Gustav Stresemann Lives Another Decade

Died in 1929 at age 51.

I'm quoting here from his 1926 Nobel Peace Prize webpage:

...dismayed, however, to discover Germany's true military position in the fall of 1918, Stresemann found his ideas of the world changing. Disillusioned with an imperial government that believed in force yet did not possess adequate force, and indeed realizing that the policy of force and conquest in itself is ultimately ruinous, he began to see the world as a jigsaw of political and commercial interrelationships, each nation an individual piece in the puzzle and each fitting into another.

A month after the armistice of November 11, 1918, Stresemann formed the German People's Party, was elected to the national assembly which gathered at Weimar in 1919 to frame a new constitution, was elected to the new Reichstag in 1920 and spent the next three years in opposition. From August 13 to November 23, 1923, Stresemann was chancellor of a coalition government. In his short-lived ministry he dealt firmly with insurrection in Saxony, restored order in Bavaria after Hitler's Putsch failed, ended the passive resistance of Germans in the Ruhr to the French occupying forces, and began the work of stabilizing Germany's currency.

In 1924 Stresemann's successor chose him as his secretary of foreign affairs, an office he was to fill with such distinction under four governments that he was called the greatest master of German foreign policy since Bismarck. He enjoyed immediate success with the acceptance of the Dawes Plan, which restructured reparations on the basis of Germany's ability to pay. With his note of February 9, 1925, he took the initiative in arriving at a rapprochement with the Western Allies, especially with France, in guaranteeing the maintenance of the boundaries established at Versailles. After careful preparation for a conference, Gustav Stresemann, Aristide Briand, and Austen Chamberlain, along with representatives of the other four nations involved, met at Locarno, Switzerland, to draw up mutual security pacts. The three were a study in contrasts: Chamberlain, tall, elegant, monocled, schoolmasterish, cool; Briand, slightly stooped, hair disheveled, moustached, informal, amused; Stresemann, stiffly erect, bald head reflecting the light, cautiously formal. But they shared a common goal: to provide general security so that political and economic stability could be achieved.

After initialing the Locarno Pact on October 16, Stresemann hurried home to insure its acceptance by the government. In a speech broadcast to the nation on November 3, 1925, he appealed for support, saying: "Locarno may be interpreted as signifying that the States of Europe at last realize that they cannot go on making war upon each other without being involved in common ruin."

As another part of his peace offensive, Stresemann signed a rapprochement with Russia, called the Treaty of Berlin, in April of 1926. And, following an unsuccessful trip to Geneva in March, he finally saw on September 8, 1926, the unanimous acceptance of Germany's admission into the League of Nations.

Despite his health, which declined rapidly after the Christmas of 1927, and against medical advice, Stresemann retained his position as German foreign minister. In 1929 at The Hague, he accepted the Young Plan which named June 30, 1930, as the final date for the evacuation of the Ruhr.

Stresemann did not live to see that evacuation. The victim of a stroke, he died in Berlin in October of 1929.

So, consequences? He seems to have been a very important and influential figure. A stronger, longer lasting Weimar? It is implied that he was still loyal to the monarchy.. thing we would have seen Hohenzollerns again?
 

Glen

Moderator
We discussed Stresemann's potential quite a bit in the discussions leading to the creation of Weimar World.

Bottom line, just extending Stresemann's lifetime is not sufficient. There's too many forces working against him, especially after the Depression strikes. The groundwork for a different fate for Germany needs to be laid down in the early to mid 1920s....or get rid of the Great Depression.
 
We discussed Stresemann's potential quite a bit in the discussions leading to the creation of Weimar World.

Bottom line, just extending Stresemann's lifetime is not sufficient. There's too many forces working against him, especially after the Depression strikes. The groundwork for a different fate for Germany needs to be laid down in the early to mid 1920s....or get rid of the Great Depression.

Actually, I disagree. See here:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=87365&highlight=stressemann

For why.
 

Glen

Moderator

While having a capable Foreign Minister is important, it would not have been enough. Also, the French statesmen he could have worked with were dropping like flies in the years to come.

It is highly unlikely that he would have run for President, and if running, more unlikely that he would have won. He was in a stronger position to do so back in the mid 20s and did not.

With Hindenburg in the Presidency and the revolving Chancellors under him in the post Crash period, we still have political uncertainty. Schleicher is still likely to take over, and we still get the shotgun marriage of Hitler as chancellor followed by Hindenburg's death.

I like Streseman, I really do, but just having him live longer is not in and of itself sufficient.
 
While having a capable Foreign Minister is important, it would not have been enough. Also, the French statesmen he could have worked with were dropping like flies in the years to come.

First, it's not clear to me why the Foreign Minister is not important if as Foreign Minister he'd be capable of stopping the foolish plans for an Austro-German Customs Union, which means that the run on German banks is lessened, making the crisis less severe.

It is highly unlikely that he would have run for President, and if running, more unlikely that he would have won. He was in a stronger position to do so back in the mid 20s and did not.

It's not clear to me why he doesn't offer a viable alternative to Hindenburg, who got support from everyone who wasn't a Nazi or Communist.

Moreover, the situation in the mid 1920s is somewhat different than that in 1932, no?
 
We discussed Stresemann's potential quite a bit in the discussions leading to the creation of Weimar World.

Bottom line, just extending Stresemann's lifetime is not sufficient. There's too many forces working against him, especially after the Depression strikes. The groundwork for a different fate for Germany needs to be laid down in the early to mid 1920s....or get rid of the Great Depression.

I don't agree with this at all. You seem to be implying that Nazism was inevitable. Even minor changes to foreign policy or politics can make huge differences.

If FDR had wanted a fascist dictatorship, could he have pulled it off? I wouldn't call it impossible.
 
IMO, and I could be wrong, of course: All it would have taken to create a more moderate Germany, even up to a POD in the years of the Great Depression, would be for a leader as charismatic as Hitler to arrive who could be seen as moderate alternative who could garner as much support as Hindenburg could have against the extremists. Hindenburg then could have happily stepped down, and another leader, using the almost autocratic powers the Presidency provided for, could have enacted the reforms necessary to permanently stabilizie the Weimar Republic-which we would today just be calling the German Reich, without any negative connotations. Stresemann, to me, might fill this bill. So could several others, but unfortunately, they either died, didn't have the right motivation, or simply weren't in the right place at the right time.
 
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