Weimar republic- 1919-1933
Why was the wiemar republic unpopular/weak?
- Germany defeated in WWI, signing treaty of Versailles, German people believed they were winning the war, Weimar republic took blame of defeat in war. Kaiser left.
- People blamed Weimar because they signed the treaty of Versailles.
- STAB IN THE BACK MYTH
Treaty of versialles (LAMB)
- Land: lost their overseas empire which was devided amongst the victorious allies.
- Army: military strength was reduced to 100,000 men and 6 battleships.
- Money: reparations were fixed at 6600 million pounds to the allied countries. This crippled the German economy (1923)(long term)
- Blame: Germany had to accept guilt for starting the war. This was the clause that Germans hated the most.
The Weimar republic- democtratic system of government
• The Weimar constitution had 2 key weaknesses:
- Proportional representation: you get the same number of seats as votes you received. This made it impossible for one party to gain enough seats to rule by themselves. Coalition governments were set up- these were usually made of small parties, the parties found it difficult to work together. Germany needed one strong government to rule.
- Article 48: in emergency the president could abandon the system of democracy and rule without Reichstag. If abused, this was the back door to dictatorship ( in 1933 Hitler convinces Hindenburg that the burning down of Reichstag is a national emergency and Hitler becomes the dictator).
There was 2 attempts to overthrow the Weimar republic: (the Weimar republic was not popular because people were trying to kill them)
1. Spartacists rising- 1919 (leftwing)- it was badly prepared, Weimar republic not strong enough so they asked the freikorps to kill the spartacists.
2. The kapp putsch- 1920 (rightwing) - the Weimar republic used the left wing to defeat the rightwing this time- this shows that the government are weak but skilful.
1923- the year of crisis
Germany fell behind with reparations so French and Belgium troops invade Ruhr (GERMAN INDUSTRIAL AREA). With no army to resist Germany tried passive resistance instead- workers went on strike. German money printed extra money to pay for the resistance (pay the workers who don’t work and are on strike). The value of money went down.
Extra money+ less production = hyperinflation
The middle class was mostly hit, lost all their savings.
Gustav Stresemann (saves the Weimar republic and solves problems)
To deal with the problems the Weimar republic elected Stresemann as chancellor. He:
- Ended passive resistance
- Scrapped the old currency and introduced a new stable currency – retenmark.
- He got the army on his side
- 1924 agreed the Daws plan (a loan from USA ) enabling them to start reparations again and rebuilt German industry.
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The Weimar Republic: Germany after WW1: At the end of WW1 Germany had lost the war against the Allies and was utterly humiliated by them. The Germans were then forced into signing the treaty of Versailles otherwise the Allies would declare war again and turn Germany into ruins. Many critics of the treaty of Versailles said that Germany’s army was prepared to fight on. They said the army had been betrayed by the politicians in Berlin- They had been stabbed in the back. These politicians were called…
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decide Germany after the war.. Before the signing the king of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II fled the country in November 1918 (Llewellyn, J. “Weimar Republic Timeline”) and the SDP (Social Democratic Party) leader Philipp Scheidemann made Germany into the Weimar Republic (“Llewellyn, J. Weimar Republic Timeline”). The Weimar Republic is the name of the Republic made after World War One. Germany at the time had thought that the Treaty would be based on the president of the USA (Woodrow Wilson's) 14 points…
persuades Hindenburg. Von Papen thought that as long as there were a limited number of Nazis in the cabinet then Hitler could be controlled. Von Papen was wrong. Also there was the weakness of the Weimar government, which played its part in the eventual Chancellorship title that Hitler obtained. The Weimar government was failing miserably, what with a failed economy, no power, a great depression, unemployment, a weak presidential rule, and the rise of terrorism and extremism. The Social Democrats were…
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC • November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. • Jan 1919 elections. • Feb 1919: new constitution agreed in the town of Weimar/Ebert President. • System of government in the Weimar Republic – Elected president controlled army, administration and made emergency laws/ Chancellor responsible to the Reichstag/ Reichstag made laws, controlled the government and foreign policy/ Proportional representation/ Bill of Rights. THREE PHASES OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC • 1919-23…
In 1929, the American Stock Exchange collapsed, and caused an economic depression. America called in all its foreign loans, which destroyed Weimar Germany. Unemployment in Germany rose to 6 million. The government did not know what to do. In July 1930 Chancellor Brüning cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay - the worst thing to do during a depression. He could not get the Reichstag to agree to his actions, so President Hindenburg used Article 48 to pass the measures by decree.…
To what extent did the Weimar Republic recover between the years 1924 and 1929? The statement about the Golden Years of the Weimar Republic is definitely to some extent true. The Weimar Republic grew in strength by virtue of Gustav Stresemann and his intervention, the introduction of a new currency and a cultural blast however there were still a number of factors holding Germany back. Opposition from the Left and Right, coalition governments and the introduction of the fuhrer principle were great…
The main threat to the stability of the Weimar republic in the period 1919-1923 came from the political violence of the extreme right There were many threats posing Germany in 1919, the political system formed on the back of failure produced resentment towards Weimar from both the extreme left and the right. Other factors linked to economic issues caused by war, such as hyperinflation and the war guilt clause which `led to much suffering for the German people through loss of savings and jobs and…
view that the collapse of the Weimar Republic was primarily due to the appeal of Hitler and his Nazi Party. From its initial inception, the democratic Weimar Republic was doomed to fail. Having begun its regime by signing a severely unpopular peace treaty, the newly instated Weimar Government not only “lacked moral validity”1 but also ensured and vast variety of problems whilst similarly guaranteeing the distrust of its people for the duration of its existence. The Republic encountered a multitude of…
