Adenauer’s domestic policy, foreign policy, denazification policy and economic policies contributed to the success of the FRG. However, although the FRG was a success compared to other European countries in this time period, it wasn’t a total success because there were still some failures although the successes do outweigh the failures.
The political system in the FRG was a total success. The Basic Law, which was the constitution of the FRG and outlined the political system of the FRG was a total success because it allowed freedom of speech, it gave more powers to the lander making the FRG more federal meaning that the regions had a bigger influence. Furthermore, the upper house of Parliament, the Bundesrat, meant that the Lander were represented
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The economic miracle was the high economic growth experienced by the FRG as a result of the Marshall plan and the financial reforms introduced by the finance minister, Ludwig Erhard. The financial reforms included implementing the currency reform in the Western Zones, lifting most restrictions on control prices in the market and reducing taxation. In the agriculture sector, although farmers continued to receive heavy subsidies, the structure of the economy was changed and as a consequence the proportion of the workforce employed in farming was nearly halved. This meant the economic miracle of the FRG wasn’t a total success because many people who previously had a job in the agricultural sector may find it harder to get a job elsewhere because they may have found it hard to transfer the necessary skills. However, it could still be argued that the agricultural sector was a success because although unemployment in the sector increased, the rationalisation by more mechanisation still brought about a substantial increase in production-nearly 25 per cent in the 10 years of the 1950s. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector wasn’t a total success because of the increase in unemployment in the sector. Another reason why the economic miracle wasn’t a total success was because Erhard’s implementation of the social market economy in 1948-9 did not immediately cause economic take off. The steep rise of prices which occurred was not matched by the rate of wage increases. This meant that the economic miracle wasn’t a total success because there was hardship for the poorer people in society as a result of prices rising at a faster rate than wages. Furthermore, the shortages of many resources, especially coal, led to a sharp increase in imports and a serious balance of payments deficit. This meant that the economic miracle wasn’t a total success because the German economy faced recession in 1949-50 because there was
In late 1923 and early 1924 the German economy seemed to experience a mild period of economic stabilisation and "prosperity". In November, the government issued a new currency and ensured that tight restrictions were imposed. The economy was further stimulated by loans principally from the USA. However despite all this there simultaneously, was increasing numbers of unemployed persons. A well cited example of this is the coal mining industry where the introduction of more efficient machinery meant that one in four miners lost their jobs. No doubt that increased unemployment meant that the German population grew increasingly discontent with the Weimar government and this is the beginnings of the swing towards more radical political voting. Hitler knew that he had to have attractive political policies in order to attract a greater pool of voters, looking for alternative parties, and he recognized a possible solution to this was to attract the attention of the farming and rural community. The Nazi Party took this opportunity quickly and campaigned hard to win over the votes of the farmers and rural workers by promising tax reductions, cheaper electricity and a promise to rebuild the farming industry. "The peasants, the Nazis said, were of true German blood and their life was the true German life. They had shamefully been neglected by the Weimar Republic." Hitler told the people of the land that under a Nazi Government, rural people would be the most important people in Germany. The rural Germans were on the brink of bankruptcy, constituting approximately 11 Billion marks by 1932. The Nazi's promise of a return to rural prosperity was too good for them to resist. Yet this adoption of the rural Germans also proved useful in another sense because it allowed the Nazi party to use the Jewish people as a scapegoat towards the problems faced by the rural Germans.
The German Weimar Republic was an attempt to make Germany a more democratic state. While this was a very good idea in theory, the Weimar Republic was ineffective due to the instability that came with it. Several factors contributed to the instability of Germany’s Weimar Republic, such as the new political ideals brought forward and the government’s hunger for war. To begin, one of the factors that contributed to the instability of the Weimar republic was the presence of new political ideals. Marie Juchacz unintentionally highlighted that reason in her speech to the National Assembly.
Horwitz, Steven, and Michael J. McPhillips. "The Reality of the Wartime Economy: More Historical Evidence on Whether World War II Ended the Great Depression." Independent Review Vol. 17, No. 3 (2013): n. pag. Questia School. Web. 2 May 2014.
The period after World War One was very politically unstable. Many different kinds of governments, such as fascism and communism, were coming up all over Europe. One country that especially faced this political fluctuation was Germany. After the war, Germany was forced into a democracy known as the Weimar Republic, but this government soon collapsed and Hitler’s fascism took over. There were various factors that contributed to the fall of the Weimar Republic, but three major ones were the lack of popular support for the government, the lack of efficiency and internal organization, and the competition of other, more conservative parties such as the Nazis.
Adenauer also faced the problem of the economy, and with the help of Ludwig Erhard and the Americans, Adenauer was able to produce what some described as a 'miracle'. He was faced with massive une... ... middle of paper ... ... gn himself inn 1966 having over reacted to signs of inflation. His East German counterpart failed to reproduce anything like the prosperity of the West in the East, and it was Ulbricht's alliance with the Soviet's that led to the further divide of the two and eventually the Berlin Wall.
