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Weimar Germany

            The Weimar Republic was a chaotic and difficult transition for the German State after the Great War. To some historians, the Republic and Weimar Germany was destined to collapse from the beginning. Many years of traditional autocratic rule by strong nationalistic leaders made the acceptance of democracy difficult. The exhilarating days of 1918 saw it widely embraced, but its implementation would prove to be another matter. Despite its sweeping mandate in 1919, the SPD cabinet and their successors made many mistakes which were eventually to prove the undoing of Weimar. From the outset problems such as the flight of the Kaiser had beset the new republic. Many Germans had presumed the emperor and new republic would work together. By 1920 the electoral pendulum was already swinging right.
             The Weimar Republic faced many problems. Perhaps the greatest danger was 'the weakness within' - the constitution gave the President, the states and the army too much power, whilst proportional voting meant that the Reichstag was divided and weak.
             The German nation was used to being ruled, rather than ruling itself. Democracy was a new concept within Germany and many people were wiling to look to the left and right wings for political leadership. Strength and image were considered more important by some than policy and pragmatism appear to have been. .
             The republic also suffered at the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Many groups within Germany blamed to fledgling government for the harsh terms imposed by the treaty and opposition to the government was both open and violent: with varying amounts of success over the period of the republic's life. .
             The failure of Weimar to contain and eradicate these movements was in part due to the economic conditions of the day. A reparations bill of 6.6 Billion pounds ensured that the economy was going to struggle.
             The events up to 1923 had done serious damage to the Weimar Republic.


Essays Related to Weimar Germany

1. Weimar Republic

... Treaty of Versailles was seen by many German Nationalists as a product of defeat in World War 1. It was therefore not surprising that the Weimar politicians were condemned for signing the hated Treaty. The fact that Germany was exhausted and could not have fought on was overlooked by the Treaty's critics. This short-sightedness was further encouraged by the growth of ... . The loss of farms, factories, mines and colonies left Germany very much poorer. The disarming of Germany was seen both as an insult to German military pride and as an attempt to keep the country permanently weakened. ...

  • Word Count: 2459
  • Approx Pages: 10

2. The Rise Of Germany To A Fascist State

... avoiding the details, by using simple catch phrases, repeated over and over. Hitler's dominance and authoritarian nature was a much-needed change for the people of Germany, following the indecisive and so often unsuccessful muddlings of the Weimar government and its predecessors. The Spartacist rising of 1919 was an early political factor that encouraged the initial success of Hitler during the rise of ... on the economy, and the Germans once again looked for a scapegoat to blame for their diminished economic situation. During its early years the Weimar Government faced many problems, w...

  • Word Count: 2982
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. How Strong Was Weimar Germany

... government that achieved this which not only gave the economic benefits, it increased the government's political strength and helped the public's opinion of Weimar Germany. Then crisis itself may have had an effect on people's opinions as well as the quick resolution. At the time of the crisis, ... clearly unable to pay the huge £6.6 billion reparations fee. Many people in the Allied governments would have been much more sympathetic to the Weimar Germany's problems as they were so clear. This tactic was shown to have worked in the creation of the Dawes and the Young plans, and ... . For...

  • Word Count: 2083
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Was The Collapse Of The Weimar Republic Inevitable?

... a state of near-anarchy. It was created in the aftermath of the war to govern a defeated Germany. The Social Democratic Party was the leading party in the creation of the Weimar Republic. It was the only party with sufficient credibility and acceptance by Wilson to negotiate an armistice agreement. Although it was designed to make the state a liberal parliamentary democracy in ... he had labeled the "Guilty Men of 1918." So then, within fifteen years of its conception, the inherent political and economic factors present at the time had combined to make Germany a dictatorship. Main: Con...

  • Word Count: 2027
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. "In the years 1924-1929 the Weimar Republic grew in strength

... also it showed that they were being accepted into the world economy, although America did have its own reasons for lending Germany money (USA didn't want Germany to be overthrown by Communists). The Dawes Plan (1924) and Young Plan (1929) helped the Weimar republic grow in strength because it now finalised the reparations payments (132,000 million marks was fixed but 37,000 ... was growing in strength because, in the period 1924-1929, unemployment was always between 3% and 11% of the labour force in Germany, compared to between 1931 and 1932 when 30% of Germany's labour force were unemp...

  • Word Count: 1905
  • Approx Pages: 8

6. Nationalism and the Weimar Republic

... citizens. This lack of public support can be further attributed to the dramatic change from the stable autocratic leadership of the 'military-like state' of Germany's old political structure, to the unstable state of democratic Weimar Germany. This change came as a huge shock to many Germans, which resulted in a widespread view of nationalism that desired to restore the 'old guard' ... unprepared to establish a democratic republic whilst also enforcing the notion of 'Smachfrieden' (shameful peace), which lead to the nationalistic hatred that sparked the eventual downfall ...

  • Word Count: 1205
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Graduate

7. Was The Weimar Republic Doomed To Fail?

... Kapp Putsch in 1920 and Hitler's seizure of power. Hostility and extreme hatred for the Weimar Republic also came from the Extreme Left. They also opposed the Weimar Republic. The Spartacists led an unsuccessful revolt in Berlin in 1919. They wanted to establish a Soviet Style government for Germany. The Freikorps were used to suppress the Spartacist Revolt by demand of the government. The ... from the Extreme Left and Right and it would have collapsed at that point in time. Even from The Weimar Republic's troubled birth, it was clear that the economical problems had always existed. The...

  • Word Count: 880
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Weimar Republic Essay

... Versailles; "underlying economic problems remained, and the relative political stability of Weimar's golden years' rested on shaky foundations - (98 Source 1 Worksheet). In part, international affairs of the Weimar Republic were strong however the economy and domestic political problems proved a hindrance to the survival of the republic. Stresemann helped pull Germany out of the crises of 1923, but the fragile government could not ... both reduced Germany's total reparations as well helped gain foreign recognition for the payment of these debts. Slowly, foreign troops intervention was wi...

  • Word Count: 1127
  • Approx Pages: 5

9. Weimar Germany - The Years of Stability

... clashing of political ideals, violence and economic difficulty. Following the early struggles of Weimar Germany, the years of 1924 to 1927, encapsulated a period of economic, cultural, and diplomatic stability; known as the "The Years of Stability". This paradigm of success for the nation of Germany can be contributed to the German foreign minister of the time Gustav Stresemann, who ... to emerge. The economic prosperity, political stability and foreign policy of Germany were correlated with a blossoming culture, where Germany became one of the world centres for creative arts and ideas. T...

  • Word Count: 1054
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

10. The Doomed Weimar Republic

... the conservative elites and the maintenance of army political influence in the future, and that there would be no radical socio-economic changes in Germany. Writer Sefton Delmer believed "the republic was born with a hole in its heart" which suggests, as the army would have ... the concept of democracy from the start. Also, the Weimar republic destabilization was due to right-wing violence. Right wing parties such as the Friekorps were volunteer units made up of former soldiers who hated socialists, blaming them for Germany's defeat in WW1. The Friekorps had no objection in ... countera...

  • Word Count: 1029
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Graduate

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