Great Coalition (Weimar Republic)

The Great Coalition (13 August 1923 – 30 November 1923) was a grand coalition during the Weimar Republic that was made up of the four main pro-democratic parties in the Reichstag:

Gustav Stresemann, Reich chancellor during the Great Coalition, in 1926

• The Social Democratic Party (SPD), a moderate socialist party
• The Centre Party, a centre-right Catholic party
• The German Democratic Party (DDP), a liberal middle-class party
• The German People's Party (DVP), a centre-right party led by Gustav Stresemann

The coalition was formed under Reich Chancellor Gustav Stresemann in 1923 with the backing of all four parties. It was a time of multiple crises for the Weimar Republic. Hyperinflation, fueled by the policy of passive resistance towards the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, was at its peak, and parties on the extreme left and right had taken over or joined the governments in Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia.

During its brief three months in office, the Great Coalition ended the passive reistance against the Ruhr occupation, successfully stabilized the currency by replacing the worthless Papiermark with the Rentenmark and expelled the German Communist Party from the governments of Saxony and Thuringia by means of a Reichsexekution.[1]

In part due to the latter move, the SPD withdrew from the Great Coalition in November 1923 and brought down the Stresemann government.[2]

The second cabinet of Hermann Müller (28 June 1928 – 27 March 1930) could also be considered a Great Coalition. In addition to the other four parties, it included the Catholic Bavarian People's Party, which had historical ties to the Centre Party.