America would not discuss peace terms with Germany unless a democratic government was set up. The Americans were strongly against the Kaiser and his military clique that ran Germany since 1916. The Generals had to go against their ideology of politics and demand a Parliamentary Regime be set up. This would not only allow for the Americans to be please, but to switch the shame and humiliation of surrender and peace terms on to the new civilian government. On the 3rd October 1918,the ‘Revolution from above’ had happened and the liberal, Prince Max of Baden became the Chancellor of Germany.
The German public were still not satisfied. Since 1917 there had been a series of strikes by workers calling for an end to the war. There had also been a Mutiny at Kiel in October 1918; this lead to the discontent in another Naval bases such as Withelmshaver- the U boat base. This restlessness then grew inland to the civilians, talking began of setting up Soviet councils. Combined with the Americas refusal to negotiate with Germany until the Kaiser had left Germany, due to the fact they blamed him for the war as he symbolised the military authoritarian government, the Kaiser was forced to Abdicate.
As the Kaiser fled to Holland, Friedrich Ebert of the S.P.D. replaced Prince Max and became the Chancellor of a new parliamentary republic in Germany.
A lot of things led to the creation of a system of Government in Germany, firstly the war had come to an end and Germany had almost been defeated. The rest of the world required German politics to conform to their ideologies of democracy, no longer was a dictatorship acceptable. Then along with the discontent and demands of the Americans, a Republic had to be set up where the Kaiser had no say. In just the space of one year major event changed the course of Germany’s ruling.
Claire Fletcher Block A
B) Explain why the prospects for the survival of the new democratic regime were not great
Germany’s new government found it hard to survive. There were a variety of different problems facing the Weimar Republic during its first years ruling: firstly it was only the results of a defeat in the first world war, there was the ‘Stab in the back theory’, the Ebert Groener pact, the communist uprisings, and the flaws in the constitution harmed its chance of survival. One of the most difficult tasks of the Weimar Government was the fact that they had to deal with the shame and humiliation of defeat.
The Weimar government is often described as being ‘born out of Defeat’. The only reason it was created was due to the fact that Germany lost the War, and the Allies would not negotiate terms unless a democratic government was put in place. The Republic was declared so closely to Germanys surrender, the Republic been declared on the 9th November 1918 and the armistice was signed on the 11th. Although the Army generals had asked for the armistice it was the Weimar government, due to the close dates, that the public blamed for the mortification of losing the war.
One of the most prominent problems that the Weimar government was the ‘Stab in the Back theory’. This theory misled the public to believe that the Army could have gone on to win the war if it was not for the politicians that signed the armistice. This was wrong, as it was the Army Generals, not the new government that demanded an armistice. The German Generals aided this theory; they wanted all the defeat to be blamed on the Weimar Republic and not themselves. Towards the end of the war the public read newspapers that had propaganda describing the Germans as winning the war, it came a great shock to them when they surrendered. The German public became to hate these Politicians, named the ‘November criminals’, for signing the armistice some even were assassinated. The public felt the new government had betrayed their country.
Ebert was a socialist leader, S.P.D. was one of the two main left wing parties in Germany at the time, and the other was the communist party the K.P.D.. Ebert however, made a pact with the old elites; this was known as the Ebert Groener pact. Ebert was worried about the communist uprising in Germany, he asked Groener to help him if the K.P.D., tried to hold a revolution, he agreed to help him if they did. When the communists did try to revolt, the Freikorps unmercifully suppressed them. This left the two main left wings parties in Germany bitterly divided for the rest of the Weimar’s survival. The Ebert Groener pact was dangerous to the survival of the Republic as they both wanted very different things. Groener did not want the Republic in place, wanting a military dictatorship again, and Ebert knew he could not trust him. It was harmful for the future of democracy as the old elites kept their jobs; they were against democracy and still in incredibly powerful positions.
The constitution had flaws that made the survival of the new government harder. On the one hand it was described as one of the most democratic governments of the time, yet it was not certain that it was possible for a new governing system to be able to cope with this. The constitution outlined that everyone would be able to vote using proportional representation. This led to many coalitions governments, twenty in fourteen years. The coalition governments argue a lot, and were slow to act, unlike the dictatorship that the German public were used to.
Article 48 was also a danger to the continuance of the Weimar republic. This article stated that if an event was to happen that the President would deem to endanger public safety or order, they could take measures and not have to go through the Reichstag. This was dangerous as if the wrong person got in power they could become a dictator, as Hitler did.
The prospects for survival of the new government were not great. They faced many major problems that were not their fault; being born out of defeat, and the ‘stab in the back’ theory. However, mistakes were made the Ebert and Groener Pact was dangerous as the army did go against the government as soon as a right wing uprising occurred, as well as this the constitution harmed the survival of democracy in Germany.