Weimar: the Veneer of Stability
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- Category: History: European
- Date Submitted: 08/14/2010 11:16 PM
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The Veneer of Stability – Weimar Germany
The latter years of the Twenties saw a remarkable level of progress and stability from the ‘Weimar Republic’ in the political, economical, social and cultural arenas. They represented the ‘Golden Age’ of the republic, spearheaded by Stresemann’s ‘Great Coalition’. However, this stability was merely a thin veneer of success concealing a thoroughly compromised core of anti-republican organisations representing the traditional power-holders of Germany. Given time, and perhaps luck, this veneer could have proliferated and outlived this nihilistic core, but with the sudden onset of the Great Depression, and its direct blow at the inherently weak, temporary foundations of Weimar’s progress, collapse was inevitable.
The progression of Art and Culture in Weimar reflected the equally progressive policies of Stresemann’s ‘Great Coalition’ of moderate parties and its success on the domestic and international stage, restoring German credibility and equality on the world stage and restoring social order and the middle class at home, two vital factors in forging a stable democracy. These remarkable achievements (Locarno Treaty (France and Belgium) 1925, Treat of Rapallo (USSR) 1922 and Unemployment Insurance, Provisional work hours, respectively) were successful in giving the appearance of the restore of order to a nation that would grind through 6 Governments and had hyper inflated its currency to almost one trillion times the original amount in order to pay off debt.
While this state of confidence and subsequent stability was achieved with the inception of Stresemann’s policies, they relied on stopgap measures such as the ‘Rentenmark’ 1923 and the ‘Dawes Plan’1923 and it’s renewal, the ‘Young Plan’1929, failing to deal with the issues of nihilist organisations in Weimar, caused by the failures of the Treaty of Versailles, while Stresemann may have chosen to deal with that issue when it came, seeing the ‘Policy of Fulfilment’ and...
The latter years of the Twenties saw a remarkable level of progress and stability from the ‘Weimar Republic’ in the political, economical, social and cultural arenas. They represented the ‘Golden Age’ of the republic, spearheaded by Stresemann’s ‘Great Coalition’. However, this stability was merely a thin veneer of success concealing a thoroughly compromised core of anti-republican organisations representing the traditional power-holders of Germany. Given time, and perhaps luck, this veneer could have proliferated and outlived this nihilistic core, but with the sudden onset of the Great Depression, and its direct blow at the inherently weak, temporary foundations of Weimar’s progress, collapse was inevitable.
The progression of Art and Culture in Weimar reflected the equally progressive policies of Stresemann’s ‘Great Coalition’ of moderate parties and its success on the domestic and international stage, restoring German credibility and equality on the world stage and restoring social order and the middle class at home, two vital factors in forging a stable democracy. These remarkable achievements (Locarno Treaty (France and Belgium) 1925, Treat of Rapallo (USSR) 1922 and Unemployment Insurance, Provisional work hours, respectively) were successful in giving the appearance of the restore of order to a nation that would grind through 6 Governments and had hyper inflated its currency to almost one trillion times the original amount in order to pay off debt.
While this state of confidence and subsequent stability was achieved with the inception of Stresemann’s policies, they relied on stopgap measures such as the ‘Rentenmark’ 1923 and the ‘Dawes Plan’1923 and it’s renewal, the ‘Young Plan’1929, failing to deal with the issues of nihilist organisations in Weimar, caused by the failures of the Treaty of Versailles, while Stresemann may have chosen to deal with that issue when it came, seeing the ‘Policy of Fulfilment’ and...