Was the threat to Weimar greater from the left or from the right?

        The right-wingers had criticised Weimar since the days of the replacement of Kaiser and the Treaty of Versailles. As far as the right wing threats are concerned they were from a different point of view. There was the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 which was led by Wolfgang Kapp. He marched to Berlin with 12000 Freikorps and the army refused to support Weimar. The government had to flee and Kapp declared a new government, which however, failed to win mass support, and because of the strikes that took place, Kapp Putsch ended in a failure and after 4 days of mismanagement Weimar Republic finally prevailed. Many right wing terrorist groups developed and their primary aim was to kill prominent Weimar politicians. Walter Rathenau was one of the greatest Weimar statesmen. In June 1922 he was assassinated by a terrorist group called Organisation Consul. A he was a Jew the right-wingers tended to be racist towards him. Another of the threats that came for Weimar from the right was the Munich Putsch. Although it was ill-planned its significance lies in the fact that it was led by some of the most prominent personalities in German politics along with Adolf Hitler who takes this opportunity to try and overthrow the Weimar regime. He marches to Munich with 2000 armed Nazis and General Ludendorff although the Government had separated von Kahr and von Lossow from the movement by declaring emergency and President Ebert ordering the armed forces to crush the movement. In Munich the Nazis and the German forces met and 14 Nazis were killed including the person next to Hitler. Ludendorff and Hitler were arrested.

        From the above narration of the events that took place in Germany during 1919-23 posing threats to Weimar were particularly significant for Weimar Republic. To analyse the weight of each threat we must look at their significance separately. The threat from the left-wingers came from the extreme left in the form of communists who wanted to establish a soviet style republic in Germany. So they were mainly workers’ revolts. But the government always had the upper hand in these conflicts as the workers were often disorganised and divided when aims were concerned. Moreover, when the government used the army and the Freikorps these movements were easily crushed as they had little armed strength. We must also keep in mind that the German public had never welcomed a communist regime from the bottom of their hearts and so any violent movement could never gain mass support. The right wing revolts were much different both in style as well as in significance although their motive was the same. Weimar Republic was basically a left wing regime and so it was quite natural that these two groups would collide. Chancellor Wirth one said in 1922, “The enemies of the state stand on the right.” This statement clearly indicates the faction between Weimar and the right-wingers.  The movement from the right always had a considerable number of public supporting it because it had always been able to gather support by using myths like ‘stab in the back’. But we must also keep in mind that there was no strong political party on the right and they did not do well in the general elections. One of the most important advantages of the right-wing movements was that they had the support and sympathy of the army. Ebert had used the army and the Freikorps to crush rebellions brutally under general Groener but the army under the leadership of General von Seeckt refused to fire at the rebels in the Kapp Putsch. But the army often did show loyalty to the republic and did not support the extreme movements from the right as in the Munich Putsch. The elite Junker class did support the right-wingers but as the Weimar Government had almost kept their powers intact they did not support the extremist movements. Te public too did not support acts like assassination of Weimar politicians. The right did have a paramilitary force of 250,000 but they were disbanded in 1920 in compliance to the Treaty of Versailles.

        Thus we see that the Weimar republic did survive after all these attempts in its early years to dislodge it but I had to squeeze out the last bit of its strength to do so. In many occasions President Ebert and his regime were under tremendous pressure. Comparing the threats from both sides we have to say that their perspectives were quite different but what similar was their motive. But finally, we have to conclude by saying that maybe the threats from the right were more threatening for Weimar as they looked more ominous than the left ones. Amidst all these movements to try to overthrow Weimar we see the gradual arrival and establishment of an individual who, although was not significant in a large way in the current turmoil but the person who would eventually be the cause of the destruction of this democratic regime named Weimar. Who might have thought that this man by the name of Adolf Hitler would emerge as the greatest threat to Weimar in the years to come and ultimately halt its progress.