To What Extent Was the Collapse of the Weimar Republic the Fault of Germanys Conservative Elite?

Robert Hughes

There are many views on when the Weimar Republic actually did collapse, some people believe it collapsed when Hindenburg was ruling by decree in 1930-32, however others believe the end to of come when Hitler came to power in January 1933. It is hard to say just how significant the role of the conservative elite was in the decline of the Weimar Republic.

The first person who could be regarded as responsible for the collapse of the Weimar Republic is the president, Hindenburg, who was ruling through powers of decree in Article 48. This basically meant he could do what he liked without public consent or confirming it with the Reichstag. Hindenburg had massive amounts of power, he was responsible for the appointment and dismissal of chancellors and could issue his own decree’s. if we were so say that the Weimar Republic collapsed when Hitler came to power then Hindenburg would be a major factor behind the collapse of the Weimar Republic because it was him who appointed Hitler chancellor, however he only did so because of the advice from Von Papen. Von Papen was chancellor between the months of June and November 1932. he relied heavily on presidential decree’s and had no members of the Reichstag in his cabinet. Von Papen did a deal with Hitler that if Hitler was appointed chancellor then Von Papen would be Hitler’s vice chancellor. Von Papen and Hindenburg had, however, plotted against Hitler; Von Papen claimed that within a month Hitler would be backed into a corner like a mouse. This however turned out to be wrong. If we were to say the Weimar Republic crumbled when Hitler came to power then the role of Hindenburg and Von Papen would be extremely significant. There are other people however, Bruning was chancellor from 1930 to 1932, making him the longest serving chancellor in the time of the Weimar Republic. Bruning, like Von Papen, relied heavily on presidential decree’s to rule. Heinrich Bruning was responsible for calling the 1930 elections which were inevitably won by the Nazi’s, which led to them eventually coming into power, which then led to the collapse of the Weimar republic in some people’s opinions, so Bruning could also be to blame for the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The final person which could be to blame is Kurt Von Schleicher; he was the last chancellor of Germany in the Weimar Republic era. Von Schleicher was a great influence on Hindenburg and was party responsible for the dismissal of Bruning and Von Papen as chancellors. In 1932 Von Schleicher was appointed as chancellor, he reluctantly accepted this position, he didn’t last long though, in 1933 Hindenburg refused Von Schleicher’s plea to use emergency powers which led to Von Schleicher being dismissed and Hitler being appointed as chancellor. If we were to just look at the conservative elite then they would be the main reason for the collapse of the Weimar Republic. However, there are other factors.

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It’s impossible to blame the collapse of the Weimar Republic on the feet of the conservative elite without examining the impact of Hitler and the Nazi party. In just 4 years the Nazi party had gone from relatively unheard of, to the biggest party in German history. With the Nazi party growing so much there must’ve been consequences on the weak Weimar Republic. Just one week after Hitler had been declared chancellor he had begun to make changes to shape the country he wanted. Meetings of left wing parties were banned and even some of the moderate parties found their members assaulted or threatened. This could link to the threat of communism, which can also be examined as a possible factor behind the Weimar Republic collapsing. There was a massive fear of communism in Germany, because of so many political parties at the time being involved with communism. Hitler was particularly scared of communism, hence his clamp downs on anybody or any group involved in communism.

The great depression was also a massive threat to the Weimar Republic, the great depression began in 1929 and lasted over ten years. It happened because American investors withdrew their money from German economy. Unemployment soared, especially in larger cities, and the political system veered toward extremism. The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932. Repayment of the war reparations due by Germany were suspended in 1932 following the Lausanne Conference of 1932. By that time Germany had repaid 1/8th of the reparations. Hitler's Nazi Party came to power in January 1933. With the Weimar Republic under so much pressure from the public people saw the Nazi party as the way forward, the Weimar Republic lost support from the public and eventually crumbled.

There are also internal factors that could be blamed for the collapse of the Weimar Republic, things such as the constant problems in the economy or the growing fear of communism. Some historians argue that the Weimar Republic collapsed because of the Weimar Republic and because of what they had or hadn’t done to prevent the unavoidable collapse. Things like the Wall Street crash are events people look back upon as turning points in a countries history.

It is virtually impossible to say if the role of the conservative elite were the sole causes of the collapse of the Weimar Republic, however we can say that they were indeed a cause, and quite possibly a very big cause. The four men, Hindenburg, Von Papen, Bruning and Von Schleicher could be blamed for the collapse of an entire government which led to the most evil man in history becoming dictator of an extremely powerful country. The collapse of the Weimar republic cannot be placed firmly at the feet of the conservative elite but it is hard to argue against the suggestion that they were heavily involved in its collapse.

To What Extent Was the Collapse of the Weimar Republic the Fault of Germanys Conservative Elite?

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