Germany experienced a lot of economic changes after Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany. Initially, West Germany was established as a federal republic but was established as it’s own independent nation in 1955. Many events happened in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1980s before Germany became one nation again. There were events such as “oils price shocks, generous social programs, rising deficits and loss of control.” East Germany’s economy was strong due to the Soviet Union’s reliance on Eastern Germany’s production of machine tools, chemicals and electronics. It became appealing to reunite with West Germany when the value of East Germany’s currency became “worthless” outside of it’s country because Eastern Germany was relying on the Soviet Union’s demand (Marketline).
...of Carsten and similar historians writing at the time is that the far-left were not as politically strong as first thought so consequently there was a lack of any serious opposition to the established order and in turn they were allowed had more independence and self-determination in implementing Germany’s first republic. So the social basis for a constitutional government in Germany was a lot more widespread than formerly thought. Furthermore, the apprehensiveness of the social democrats can be interpreted in terms of distrusting the unstructured mass movements that existed in the pressing post-war years, and placing their trust in the old elites. However, works such as Feldman’s, ‘The great disorder. The German inflation 1914 – 1924’ argue that the perspective representative potential of soldiers and workers unions and councils were in fact decisively contentious
During the time of the German Empire, groups like the Navy League, Colonial League, Pan-German League, and Agrarian League attempted to influence the politics of Germany by supporting and lobbying members of the Reichstag. The Agrarian League, representing the interest of landowners and others whose livelihood depended upon agriculture, demanded that the Reichstag pass laws and tariffs that would benefit the interests of the agriculturalists and other wealthy land owners. Their program of 1912 exemplifies their concerns over the progress of Germany and Germany’s politics to that point in time, and it offers their solutions to the problems faced by agriculturalists in 1912.
Richard Bessel’s article stresses the political structure of Weimar Germany as the cause of its failure. Its structure was flawed in numerous ways, all of which contributed to its inevitable failure. First of all, the problems within Germany due to the First World War were massive. This caused economic, political and social problems which first had to be dealt with by the new Weimar government. The loss of the war had left Germany with huge reparations to pay, and massive destruction to repair. In order to gain the capital needed to finance efforts to rebuild, and repay the Allies, the economy had to be brought back to its prewar levels. This was not an easy task.
...ust before the First World War the government begins to push Westerners to diversify. But with the beginning of the war, the West returns once again to a wheat-based economy because of the increase in demand. In the 1920's with new tariffs etc, the prairies experience higher costs, and their dissatisfaction creates a movement of farmers on the political scene, that is, political parties founded by farmers. By the 1930's and the Great depression, wheat and flour are only worth 30% in exportations compared to 1929, causing poverty and unemployment in the West, luckily the Second World War creates demand for wheat once again.
Canning, Kathleen. “Responses to German Reunification.” The Journal of the International Institute. 2000. The Regents of the University of Michigan. 07 March 05
During the twenties the economy had a definite impact on the society. It benefited some, but hurt others. The people that benefited were the prairie farmers and the oil companies. The people who didn’t benefit were American soldiers returning from WW1. Around the middle of the twenties, a wheat farmer was the person to be. Business was booming for all the wheat farmers, places like Europe, which were in war, were hungry for American’s wheat and contributed tremendous business to the American wheat industries. Farmers began making more money than ever before, and they started buying farm machinery to take place of their cattle and horses. Prices of wheat were at an all time high, which gave America’s wheat industry an even bigger advantage and a bigger form of money making in our economy. American soldiers on the other hand who had returned from war were expecting to be employed when they returned, but not even after fighting for their country could they get a job. It was very hard to get a job because women and immigrants had taken them all during the war. American soldiers were surprised at how difficult it was to...
...After we consider all these points mentioned we begin to see how everything worked and connected to form one huge disaster for Germany. We start to see how all these things played a part, the reparations led to unemployment that led to no money that led to overprinting of money. How the huge consequence of the reparations led to the unsuccessful paying of it leading to the French invasion of the Ruhr which led to strikes and therefore no products to trade with. How the unstable Weimar government led to extremist parties that damaged the economy further and brought inflation to its highest. The effects were probably the worst, the starvation coupled with the disease epidemic that killed people off and the worthless tonnes of paper notes roaming around the nation. It all in all was a very bad time in Germany one that they always found it hard to recover from.
Under the democratic government, censorships were lifted and German people were free to express themselves. Cultural improvements were occurring throughout the country. There was greater production and use of literature, music, and theatre. Germany was beginning to get back on its feet after a harsh war; its relationships between the government and the people, and also with the allies were improving. Although Germany appeared to be recovering and getting prosperous again, there were many underlining problems which threatened its stability.
Indeed the early stages of reunification did not answer the people’s dreams of a democratic society free of debt and suppression. Contrary to Chancellor Brandt’s claim that “what belongs together would now grow toge...