First Marx cabinet

The First Marx cabinet (German: Erstes Kabinett Marx) was the tenth democratically elected Reichsregierung of the German Reich, during the period in which it is now usually referred to as the Weimar Republic. The cabinet was named after Reichskanzler (chancellor) Wilhelm Marx and took office on 30 November 1923 when it replaced the Second Stresemann cabinet which had resigned on 23 November. Marx' first cabinet resigned on 26 May 1924 and was replaced on 3 June by another cabinet under his chancellorship.

After the second cabinet of Gustav Stresemann had resigned on 23 November 1923, the situation of the Reich was too critical to be dealt with for long by a mere caretaker government: the Occupation of the Ruhr, a military state of ermergency (in place since 26 September 1923), implementation of the currency reform and the dire state of the public finances. Nevertheless, attempts to create a new coalition turned out to be difficult. A restoration of the "Grand Coalition" including the Social Democrats seemed hopeless. The focus was thus on a new "bourgeois" cabinet based on Zentrum, DVP, DDP and possibly DNVP. Although among the coalition parties the DVP was most amenable to inclusion of the DNVP, the other two parties also tacked to the right in these discussions.

Initially, the Zentrum (including Marx personally) refused to nominate a chancellor and to take the lead in coalition negotiations. Siegfried von Kardorff () of the DVP was recommended by DDP and Zentrum on 24 November. Kardoff contacted the DNVP but was rebuffed. Stresemann then suggested to president Friedrich Ebert to hand the task to form a cabinet to the DNVP, but their political demands were unacceptable to Ebert. On 25 November, the president asked Heinrich Albert to form an independent cabinet, but this was vetoed by the parties. A possible chancellorship for Karl Jarres (DVP) was dropped due to opposition from Zentrum and DDP.

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