How far did Germany solve the problems it faced within the years 1924-1929?

Answer 1

Depending on how you look at it Germany could have solved most of the problems it faced not very many at all. The Main influences in solving Germanys problems were; The Dawes Plan, Inflation control, Foreign Affairs, the French leaving the Ruhr, Economic Growth, Reforms and Strength at the Centre. But due to events that occurred during this period some people believe that Germany did not recover at all. The first point I will look at is the Dawes plan. This plan was all about the reparations and was put in place by Gustav Streseman. It confirmed the amount Germany had to pay which was 132,000 million marks, change the schedule of payment so that over 5 years the payments went up to 2,500 million marks but would vary along with how well the economy was doing. Also the conditions were that the allies maintained control of the railways, the Reichsbank and custom duties and the sanctions for non-payment would be agreed by all allies not just France. The Plan also gave Germany an 800 million Mark Loan from America to help with the economy. This attributed to economic recovery in Germany as the reparations were starting to be paid on time and Streseman stopped the strikes in the Ruhr which all contributed to recovering Germany. The Next thing that Streseman wanted to fix was inflation and to do this he decided to introduce a new currency in Germany. Streseman called in all the old worthless marks and had them burned. He replaced them with a new currency called the Rentenmark which was worth 3,000 million of the old marks. The inflation was now controlled which also helped Germanys failing economy. Streseman also helped Germany's status as a country by making deals with foreign countries. In 1925 The Locarno Treaty was made which guaranteed Germany's frontiers with France and Belgium. Then in 1926 Germany rejoined the league of nations which reaffirmed Germany's status of a great power when it joined. The Last thing he did was implement the Young's Plan in 1929 which reduced the reparation sum to 37,000million marks, lowered the annual payments which were to be paid in 58yrs, stopped the allies' supervision on Germany, Germany were allowed at the negotiations and allies troops were to be withdrawn from Germany. This strengthened Germany's status of a great power and lowered the chances of Germany slipping back into another economic crisis. This Plan also meant that the French left the Ruhr giving Germany back its most prosperous area and lessening the economic problem. Economic Growth was then created in Germany by Streseman. He borrowed 25,000 million gold marks mainly from America which was used to build road, railways and factories. This economic boom led to prosperity and also made cultural life very better in Germany. This became to be known as the roaring twenties. This made the people of Germany very happy after many years of upset and also cured Germany's economic problem. Streseman also introduced many reforms to make life better for the working classes. He created labour exchanges and unemployment pay as well as building 3 million new homes. This contributed to the recovery of country morale, economy and life in Germany in general. The last point is strength at the centre which is all about the Weimar's constitution. Gustav arranged a 'Great Coalition' of the moderate pro-democracy parties (Based around the SDP, the centre party and Streseman's 'German Peoples Party', the DVP.) Untied together, they were able to resist the criticisms from smaller extremist parties and in this way overcome the effects of proportional voting. This also meant that the Government had enough members of the Reichstag supporting it to pass the laws it needed. This brought a secure government to a now stable economy and happy people. Now all this points to Germany completely recovering but in 1929 Gustav Streseman died. Unfortunately this was just before the Wall St. Crash. When the crash happened America suddenly found itself with no money and so demanded its loans back from Germany which they could not afford to pay throwing them back into an economic crisis. Also Germanys recover was relying on Gustav Streseman and political parties co-operating which when he died did not happen this left Germany back at the start again. In Conclusion Germany did Recover quite a bit from where it was. Even though of what happened in 1929 it still lowered payments and had some co-operation in government.