Gustav+Stresemann

Created by Nicole and Tony

__Personal__ Gustav Stresemann was born on May 10, 1878. He was born in Berlin as the youngest of 7 children. He studied political economy at the University of Berlin. Stresemann married Käthe Kleefeld in 1903 and they had two sons. He was the co-winner of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Aristide Briand. Towards the end of his life his health became an issue and he died of a stroke at the age of 51 on October 3, 1929.

__Political__ While Gustav had been interested in politics and economics for the majority of his life, he was first elected to the Reichstag in 1907. In 1917 he was elected leader of the National Liberal Party. After World War I, Gustav started to see his views on German policy and Germany's role in the world changing. He was starting to stop believing in the need for imperialism and more in the belief that every country has its niche that it must fit into. Stresemanns view on the Treaty of Versailles was alike most Germans in that he thought it was a 'diktat' (dictated peace), but Gustav believed that the best way to show the world that the Treaty was not fair was for Germany to try its best to meet the demands. This way the rest of the world would see that the Treaty's demands were truly impossible to meet.

A month after the end of World War I, Gustav formed the German People's Party( not to be confused with the German Worker's Party) mostly out of old National Liberal Party members, and was elected to the Weimar Republic, which he was the leader of, for a short time in 1923. In this short period of time he restored order in Bavaria after Hitler's failed 'Munich Putsch', ended the German passive resistance in the Ruhr, and began the work of stabilizing Germany's currency. He introduced the Rentenmark to try to halt hyperinflation. As a leader, Stresemann's administration would advocate co-operation and participation in international affairs, as opposed to sulking, like previous governments had. In 1924 Stresemann was chosen as the German Foreign Minister. He held this post until his death in 1929. He found immediate success in this role when he accepted the Dawes Plan, which reshaped the way that Germany was to pay off the reparations from the Treaty of Versailles. He was also vital in the making of the Locarno Pact, which guaranteed the maintenance of the borders established at Versailles. His most impressive feat may be the German acceptance into the League of Nations in 1926. Despite his declining state of health, Gustav stayed on as Foreign Minister. He signed the Young Plan in 1929 which was to finally evacuate the rest of the troops from the Ruhr, although he was not alive when the troops left on June 30, 1930.

__After his Death__ Less than a month after Stresemann's death, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 happened. Shortly after the Great Depression rocked the entire world. Stresemann's death in 1929 along with Aristide Briand's(the French Prime Minister) in 1932, and the assassination in 1934 of Briand's successor Louis Barthou managed to leave a gaping hole of inexperience at two important positions of European statesmanship, and contributed to the dynamics of World War II.


 * Sources:**

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