First Stresemann cabinet
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(1 month and 23 days)
First Cabinet of Gustav Stresemann | |
|---|---|
 8th Cabinet of Weimar Germany | |
| 13 August 1923 – 3 October 1923 (until 6 October 1923 as caretaker government) | |
 Chancellor Gustav Stresemann | |
| Date formed | 13 August 1923 |
| Date dissolved | 6 October 1923 (1 month and 23 days) |
| People and organisations | |
| President | Friedrich Ebert |
| Chancellor | Gustav Stresemann |
| Vice Chancellor | Robert Schmidt |
| Member parties | German People's Party Social Democratic Party Centre Party German Democratic Party |
| Status in legislature | Majority coalition government |
| Opposition parties | German National People's Party Communist Party of Germany |
| History | |
| Election | 1920 federal election |
| Legislature term | 1st Reichstag of the Weimar Republic |
| Predecessor | Cuno cabinet |
| Successor | Second Stresemann cabinet |
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The first Stresemann cabinet, headed by Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party (DVP), was the eighth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. The cabinet took office on 13 August 1923 when it replaced the Cuno cabinet under Wilhelm Cuno, which had resigned following a call by the Social Democratic Party for a vote of no confidence, which Cuno knew he could not win.
The four centre-left to centre parties in Stresemann's coalition did not have a formal coalition agreement, and the Reichstag was not in session during most of the cabinet's short tenure. That led to the use of emergency decrees to handle Germany's economic problems and to fight the move towards a right-wing dictatorship in Bavaria.
The cabinet resigned late on 3 October 1923 over a disagreement on increasing working hours for key industrial labourers and was replaced on 6 October by a second Stresemann cabinet.
The Cuno cabinet resigned largely due to dissatisfaction over the way it had handled the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops in January 1923. Its resignation was officially transmitted to President Friedrich Ebert late on 12 August 1923. At roughly the same time, Ebert asked the chairman of the German People's Party (DVP), Gustav Stresemann, to form a new government. On the evening of 13 August, Ebert appointed Stresemann chancellor. At that point, the list of ministers for the new cabinet was mostly completed. It was the fastest formation of a government between the replacement of the Weimar National Assembly by the Reichstag in 1920 and the period of the presidential cabinets that began in 1930. The first cabinet meeting took place on 14 August, within 36 hours of Cuno's resignation.[1]
Stresemann's cabinet was based on a grand coalition of the DVP, Social Democrats, Centre Party and German Democratic Party (DDP). There was no coalition agreement, and the government declaration of 14 August 1923 did not offer a political program. The most pressing tasks for the government were stabilising the currency and solving the related problem of the occupied territories. After the Ruhr occupation, the Cuno government had increasingly resorted to printing money in order to finance the extra spending and replace the loss of tax revenue caused by the government's policy of passive resistance against the occupation. As a result, the already high rate of inflation spiked. By the summer, the resulting collapse of the mark in the currency markets led to shortages of foreign currencies to pay for vital food imports.[1]
