: Which of the following was the more important reason for the recovery of Germany in the years 1924 to 1929: the Dawes Plan; the international agreements? Explain your answer with reference to both bullet points. The Dawes Plan was the more important reason, because it produced the money on which everything else stood. Under the plan Germany paid 1,000 million marks in the first year, rising to 2,500 million by 1929, and in return received an immediate loan of 800 million marks and a French promise to leave the Ruhr, kept in 1925. This meant that Germany regained its main coalfield at the moment American banks, reassured by the plan, began to lend on a large scale, so that around 25,000 million marks arrived over five years to be invested in factories, housing and public works, and industrial output was back at its 1913 level by 1928. The international agreements mattered, but they built on that: Locarno in 1925 and the League seat in 1926 restored the standing of Germany and helped the moderate parties in the 1928 election, yet a respected Germany with no money would still have been the Germany of 1923. The Dawes Plan paid for the recovery; the agreements made it safe. What earned the marks: a judgement in the first sentence; both bullet points addressed with specific support (the figures, the loan, the Ruhr, 25,000 million, Locarno, 1926, 1928); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing comparison that says why one outweighs the other. A sustained judgement across both, rather than two separate paragraphs with a verdict bolted on, is what reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Which of the following was the more important reason for the recovery of Germany in the years 1924 to 1929: the Dawes Plan; the international agreements? Explain your answer with reference to both bullet points.

• One paragraph on each bullet point, with at least two pieces of specific support in each: a date, a figure, a treaty or a name
• Use a link phrase such as "this meant that" or "as a result" to turn each piece of support into an explanation of the recovery

Question 3: which interpretation is more convincing?

AQA Question 3 asks which of the two interpretations on the callout card is more convincing about the Stresemann years, for 8 marks. A student has argued for Interpretation 2, the facade. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• Interpretation 2 reads the years backwards from 1929: at the time the currency held from 1924, output reached its 1913 level by 1928, real wages rose above pre-war, and in May 1928 the pro-republic parties won a majority while the Nazis took 2.6 per cent, so the recovery was genuine in what it delivered and fragile only in how it was financed; Interpretation 1 is more convincing about what Germans experienced between 1924 and 1929, and Interpretation 2 about why it did not last, and the question asks about the recovery, not its ending.
• Berlin had wonderful nightclubs and cinema in the 1920s.
• Stresemann won the Nobel Peace Prize, so the years must have been golden.
• The Crash was an American event and nothing to do with Germany.