Gustav Stresemann, the son of a innkeeper, was born in Berlin on 10th May,
1878. Stresemann attended universities in Berlin and Leipzig where he
studied history, literature and economics.
After completing his studies he worked for the German Chocolate Makers's
Association. In 1902 he founded the Saxon Manufacturers' Association and the
following year joined the National Liberal Party. A right-wing party,
Stresemann emerged as one of the leaders of the more moderate wing who
favoured an improvement in social welfare provision.
In
1908 Stresemann was elected to the
Reichstag.
He soon came into conflict with his more conservative colleagues and he was
ousted from the party's executive committee in 1912. Later that year he lost
his seat in Parliament.
Stresemann returned to business life and was the founder of the
German-American Economic Association. A strong advocate of German
imperialism, he aliened himself with the political views of
Alfred von
Tirpitz and
Bernhard von Bulow.
He
returned to the
Reichstag
in 1914. Exempted from military service during the
First World War
because of poor health, Stresemann was a passionate supporter of the war
effort and advocated that Germany should take possession of land in
Russia,
Poland,
France
and Belgium.
During the war Stresemann became increasing right-wing in his views and his
opponents claimed he was the parliamentary spokesman for military figures
such as
Paul von Hindenburg and
Erich
Ludendorff. He became increasingly critical of
Bethmann
Hollweg and advocated
unrestricted submarine warfare against the
Royal Navy.
In
1918 Stresemann formed the German People's Party. After Germany's defeat
Stresemann was sympathetic to the
Freikorps
and welcomed the defeat of the socialists and communists in the
German
Revolution. However, he became increasingly concerned by the use of
violence of the right-wing groups and after the murders of
Matthias
Erzberger and
Walther
Rathenau, Stresemann decided to argue in favour of the
Weimar Republic.
With the support of the
Social Democratic
Party Stresemann became chancellor of Germany in 1923. He managed to
bring an end to the passive resistance in the
Ruhr and
resumed payment of
reparations. He also tackled the problem of
inflation
by establishing the Rentenbank.
Stresemann was severely criticized by members of the
Social Democratic
Party and
Communist Party over his unwillingness to deal firmly with
Adolf Hitler
and other Nazi
Party leaders after the failure of the
Beer Hall Putsch.
Later that month the socialists withdrew from Stresemann's government and he
was forced to resign as chancellor.
In
the new government led by
Wilhelm Marx,
Stresemann was appointed as foreign minister. He accepted the
Dawes Plan
(1924) as it resulted in the
French Army
withdrawing from the
Ruhr. Under
Hans Luther
Stresemann's skilled statesmanship led to the
Locarno Treaty
(1925) and Germany joining the
League of
Nations (1926). Later that year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Gustav Stresemann negotiated the
Young Plan
but soon after that he suffered two strokes and on 3rd October, 1929 he died
of a heart attack.
John
Simkin
