PDF file: History - Advanced Higher - Germany - Education Scotland

Part A: Currency Reform and the Dawes Plan
During 1923 runaway inflation had caused great harm to many in Germany. This
problem was tackled by Stressemann when he became Chancellor in August. The
Reichstag gave him full power to try to solve the problem. The reforms that followed
worked well. In August 1924 the Reichstag accepted a plan to settle the problem of
fixing reparations repayments at a figure acceptable to Germany. These events show
how intertwined foreign and domestic policies had come to be in deciding the
effectiveness of the Weimar Government’s authority.
Notes will be required on the following aspects:
1. Currency Reform
This involves considering:
(i) The use of land and industrial values as a base on which to secure the
currency
(ii) The loan provided for the Reichsbank
(iii) The creation of the Rentenbank and a new currency
(iv) Luther as Finance Minister
(v) The importance of Schacht as Currency Commissioner.
2. Cutting Costs
This involves considering:
(i) Cutting expenditure in Government
(ii) Tax increases
(iii) Restoration of confidence.
3. The Dawes Plan
This involves considering:
(i) The importance of Herriot and MacDonald’s elections to office
(ii) US pressure to sort out reparations
(iii) The Dawes Committee
(iv) The proposed reparation repayment system
(v) Security for repayment from revenues: a loan from the West
(vi) German critics of the Plan
(vii) Its successful passage through the Reichstag.
What do you think ….
Were the key reasons why these economic reforms were successful?
History: Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of World War II - 1918-1939 (AH) 22