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How Strong Was Weimar Germany

 

This brave statement of liberal and democratic principals' (Fishcher) must have given the people great hope for democracy in Germany and provided an optimistic view of things to come. .
             Indeed, what came at first was certainly promising. There was little unemployment until the crisis in 1923. Unemployment is always something that governments of all countries are analysed on and this presents another positive image of the government. This would particularly please the workers, along with the socialist content of the constitution which improved their rights greatly. One of the most important aspects of this was the right to belong to a union.
             When the inflationary crisis did strike, the solution gave a marked improvement in German finances. The enormous national debt of 150,000 million marks to just 15 pfennigs. It was the actions of Stresemann and his government that achieved this which not only gave the economic benefits, it increased the government's political strength and helped the public's opinion of Weimar Germany.
             Then crisis itself may have had an effect on people's opinions as well as the quick resolution. At the time of the crisis, the Allies would have seen a country on it's knees, clearly unable to pay the huge £6.6 billion reparations fee. Many people in the Allied governments would have been much more sympathetic to the Weimar Germany's problems as they were so clear. This tactic was shown to have worked in the creation of the Dawes and the Young plans, and even later in the Allies' lenient policy towards Hitler. Helping this even further was the fact that the constitution was very democratic. Making the new German republic very much like the former enemies of the First World war would make it a lot easier for the allies to relate and sympathise with Germany. Indeed, it can be argued that the sole purpose of the Weimar Republic being set up was to gain the sympathy of those writing the Treaty Of Versailles.


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