Cuno, Wilhelm(vĭl`hĕlm ko͞o`nō), 1876–1933, German chancellor (Nov., 1922–Aug., 1923). A businessman, he headed a nonpartisan conservative ministry. His attempt to establish a moratorium on German reparations payments and his program of passive resistance to French occupation of the Ruhr both failed. During his term of office inflation reached huge proportions.
Born Feb. 7, 1876, in Suhl; died Mar. 1, 1933, in Aumühle, near Hamburg. German capitalist and politician.
As a prominent official in the exchequer he established close contact with capitalist magnates and in 1918 headed the gigantic Hamburg-American Steamship Line (Hapag). He was a staunch opponent of meeting Germany’s obligations under the Versailles Treaty of 1919. In November 1922 he formed a government that adopted a policy of refusing to make reparation payments and to carry out reparation deliveries. Using the actions of the Cuno government as a pretext, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr region in January 1923, leading to serious economic consequences for the workers. A stormy upsurge of the mass revolutionary movement caused the collapse of Cuno’s government in August 1923. In 1926 he again became general chairman of the Hamburg-American Steamship Line. In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s he participated in activities of reactionary forces directed toward liquidating the bourgeois-democratic structure and transferring power to the fascists.
REFERENCESDavidovich, D. S. Revoliutsionnyi krizis 1923 g. v Germanii i Gamburgskoe vosstanie. Moscow, 1963.
Das Kabinett Cuno. Boppard am Rhein, 1968.