Cuno cabinet
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(8 months and 21 days)
Cabinet of Wilhelm Cuno | |
|---|---|
 7th Cabinet of Weimar Germany | |
| 22 November 1922 – 12 August 1923 | |
 Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno | |
| Date formed | 22 November 1922 |
| Date dissolved | 12 August 1923 (8 months and 21 days) |
| People and organisations | |
| President | Friedrich Ebert |
| Chancellor | Wilhelm Cuno |
| Member parties | Centre Party German Democratic Party German People's Party Bavarian People's Party |
| Status in legislature | Minority coalition government |
| Opposition parties | Communist Party of Germany |
| History | |
| Election | 1920 federal election |
| Legislature term | 1st Reichstag of the Weimar Republic |
| Predecessor | Second Wirth cabinet |
| Successor | First Stresemann cabinet |
The Cuno cabinet, headed by Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, a political independent, was the seventh democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It took office on 22 November 1922 when it replaced the second cabinet of Joseph Wirth, which had resigned after being unable to restructure its coalition following the loss of a key vote in the Reichstag.
Cuno was made chancellor by presidential decree without a vote in the Reichstag. Four of the members of his cabinet were independents with economic experience; the remainder were from centre or centre-right parties. Unlike in previous Weimar cabinets, there was no formal coalition agreement.
The Cuno cabinet's attempts to deal with reparations payments to the Allies of World War I were sidelined when France and Belgium accused Germany of not making the required payments on time and occupied the Ruhr on 11 January 1923. The government printed additional money to pay for its support of the large number of workers and businesses idled by its policy of passive resistance against the occupation. Inflation spiked and increased public discontent over the government's handling of the crisis.
The Cuno cabinet resigned on 12 August 1923 in the face of an almost certain loss in a vote of no confidence. It was replaced the next day by the first cabinet of Gustav Stresemann.
Joseph Wirth's second cabinet resigned on 14 November 1922 when he was unable to form a new coalition following the loss of an important vote in the Reichstag. The German President, Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), asked the independent Wilhelm Cuno to form a new government on 16 November. Cuno tried to put together a broad coalition of parties stretching from the centre-right German People's Party (DVP) to the SPD, which had just reunited with the more radical Independent Social Democratic Party. A majority of the SPD's Reichstag delegation opposed Ebert and refused to agree to a coalition including the DVP.[1] Cuno, who had been general director of the HAPAG shipping company, largely failed as well in his attempts to convince other business leaders to join his cabinet. After prolonged negotiations, Cuno was appointed chancellor on 22 November 1922 by presidential decree and without a vote in the Reichstag.[2]
Cuno was the first chancellor in the Weimar Republic who was not a member of a party and a professional politician. Politically, he was quite far to the right of President Ebert. Cuno formed a government partly composed of independents with economic experience – Wilhelm Groener, Heinrich Albert, Frederic von Rosenberg and – a few days later – Hans Luther. The balance of the cabinet was made up of members of the German People's Party (2 ministers), the German Democratic Party (2 ministers), the Centre Party (3 ministers) and the Bavarian People's Party (one). The government was referred to alternatively as a business ministry, an economic government or a cabinet of personalities, emphasizing that it was not the result of an formal coalition between parliamentary parties. There was no written coalition agreement, but the parties that provided cabinet members were its core support in the Reichstag. It was dependent on toleration from either the SPD or the right of centre German National People's Party (DNVP). Initially, both of the parties were neutral or slightly supportive, but Cuno was still not able to put his cabinet to an outright vote of confidence. As a compromise, the Reichstag "took notice" of the government declaration and Cuno's reference to the last policy statement of Wirth's cabinet as the basis of his own platform. Only the Communist Party (KPD) voted against him. The Cuno government was the first Weimar government endorsed, if weakly, by the nationalists of the DNVP.[3][4][5]
