Germany
Gustav Stresemann
1878–1929 National Liberal parliamentary leader, 1917; Chancellor, 1923; Foreign Minister, 1923–1929
The son of a Berlin tavern keeper, Stresemann earned a doctorate at Leipzig and entered the Reichstag as a National Liberal in 1907. In the war he backed annexations and unrestricted submarine warfare, and in 1917 became his party's parliamentary leader. After the defeat of 1918 he founded the German People's Party and moved it toward the center. As chancellor from August to November 1923 he ended passive resistance to the occupation of the Ruhr and began stabilizing the currency. As foreign minister until his death he had his first success with the Dawes Plan of 1924, negotiated the Locarno Treaties of 1925 and brought Germany into the League of Nations in 1926. He shared the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize with Aristide Briand and died on 3 October 1929.