'The WeimarRepublicfailed because its politicians lost faith in themselves' To what extent is this a fair statement?

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‘The Weimar Republic failed because its politicians lost faith in themselves’

To what extent is this a fair statement?

There are many reasons contributing to the failure of the Weimar Republic, not just the loss of faith from the politicians, although this did play a large part. The other main reasons are the problems that the Weimar government had, the economic problems, especially the closure of industry and banks, the break down of parliamentary government and a lack of calmness at this time from the people of Germany.

The Weimar government had many weaknesses, one of these was proportional representation. This was initially meant to make Germany into a very fair democracy. However, it meant that there were too many parties in the Reichstag. Many of them were small and relatively powerless, they were also changed frequently. Proportional representation also maid the selection of a chancellor an extremely difficult process as it was hard to choose someone who had the support of the majority of the Reichstag. Also, because of proportional representation it was difficult to get laws passed, therefore article 48 began to be used, this meant that the Reichstag did not have to be consulted in the passing of laws, this contributed to the decline of parliamentary government.

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The economic problems happening at this time introduced bad feeling among the German people. The Treaty of Versailles caused hyperinflation due to the reparations payments that Germany had to make leading to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr. This made wages, bank savings and the German Mark worthless. People could not afford to buy food and had to take their wages home twice a day in a wheelbarrow. It also initiated the desperation which eventually led them to turning to the Nazi party. The closures of banks and industry left many people unemployed and a lot of people ...

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