The Weimar was made up of coalition governments. The Reichstag (German Parliament) used Proportional Representation, where the percentage of votes a party received in an election reflected the number of seats they would receive in the Reichstag. This meant that the country was lead by a mixture of all elected parties. This made the government weak because it took too long for parliament to agree on polices. Also, extremist groups like Communists and the Nazis were able to join the government, which lead to Hitler taking power in 1933.
At the head of the Weimar Republic was the President. The constitution said that the President had the power to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor. It also said that if the President thought that the country was in crisis, he could pass his own laws without consent from the Reichstag. This was to ensure any crisis was resolved quickly. But it also meant that one man could legitimately rule the country by himself. This also led to Hitler taking power and the collapse of democracy in Germany.
A communist group known as the Spartacists wanted Germany to be led by communists. Many were against this, especially the upper and middle classes, because this would have meant them losing their land and money. The group was led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. In January 1919, they tried to take the country by force. They stormed government offices, organised strikes and formed a revolutionary committee. Fighting broke out in Berlin, and this was where the Government had to move to Weimar for their protection. The President at the time made a risky deal with the Senior Staff of the military. He would allow the old army to exist, in return for their assistance in quelling the Sparticist rebellion. The rebellion was destroyed: Rosa and Karl were both murdered, and the fighting ended. But the old army was deeply against the Weimar, feeling they had been betrayed. The deal to allow the old, anti-Weimar generals to continue service, instead of being replaced by men more sympathetic to the Republic, was a bad move by the government. Also, the Social Democrats were now hated by the Communists, and would be a constant threat to the republic. This meant that the left-wing parties of the republic would refuse to co-operate. This was a great setback, and made the right-wing side of politics, like the Nazis, more powerful.
The friction between the Democrats and the Communists led to a series of revolts in Berlin and Bavaria. All over the area, the Communist party organised strikes and riots, breaking down government control. A new communist republic was set up in Bavaria. They took money and land from the rich and distributed it to the lower classes. But soldiers from the government backed ‘Frei Korps’ marched into the capital of Munich and killed the leaders. The Republic had eliminated its biggest rival, but it had given even more power to the army in the process, and had little control over what the army did with it.
One of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles was that the German armed forces were restricted. Many soldiers lost their jobs, and so formed their own corps, the Frei Korps. At first they aided the Weimar, quelling the Berlin and Bavarian crisis. The government gave considerable amounts of power to the Frei Korps. This prompted the Allies to urge the government to disband them. Soon, General Wolfgang Kapp led the Frei Korps into Berlin and declared a ