Stresemann and the Rearmament of Germany

Hans W. Gatzke

• Publisher: Arcole Publishing
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781787208032
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

The first major study of Stresemann following declassification of his papers in the previous year. Written by Hans W. Gatzke, then a Professor at John Hopkins, who was intrigued by the enigmatic Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929), a German politician and statesman who served briefly as Chancellor in 1923 and Foreign Minister 1923-1929, during the Weimar Republic. He was co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. His most notable achievement was the reconciliation between Germany and France, for which he and Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize. During a period of political instability and fragile, short-lived governments, he was generally seen as the most influential cabinet member in most of the Weimar Republic's existence. During his political career, he represented three successive liberal parties; he was the dominant figure of the German People's Party during the Weimar Republic.The study is based on the unpublished papers of Dr. Gustav Stresemann, which came into Allied possession at the end of World War II as part of the vast collection of German Foreign Ministry documents. They were opened to research in the spring of 1953, as the result of a U.S.-British agreement."A valuable contribution, enhanced by Mr. Gatzke's penetrating insights and sureness of style."—Fritz Stern, Columbia University

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{1} J. H. Morgan, Assize of Arms (London, 1945), set out to do this, but only the first and more general of his two projected volumes has appeared, and the publication of the more important second volume has been abandoned. See also: Telford Taylor, Sword and Swastika (New York, 1952), ch. II; Walter Görlitz, Der Deutsche Generalstab (Frankfurt a. M., 1950), ch. IX; and John Wheeler-Bennett, The Nemesis of Power (London, 1953), chs. II and III.

{2} Görlitz Generalstab p. 359, and B. H. Liddell Hart, The German Generals Talk (New York, 1948), pp. 13-14, hold that pre-Hitlerian rearmament had been “overrated,” a view not shared not by Morgan, Taylor, and Wheeler-Bennett.

{3} See Hans Rothfels’ introduction to Helm Speidel, “Reichswehr und Rote Armee,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, I, No. 1 (January 1953), p. 16.

{4} The many biographies of Stresemann, while differing in quality, are alike in their exclusive emphasis on the peaceful aspects of his policy and personality. Written by friends or admirers, their value to the historian is slight. The most informative is Walter Görlitz, Gustav Stresemann (Heidelberg, 1947). For the rest consult the bibliographical essay below, pp. 117 ff. The book worthy of the subject has yet to be written.

{5} Felix E. Hirsch, “Stresemann in Historical Perspective,” Review of Politics, XV, No. 3 (July 1953), pp. 375 ff.

{6} Gustav Stresemann, Vermächtnis. Der Nachlass in drei Bänden, ed. by Henry Bernhard (Berlin, 1932-33).

{7} Germany, Auswärtiges Amt, Politisches Archiv, “Nachlass des Reichsministers Dr. Gustav Stresemann,” microfilm, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (cited hereafter as Stresemann, “Nachlass”). For an analysis of these papers, see Hans W. Gatzke, “The Stresemann Papers,” Journal of Modern History, XXVI, No. 1 (March 1954), pp. 49-59. Henry L. Bretton, Stresemann and the Revision of Versailles (Stanford, 1953), had access to the “Nachlass” and devotes a brief chapter to “Disarmament and Revision,” pp. 138-149.

{8} Professor Raymond J. Sontag, who has seen these documents, has answered in the affirmative this writer’s question about Stresemann’s awareness of Germany’s illegal rearmam...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• PREFACE
• I-INTRODUCTION
• II-FROM RUHR TO LOCARNO
• III-THE END OF MILITARY CONTROL
• IV-THE REICHSWEHR AND RUSSIA
• V-THE PERFECTION OF GERMAN REARMAMENT
• VI-CONCLUSION
• BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER