The collapse of the Weimar Republic

Question 1

When was the Weimar Republic’s ‘golden age’ of cultural advancement?

Answer 1

1924-1929

Question 2

When was the Weimar Republic prematurely announced?

Answer 2

November 9th 1918

Question 3

What was the impact of this announcement?

Answer 3

• The party leader, Friedrich Ebert was furious because it connected the Republic with the signing of the armistice and the Paris Peace Treaty, instead of being linked to Ludendorff and Hindenburg.
• The military generals quickly promoted the concept that the military had not been defeated in war, but had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the NOVEMBER CRIMINALS (civilian politicians of the Weimar Republic) for their signing of the ‘diktat’ Treaty of Versailles.
• This myth ‘Dolchstosslegende’ started amongst German soldiers

Question 4

How was the President given too much power in the Weimar Constitution?

Answer 4

• Article 25 gave him the ability to dissolve the Reichstag and call for new elections
• Article 48 was an emergency decree, giving the president the ability to rule without a Reichstag.

Question 4

Problems with democracy?

Answer 4

• Germany had known only militarism and authoritarian monarchy.
• The Weimar Republic was one of the world’s most democratic and progressive constitutions.
• Struggle to agree on issues led to increased instability.
• Many of these political parties suffered attacks from one another, so each formed their own paramilitary wing for protection, such as Nazi’s SA, leading to increased violence and instability.

Question 5

Failure of 1919 Revolution

Answer 5

• Further weakness of Weimar was established through the Ebert-Groener Pact. Ebert (leader of the left-wing SPD and first president of the Weimar Republic) signed a pact with right-wing General Groener supporting each other to avoid a Communist Revolution.
  -When the Spartacists (more radical left-wing which became KPD) tried to sieze power in January 1919, the Ebert-Groener Pact was enacted and the Freikorps (right-wing paramilitary group of ex-servicemen) crushed the uprising killing hundreds, including sparticist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
  The KPD never forgave the SPD for the betrayal and if they joined they could have prevented the Nazis Rise to Power.

Question 6

Normalisation of Violence

Answer 6

• Early Weimar was marked by unrest and violence as it was a new, radical system
  -soldiers resented ungrateful revolutionary mood after their sacrificice
• Fear, hatred, riots, unrests and assassinations
• right-wing Freikorp coup, led by Wolfgang Kapp, attempted to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The army was called upon to crush the Kapp Putsch but they refused saying they do not fire upon their own.
• Kapp Putsch was disorganised and failed but showed the Army was unwilling to defend the Weimar Republic

Question 7

Influence of ‘conservative elites’ and rise of right-wing groups

Answer 7

• conservative elites preferred a more traditional, authoritarian rule
• anti-Weimar sentiment was fuelled by the Locarno Pact (Germany reaffirming commitment to some of Treaty of Versailles terms) as Germany hated the treaty specifically Article 231.

Question 8

Economic crisis

Answer 8

• Germany stopped paying the 6.6 billion pound reparations
• French and Belgian troops moved into Germany’s industrial Ruhr region in January 1923 to make Germany pay.
• Led to passive resistance by Germans
• Passivity turned to violence.
• German government continued to pay the striking workers by printing more notes.
• This abundance made them worthless and led to hyperinflation.
• The Dawes Plan of 1925 and Young Plan of 1929 saw German economy dependent on foreign investment. Therefore the golden years 1924-1929 were due to foreign loans. The Great Depression of the early 1930s called for repayment of the loans and caused an economic disaster