Weimar Germany - Extended Response

Weimar Germany - Extended Response

  • Submitted By: nikia
  • Date Submitted: 04/26/2011 8:13 PM
  • Category: History Other
  • Words: 706
  • Page: 3
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Weimar Germany – Extended Response
The period 1924-1929 in Weimar Germany, was commonly known as the ‘Golden Years’.
Before these so called ‘Golden Years’ took place, Germany suffered through years of extreme post-war depression leading up to 1924. In 1919, free elections took place for the first time in Germany’s history. Friedrich Ebert’s party won and he became the President of the Weimar Republic. Ebert had an unstable government and was faced with violent opposition from both the left-wing and right-wing opponents right from the very start. Germany had serious reparations to pay after the First World War, which contributed in the loss of land, colonies, population and certain industries. There was complete and utter economic disaster among Germany, there had been a huge collapse of the German currency. It had also suffered through serious hyperinflation, which put a terrible strain on poor people, middle class families and even the richer Germans. Suffering through all this, Germany finally realised that the situation needed to be taken control of.

In August 1923, a new government under Gustav Stresemann took over. As soon as this happened, Stresemann got together all the worthless marks and burned them, replacing them with a new currency called the Retenmark. He made a negotiation with the USA, to receive American loads, up to 800 million marks in loans from the USA poured into the German industry. Stresemann had also managed to renegotiate the reparation payments which caused Germany’s economic problems to be solved fast. It was evident that the German industry was recovering well. Reparations were slowly being paid and exports were on the increase. Not only was the German economy going well, there was also a huge cultural stimulation. Writers, poets and artists were becoming very successful. Architecture also started to develop, especially in Berlin. Tourism had also increased heavily.
Even the politics throughout Germany became stable....

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