7/28/2019 Was the Period 1924

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Was the period 1924-28 really a Golden era for the

Weimar Republic? (8 marks)

Mark Scheme:

0.2 Simple statements are made about the period of time.3.4 The answer briefly describes the improvements in Germany in this era. Theanswer refers to some events and offers a brief explanation of how this

improved life for Germans. The student may have offered simple statementsquestioning the claim that the era was one of prosperity and success – there

is no depth to this evaluation however.5.6 This answer is well structured, with different interpretations defined. The

answer makes use of dates, events and personalities to suggest that therepublic did overcome the problems of the early 1920’s. This answer attempts

to evaluate the claim that the era was a ‘Golden’ one. The student has a goodgrasp of the content and uses the information to form a substantiated

conclusion.7.8 This answer evaluates the claim that the period 1924-28 was a Golden era for

the Weimar Republic. The student has a good grasp of events and links thesetogether well to show the impact of events and policies on the German

population. This answer looks for weaknesses in the republic at the time and

points to events outside the control of Germany to show that theimprovements were reliant upon a number of factors not necessarily under

the control of German politicians. This answer reaches a conclusion that is

clear and objective.

Make your notes here:

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Read through these answers, make a note of the good points in each answer. Usethe above mark scheme to establish a score for each response.

Answer 1

The period 1924-28 was a time in which life improved for most German people. The

economy was much stronger and unemployment fell. The mid 1920’s was a Goldenera for the Weimar Republic because everything was better than it had been before.Other countries stopped hating the Germans and the Americans helped them out

with loans and things like that. Because of this the Republic was much better off and

people began to like it. Lots of this was because of Gustav Stresemann who was avery good politician.

Answer 2

The Weimar Republic was transformed in the period 1924-28, from a weak and

unstable government which was openly opposed to a democratic system that waswidely respected and in full control of the nations economy. The fact that this period

of stability and prosperity was so short however, suggests that the wealth of the mid

20’s may have been more of an illusion than a reality.

Under the shrewd leadership of Gustav Stresemann, amongst others, the Weimar

Republic overcame many of it’s early problems. Germany benefited from a generalworldwide improvement in economic circumstances, which led to Stresemann being

able to negotiate the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan. These plans made efficient useof loans from the USA to partially solve the problem of reparations repayments. The

funding enabled repayments to be made at the same time as industry was investedin. The benefits of this were great. Unemployment fell, inflation was brought under

control and people had access to a greater variety of luxury goods than they hadpreviously.

In comparison with the early period of the Republics existence then, this clearly wasa golden age. There were no uprisings, rebellions, attempted revolutions or mass

demonstrations against the republic. Extremist forms of politics were ignored bymost of the population and rhetoric about the stab in the back et al was missing from

public conversation. However the age was not one in which standards of living wereparticularly high, nor were all of the problems eradicated.

It can be argued that the prosperity of this period was simply storing up problems forlater, the loans would have to be repaid at some stage. Nor can it be forgotten that

the newfound wealth was actually the result of American loans rather than Germanefficiency. Unemployment may have fallen but wages were low and hours of work

long – hardly an indication of a booming economy!

The mid twenties were a period of increased stability for Germany. People werebetter off than they had been in the first 4 years of the new government and were

better off than they were in the 3 years following the Wall Street Crash. The period1224-28 was therefore the best that the republic has to offer. However, it only

appears to be ‘Golden’ because of the unusually high level of opposition and thedepth of economic crisis that it had faced in the period 1919-23. Relatively the mid

twenties were heavenly, but compared with other countries, such as the USA, Britainand France the Weimar republic was still a poor relation .