Essay
AQA History A* Nazi Germany essay - Stresemann's foreign policy
"Stresemanns foreign policy had done little to improve Germany's international position by 1929." Assess the validity of this view.
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‘Stresemann’s foreign policy had done little to improve Germany’s internationalposition by 1929.’ Assess the validity of this view.
One would be inclined to argue that this view is only valid to a limited extent. Historian
William Carr has stated that Stresemann ‘was one of the few outstanding political gures
of the Weimar period’ — which is an opinion that re ects the signi cant contribution he
made in government and later as foreign minister. Although part of Stresemann’s foreign
policy had done little to improve Germany’s international position by 1929, the majority of
his contributions had signi cant and long lasting impacts.
Stresemann’s rst signi cant foreign policy contribution occurred in 1924 as the ‘Dawes
Plan.’ Essentially, this plan sought to deal with the issue of reparation payments, an issue
which had been longstanding within Germany since the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The
plan stated a recommendation for the French to leave the Ruhr, allied supervision of the
Reichsbank and for reparations to be paid over a longer period time (which was set out
within the ‘London Payment Plan’). In relation to the ‘Dawes Plan,’ the view that
Stresemann’s foreign policy had done little to improve Germany’s international position by
1929 is not valid. Without this plan, Germany would not have been able to begin paying
the reparation payments that had been set in article 231 in a consistent manner; but the
fact that they were now able to meant that Germany’s International position was
improving amongst the allies. Furthermore, the allied supervision of the Reichsbank was
signi cant in reestablishing foreign support into the German economy, ultimately meaning
this plan had a signi cant impact on improving Germany’s international position.
The ‘Locarno Pact’ of 1925 as well as the 1926 ‘Treaty of Berlin’ and Germany’s re-
entrance into the League of Nations were all salient in reestablishing Germany’s
international position and national security. Therefore, these events also contribute to
hindering the validity of the view that Stresemann’s foreign policy had done little to
improve Germany’s international position by 1929. While the ‘Locarno Pact’ secured the
Franco-German and Belgian-German boarders, the ‘Treaty of Berlin’ rea rmed the 1922
‘Rapollo Treaty’ with Russia, thus securing boarders in the East. Similarly, Germany’s re-
entrance into the League of Nations was a re ection of how Germany’s international
position truly was improving as a result of Stresemann’s foreign policy and willingness to
accept the war guilt clause by following Wirth’s policy of ful lment.
One of Stresemann’s nal most notable contributions to foreign policy and improving
Germany’s international position was the ‘Young Plan’ of 1928. This plan was brought in
by Mullers Grand Coalition and it set a plan for the paying f reparation payments which
would help Germany achieve a degree of nancial stability. Moreover, it re ected an
improvement in Germany’s intentional position as it included the planned French
evacuation of the Rhineland for June 1930 (5 years before schedule). While this plan was
e ective in a planned payment of reparations, it received domestic opposition from the
Stalhalm who raised 4 million signatures (enough to raise a referendum as stated under
article 73 of the constitution). Nevertheless, this ultimately led to a signi cant
improvement in Germany’s international position as the total reparation gure was
reduced to 1/4 of the original gure, which made Germany more likely to keep up with the
payments, factor which was inextricably linked to Germany’s positive international
relations.
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