To what extent was Stresemann to blame for the cause of the war?

Introduction: After the war, Germany was in turmoil economically and politically. The treaty of Versailles caused even more dilemmas for Germany by forcing them to pay heavy reparations, reduce their army to a measly 100,000 soldiers, as well as demilitarize the Rhineland. Moreover Weimar was emerged from the treaty and soon after Gustav Stresemann was appointed chancellor in 1923, with his influence Stresemann tries to restore German greatness and stabilize the German economy, and make the Weimar republic firm. Due to this it can be argued that Stresemann wasnt to blame for the outbreak of the Second World War. Body Paragraphs: Stresemann Goals and policies: Stresemann aimed to restore Germanys position in the world. He hoped that cooperation would lead to fairer treatment of Germany and would speed up Germanys recovery. He aimed to build closer links with the USA, the USSR and France. He aimed to end Germanys diplomatic isolation. He pursued a policy of Erfllungspolitik (fulfillment), whereby he advocated cooperation with the other powers and compliance with the Treaty of Versailles. The Versailles Treaty had determined that Germany should pay reparations to the allies for war damage. The figure was set at 6600 million in 1921. Stresemann decided that he had to address the reparations issue. Dawes Plan 1924 negotiated a more rational payback schedule and secured a large loan to help stabilize Germanys economy. The plan helped to make Germanys economy less vulnerable and meant reparations could be paid on schedule. The Weimar Republic had paid its reparation payments on schedule since 1924, however the debt was still a burden. Stresemann helped to negotiate the Young Plan, which reduced the amount of reparations to be paid substantially, reduced annual payments, ended Allied supervision of payments and helped to secure the withdrawal of Allied troops from Germany (1930). Germany seen to be stable enough to be trusted with its own affairs. League of Nations 1926 Germany joined the League and was recognized as a legitimate and stable power The Dawes and Young Plans helped to make the German economy more stable. The Locarno Pact and membership of the League of Nations helped to improve relations between Germany and other important nations. Both of these moves highlighted Germanys commitment to a peaceful future and also helped Germany to raise its own issues with the other powers

Quotes: As a result of the World War, this old Germany collapsed. It collapsed in its constitution, in its social order, in its economic structure. Its thinking and feeling changed.
Gustav Stresemann

Here we encounter two conflicting concepts with which we must come to grips in our time: the idea of national solidarity and the idea of international cooperation. Gustav Stresemann Counter Argument: It can be argued that Stresemann wanted to restore greatness to Germany to eventually cause another war, however thats seems very unlikely since he cooperated well with the other major power and wanted Germany to joining the league of Nations. Whilst when Hitler came into power he left the League of Nations and decided to spend most of the countries treasury to rebuild the military. Hitler should be blamed not Stresemann. Conclusion: Even thought Stresemanns policies mainly included restoring German greatness, which might have lead into re-establishing a stronger Germany. His policies didnt lead to the outbreak of the war, his successor however , Hitler was the main reason why the war occurred.

Did his policies elas to the outbreak to war Stressman to war Readjust frontier, nationalism same way Signe dtreaty of Rapallo Nazi soviet pact Hitler Counter: Failed to achieve significant revision of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Failed to achieve widespread support from the German population: - Right wing opponents argued that decisions like the Locarno Pact and the Young Plan were compromises, and made Germany look weak. The Nazi party was involved in opposition to Stresemanns plans. - The majority of Germans felt that Stresemann had failed to restore national pride.

Gustav Stresemann
Gustav Stresemann was born in 1878 and died in 1929. Stresemann took Weimar Germany out of its darkest hour hyperinflation to the so-called Golden Years of Weimar. He died just before the event that was to have a terminal impact on the Weimar Republic the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Stresemann was born in Berlin. In 1906, at the age of 28, he became a Reichstag deputy and he was elected the leader of the National Liberal Party in 1917. He later re-named this party the Peoples Party in 1919.

Gustav Stresemann

During World War One, Stresemann, like the vast majority of Germans, had been a strong nationalist. However, after the end of the war he moderated his views. Though it may have gone his own political instinct, he felt that the only way Germany could make progress in Europe was to accept the terms of the Versailles Treaty. By doing this, Stresemann believed that Weimar Germany had a better chance of being accepted back into the European community which would give her access to desperately needed economic markets.

Stresemann was appointed Chancellor of Weimar on the death of Ebert and served in this position between August 1923 to November 1923. After this date, he was to remain as Weimars Foreign Minister until his death. As Foreign Minister, Stresemann achieved a great deal. His greatest achievement was to get Germany accepted back into the European community. His philosophy of abiding by the Versailles Treaty won him allies in western Europe and it was France that sponsored Germanys entry into the League of Nations in 1926. He was also responsible for the Locarno Treaties. In 1926, Stresemann and Aristide Briand were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the work done by both in re-building relations between both countries just 8 years after the end of World War One. Such a situation would have been unthinkable four years earlier in the aftermath of hyperinflation caused by the French/Belgium invasion of the Ruhr.
In 1923 the Weimar Republic was teetering at the brink of a very large cliff with problems such as hyperinflation, attempted revolutions and public discontent, pushing it increasingly towards the edge. How could the Republic possibly survive?

Gustav Stresemann and Charles Dawes

In 1923, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse, but, surprisingly, the crisis was the start of a period of stability and success. The period 1923-1929 was a time when the economy boomed and cultural life flourished in Germany. This dramatic turnabout happened because Germany was saved by two people Gustav Stresemann and Charles Dawes.

Gustav Stresemann

Gustav Stresemann had been a nationalist, but he realised that something needed to be done to save Germany. The most important thing he did in 1923 was to organise theGreat Coalition of moderate, pro-democracy parties in the Reichstag. At last, Germany had a government that could make laws! Under Stresemann's guidance, the government called off the strike, persuaded the French to leave the Ruhr and even got the rest of the world to allow Germany to join the League of Nations in 1926. Stresemann also introduced reforms to help ordinary people such as job centres, unemployment pay and better housing.

Charles Dawes

Charles Dawes was the US budget director. In 1923, he was sent to Europe to sort out Germany's economy. Under his advice, theGerman Reichsbank was reformed and the old money was called in and burned. This ended the hyperinflation. Dawes also arranged the Dawes Plan with Stresemann, which gave Germany longer to pay reparations. Most importantly, Dawes agreed to America lending Germany 800 million gold marks, which kick-started the German economy.

Was Weimar stable during 1923-1929?

Despite all the successes, many historians believe that the stability of the Weimar republic was illusory: 1. The Great Coalition collapsed before the end of 1923, and the Reichstagreturned to chaos. When the crisis came, it was unable to respond.

2. The nationalists and fascists did not win many seats in the Reichstag, but they were allowed to exist and campaign, so they were just waiting for the right opportunity to attempt a takeover again. 3. Everything depended on American money - if that stopped, Germany was ready to return to crisis.