Germany experienced a period of political Essay

policy-making equanimity, spd enkindlet compromise, Hindenburg causing problems, lack of cooperation between parties causing polarisation but no limitless revolutions that happened during 1919-24, growing foreign relations lorcano/treaty of berlin Economic phylogeny, result of lorcano meant breathing space from reparations as well dawes and recent plan and rentenmark dawes plan borrowed US m iodiney lead to increase in capital. Later though expiration still causing problems and unemployment pay is causing issues, increase in taxes Social fortify, conservative ripe joyless and manifests in literature and cinema expressing glory in WW1 contrasts with neue sachlichkiet modern Weimar culture, Bauhaus linking art and functionality.Highlighting neighborly issues in spite of appearance Weimar Overall relative lull but lack of progress, economicalal information but in curt frontier and social progress but non helping Weimar. The historic period 1924 to 1929 are often ex pound as the Golden years but it is debatable to what extent Germany actually experienced political calm, economic development and social progress during this sequence. Certainly there was not the turbulence of post-war Germany and the consequences of the crippling Versaille Treaty were not as harsh in this period but this does not mean it was a time of development and progress.It can be suggested that it was not a period of political calm, there was certainly a lot of tension between the various political parties that made up the many coalition regimens in this period, the failure of so many governments alone suggests that there were serious political issues. The narrowing of the interests of each fellowship meant that it was becoming increasingly difficult for effective coalition governments to be formed. The SPD were especially difficult in this time as they were against compromising with the bourgeois parties as they felt a change in ideals would occur and proposed policies kindred the Heidelberg Programme which would see private ownership of industry be taken over by social owners.Obviously many parties from the left felt this but the SPD had the largest amount of seats in the Reichstag, over one hundred fifty at their peak in the 20s, and therefore had the ability to commit the government into a stalemate. The SPDs inability to compromise makes the political stage even worse when Hindenburg is elected as presidentin 1925. Hindenburg, being a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war and the general who won the battle of Tannenburg was already conservative and took as many steps as he could to reduce the power the SPD had. Hindenburg also believed the powers of the president should be free and even blocked a draft that would limit his ability to use Article 48. This incoduscive atmosphere meant that by the time the SPD were willing to cooperate with a coalition government, individual interests and polarisation of parties had developed and no one else was interested. Therefore this cannot be classed as a period of political calm due to the stagnant political system.However, it could be suggested that this tension is to be expected as people are still feeling the make of the First knowledge domain War and political calm could be defined by the lack of natural political parties attempting to take over. When this era is compared to the years 1919 to 1924 it is by far a time of political calm as there were no outright attempts at revolution. The years before saw extreme right and left wing idealists try to take over and the fact that this was not attempted during the golden years meant it was a time of relative political calm. This is not to mention the successes in Stresemanns foreign policy, which attribute Germany back on track to becoming a serious European power once again. The memory access of Germany into the league of nations and the signing of various treaties, such as the Lorcano treaty, meant Germany were in a period of p olitical calm not experiencing the diplomatic humiliation of the years before.The various treaties signed by Stresemann also helped the economic development in this period. The Dawes gained significant investments from the US and the Young Plan minify the reparations Germany would have to pay, and set a timescale for how massive they would have to pay. This gave the country some breathing space to repair and develop its own scrimping. The young plan, for example, reduced the amount they would have to pay by 1700 million marks than they would in conjunction with the Dawes plan. These plans, alongside the entranceway of the rentenmark meant there was an increase in German capital in this period, which can certainly be classed as a period of economic development.Whilst there is unquestionably evidence of economic development in the mid-1920s it did also experience financial issues. The increase in unemployment, 15% of the workforce were unemployed by 1929, put a heavy strain on th e welfare system of Weimar Germany. The institution for paying unemployment benefits had to borrow gold from the Government, 342 million reichsmarks, and the parties could not agree how to find this money. The SPD would increase taxes while the DVP would cut benefits. This can be seen as a backwards move in economic development, as the system did not address the problem of unemployment, but just effect more money to pay it, with the decision of how to pay for the unemployment benefits was delayed until 1930.This can be seen as the government almost shooting themselves in the foot and making a absolutely term fix for a long term problem. This short-sightedness can also be argued to be found in Stresemanns policies, for borrowing money from the US. An international financial crisis would leave over-dependant-on-America Germany in a high amount of debt, which is what happened when the Wall Street Crash occurred. Therefore it can be said that these years were a period of economic de velopment, but that there would be little long term effect on the country from these developments.Social progress is probably the only contention that can be absolutely agree with, with very influential movements like the Bauhaus dominating this period of time, summed up as Neue Schlachkliet. This movement, saw a forward motion in modern views and an attempt to undermine the Weimar government by exposing the issues faced through literature, theatre and film. The accept for educational and social reform was well documented and although this did not bode well for the Weimar government it definitely showed progress in attitudes of the general public. The conservative nature of many Germans could still be found and also classed as a social progress in the form of anti-democratic writings and films that promoted the glory of the First World war. The two social ideas both grew in this period, but neither celebrated the Weimar Government so whilst it was doubtlessly social progress it wa s not productive for the Weimar republic.There is definitely a case for political calm, economic development and social progress in the mid-1920s but they were not necessarily the advancesthat would warrant the term golden years. The political calm was only due to a lack of serious resistivity to the government but still they could not successfully form an effective coalition government and whilst the economy did improve in this time the provisions made were short-sighted and the country was over-reliant on foreign investments. Whilst social progress was made in this era it is easy to see that the progress wasnot in the name of democracy and presented the Weimar government with future problems as popular ideology differed from what they promoted.