What threats did the Weimar Republic face 1919-1923? Flashcards
Left: 1918 - First congress of workers’ and soldiers’
In Berlin they refused to let Rose Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht speak, in December 1918 the Spartacists broke away from the USPD, led by Luxemburg and Liebknecht, they wanted a revolution similar to that in Russia.
Revolutionary left
The parties in Ebert’s government were divided on the best way forward. The USPD were more revolutionary and did not want elections. Members of the SPD wanted a more democratic Germany
Left: Ruhr workers “Red army”
Response to the Freikorps. On 15th March 1920 they seized power and set up government with the aim of establishing a soviet state, government sent in Freikorps to destroy the revolution.
Extreme right: Luttwitz-Kapp putsch
Luttwitz led his Freikorps into Berlin where they seized the government district of the city. The army refused to defend as ‘reichswehr do not fire on reichswehr’. Luttwitz declared Kapp chancellor.
Right: How did Kapp’s regime collapsed?
The government fled and appealed to the workers to strike in defence of the Republic. A large general strike paralysed the capital and thus the regime collapsed.
Right: What did the Kapp putsch show?
That the army was reluctant to support the Republic, and that the government’s survival depended on unreliable forces.
Right: how did the Kapp putsch change minds in the right?
Convinced many of the right that the Republic was propped by communist inspired unions. Thus they joined secret organisations dedicated to a campaign of violence.
Right: what happened in the summer of 1921?
Gareis (USPD leader) and Erzberger (centre party) were murdered, in June 1922 the foreign minister (Walter Rathenau) was shot.
The Treaty of Versailles - components
1) Germany had to accept the blame for WWI.
2) Their army was reduced to 100,000 men.
3) All submarines and aircrafts were banned.
4) Had to 6600 million marks in reparations.
5) Lost Alsace-Lorraine to France.
6) Saar land taken and run by League of Nations.
7) forbidden from uniting with Austria
8) Germany was split in two.
Versailles: the new government
Rather than accept the treaty, Schiedermann’s government resigned in June 1919. The new government was led by Gustav Bauer of the SPD and vice chancellor Erzberger of the centre party. They had no choice but sign the treaty on 28 June 1919.
Versailles: Hindenburg
Said the treaty was a humiliating diktat and the treaty, according to Hindenburg was signed by a clique of anti-patriotic left wing politicians , the ‘November criminals’.
The stab in the back myth
The November criminals were to blame for stabbing the armed forces in the back because they had been undermined by these weak politicians.
Right: benefits of the treaty on the right wing
Useful for the anti-republican right wing as they removed themselves and the military from any responsibility for the events on 1919 and they gained popular support for their resentment. This explains why the votes of the DNVP increased to 14.9% in June 1920.
The elections of 1920
They were overshadowed by the disappointment of Versailles and the industrial workers unrest. The votes cast showed a swing in the balance of power from the ‘Weimar coalition’ to the extreme left and right. The old Weimar coalition received only 44.6%, the USPD at 17.9%.
Weimar constitution: January 1919 elections
They were a triumph for those who supported parliamentary democracy. This was the centre party, SPD and DDP. The USPD only received 7.6% showing that support for the revolution from the left was weak. The DVP received 4.4% demonstrating the support for the liberal middle class parties. The DNVP were the main party contesting the election and received only 10.3%. This would suggest that a stable government had been formed.
