A View of the Political Power of the Weimar Republic during the Golden Age

A View of the Political Power of the Weimar Republic during the Golden Age â€Å"The Weimar Republic enjoyed a golden age of political stability in the years 1924-28† When the armistice was signed by Germany in 1918, Germany was in a complete state of disarray. A naval mutiny broke out in Kiel, and Germany was plunged into a revolution. Several groups scrambled for control of Germany. Eventually, the Weimar Republic was formed, it promised a democratic republic with equal rights to all its citizens. However, to say the republic calmed tensions and provided political stability post-1918 would be far from accurate. Hyper-inflation and the harsh terms of the treaty of Versailles led to increasing resentment towards the newly-found republic from the German public up to the crisis year of 1923. However, historians have argued that between 1924 and 1928, Germany experienced a period of political stability, this is mainly attributed to Stresemann’s addressing of the hyper-inflation crisis by introducing the Rentenmark, as well as American loans and investment from the Dawes plan assisting the German economy in recovering. However critics have argu ed that there is no such thing as the â€Å"golden age† and that the Weimar Republic was still in a state of crisis. Some historians argue that it would be impossible to describe the period in Germany from 1924-1928 as a â€Å"golden age of political stability â€Å"because there was no stable Government during this period. Over this period there were 9 successive governments in the space of 4 years, all of them being coalition governments. The frequent change in leadership meant there was no time for any meaningful impact to take place as the next Government would scrap what the previous Government had been planning. In addition, some of the Governments during the period were minority Governments, leading to cases were Governments were unable to pass legislation due to other parties grouping together to prevent it from passing. The lack of strong government during the period highlighted the weakness of German democracy and led to the German public becoming disenfranchised with the establishment. However, looking at the period pre-1924, and compare it to the years 1924-28, it is clear that following 1924, there was a period of growing stability. Up to 1923, inflation was increasing at an exponential rate with the Government printing more and more money in order to pay of the overwhelming debts they held following the treaty of Versailles. The continual printing of money led to the Deutschmark becoming so worthless many German’s opted for a primitive barter economy instead. Hyper-inflation was only made worse by the French-Belgium invasion of the Ruhr. German workers in the Ruhr went on strike meaning reparations weren’t being paid; this led to a joint force of France and Belgium occupying the Ruhr. The German government at the time opted for a policy of passive resistance; they paid the German workers to stay on strike, but did not actively confront the occupying forces. The effect of passive resistance was that it led to even more money being paid out then the annual reparation payments cost them, which in turn exacerbated the hyper-inflation crises When Stresemann became chancellor in 1923 he set up a new currency, the Rentenmark which helped stabilise the economy and effectively ended the hyper-inflation crisis. Therefore, the crisis period up to 1923 is in great period with the relatively calmer more prosperous years from 1924-28. During this â€Å"golden age† real wages for Industrial workers increased and there was a sense of newfound prosperity, quite the opposite of the years leading up to the golden age. On the other hand, some historians would argue that the so-called economic prosperity of the â€Å"Golden age† wasn’t as prosperous as it is made out to be. Stresemann says in a speech shortly before his death â€Å"the economic position is only flourishing on the surface,† whilst the economy grew from 1924-1927 it shrunk in 1928; unemployment was a continuous issue, by March 1926 unemployment was at 3 million, this and the wall street crash which happened just after the golden age indicate that whilst the economy seemed to have recovered, in reality the foundations it was built on were unsafe to begin with. In conclusion, I would argue that whilst the Weimar Republic appeared to be more politically stable, the reality was that the short-lived prosperity was only due to American investment, and when the wall-street crash occurred, Germany was unable to rely on the USA, leading to an economic disaster. Thus the Weimar Republic enjoyed a false sense of political stability, but no real stability was present.

The Rocking-Horse Winner VS. Janus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Rocking-Horse Winner VS. Janus - Essay Example The lady portrayed in the story by Lawrence is Paul’s mother â€Å"Hester,† who finds her marriage to be unlucky as she is unable to cope up with the poor financial situation of her married life. She even feels that her children are a burden for her. The story opens with the line â€Å"woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck† (Lawrence). Hester is blessed with three children and her son Paul is shown as a strange character who after receiving the rocking horse gets a strange power, which helps him to predict the horse race winners correctly. He makes a good amount of money out of this and tries to help his mother so that she can pay off the debts. Instead of clearing the debts, she squanders the money for their stylish living. This shows that the lady has a sick desire for money. The story ends with the tragic death of Paul after falling from the horse. In Ann Beatties’s â€Å"Janus,† the protagonist’ s name is Andrea, and she is a successful real estate agent who believes in her lucky bowl. When she gets a buyer for the house, â€Å"she places the bowl in the house that was up for sale† (Beattie 595). This indicates that she was a blind believer of her luck, which she thought relied on the bowl. She credits her achievement to the bowl that is often also admired by the buyers. The story starts with the introduction of bowl – â€Å"The Bowl was perfect,† as the author puts it.

Body Diversity and Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Body Diversity and Media - Essay Example Body diversity is a crucial component that the society needs to address not only in America, but also across the globe. It ought to be so because some sections of the society have developed stereotypes about certain body formations. More often than not, such stereotypes border on unfairness, especially the ones that have discriminatory elements. For example, fatness was considered a sign of fortune and fertility in the 20th century but currently it is a sign of poor health and selfishness. It may not necessarily be so because the degree of fatness differs across individuals and the causes are widespread. For instance, a person may become fat because he/she has peace of mind while another may be so because of engaging in unhealthy lifestyles. Racism has been ailing the world, particularly the United States, for centuries now. It is simply discrimination based on skin color. Despite frantic efforts by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King jnr. to bring civil revolution in their times, racism continues to be a major challenge to national cohesion in America and many countries. The evidence of racism in the United States is depicted by the voting trends during election times. It means that a nation can be liberal and democratic yet racist. People are different in skin color, eye color, body shape, and hair texture, but they are all humans who deserve equal treatment. All sectors of the society must come into play in order to condemn the evil of discrimination based on body diversity. Perhaps a critical tool that a nation can either use to fun or shun discrimination based on body diversity is the media. Indeed, the media plays a critical media can provide a platform for dissuading citizens from all forms of bodily discrimination. Besides skin color and hair texture, most American with disability have also had to cope with high levels of discrimination. Since it is