Weimar and its constitution

Question 1

DNVP: German National People’s Party

Answer 1

older conservative parties and was conservative, nationalist and monarchist
-no social reform and disliekd idea of a republic
-supported army
-large number of members were wealthy land owners and anti semitic

Question 2

DVP: German People’s party

Answer 2

moderately conservative led by Gustav Stressemann
-accepted republic ( did not support)
-mostly wealthy industrial middle class (wanted quick fi to economy)
-nationalist and supported army

Question 3

Center Party

Answer 3

long established party, partialy catholic
-drew people from many different social groups
-conservative values yet advocated social reform
-firmly against left wing policies and opposed communism

Question 4

DDP: German democrats

Answer 4

newly formed part of liberal, educated professionals who supported idea of republic & more representative constitution
-believed in social reform

Question 5

SPD: Social democrats

Answer 5

largest party in Reichstag from 1919-1929
- split in 1917 caused shift to republican stance (believed in republic and moderate social reform (No revolution)

Question 6

First national assembly of 1919

Answer 6

19th January 1919 election to national assembly took place
–> 83% TURNOUT where 38% of vote went to SPD

Question 7

Creation of Weimar constitution

Answer 7

7th Feb 1919: Ebert gave victorious speech proclaiming victory for democracy
11th Feb: Ebert elected as first president of republic by 277 to 51
31st July 1919: Weimar constitution was passed by National Assembly

Question 8

Challenges to Weimar

Answer 8

signing of treaty of versailles

coalitions

proportional representation

Relationship between president and Reichstag

Question 9

Structure of the Weimar government

Answer 9

President ( head of state who choses a chancellor and has emergency powers under article 48)

Chancellor

Cabinet

Reichstag: votes are cast for parties where one seat is given for every 60K)

Question 10

Challenges to Weimar constitution: signing of treaty of Versailles

Answer 10

signing of treaty of versailles made the government very unpopular
-widespread resentment of the treaty and germans believed that the war had been won
- diktat (germany was not a party of negotiations

Question 11

Challenges to Weimar constitution: proportional representation

Answer 11

Proportional representation meant that people voted for a party in one of the 35 large electoral areas rather than a person in the area

• led to the formation of many coalitions comprised of many different small splinter parties who were quite radical in ideologies
• lots of disagreement (many negotiations and compromises where not all parties would be happy with results) = hard to pass laws

Question 12

Challenges to Weimar constitution: Relationship between president and Reichstag

Answer 12

Presidential powers included article 48: the power to rule by decree
- intended to lessen fears of an unrestricted parliament becoming too powerful

Opposite effect as:
fears of emergency powers were actively expressed by many members of parliament and was a pivotal power that Hitler exploited later on to become dictatorship

(NOT completely bad as it helped during depression and economic stabilisation)

Question 13

Challenges to Weimar constitution: Coalition governments

Answer 13

29 different parties in the Reichstag during 1920s, therefore it made it impossible to gain a majority.

1919-1923= 9 short lived coalitions (lots of arguments as different parties had different ideologies).

As a result, when coalitions collapsed, Chancellor had to ask president to use article 48 (rule by decree)

Members often moved between parties and some parties split altogether

Question 14

Overcoming weimar challenges

Answer 14

1924-1929: Government seemed to be overcoming problems.

German economy was recovering and Germany had reached agreements with other countries to undo parts of the treaty of Versailles ( largely due to Gustav Stressemann)

-Economy recovering meant social conditions stabilised and political violence died
- Reichstag kept meeting = no need to use government by decree

Question 15

Stresseman’s role

Answer 15

Chancellor during 1923 and then foreign minister until 1929
(held coalition together with DVP, Centre party, SPD, and DDP by forming working relations based on trust with leaders)

• only 6 different coalitions between 1924-1929
• believed economic recovery and peaceful relations with other countries were important for stabilising Germany’s political system
• spoke against the ‘trust no one’ betray others’ attitude of parties

Question 16

What was Weimar like from 1924-1929?

Answer 16

economy improved= social conditions also stabilised and political violence died down ( no political figures were assassinated between 1924-29)
–> people had began accepting Weimar as a political system
–> support for the extremist parties had reduced between May and December 1924

Question 17

Stats for extremist parties May 1924, Dec 1924 and May 1929

Answer 17

KPD: May 1924 had 13% of votes and in Dec down to 9%

NSDAP went from 6.6 down to 3% by December

However by MAY 1928, KPD had increased to 10.6

Question 18

Collapse of democracy 1930-33

Answer 18

Public feeling about Weimar govt

economic problems and govt failure to deal with them

coalition failure

Question 19

Collapse of democracy 1930-33: Public feeling about Weimar govt

Answer 19

Public long disliekd association between Weimar govt and the treaty of Versailles.

Hindenberg (elected 1925) began the stab in the back theory which was a common myth that Germany could have won the war but was stabbed in the back by November Criminals (those who signed the armistice)

Question 20

Collapse of democracy 1930-33: economic problems and govt failure to deal with them

Answer 20

1929: US economy crumbled due to wall street crash in October. US wanted the loans they had given Germany back yet they could not pay it back. The world was dragged into a depression
–>wages fell, prices rapidly rose, unemployment rose rapidly.

Govt failed to agree on a policy solving issues and argued more instead so extremist political groups began to rise e.g. Nazis and communists

Question 21

Collapse of democracy 1930-33: coalition failure

Answer 21

Coalition failure: Hindenburg changed chancellors too often, causing the government to become more haphazard and parties found it more difficult to work together
–> Hindenburg fell back governing by decree under article 48

June 1930-1932 elections, 109 laws were created yet only 29 were passed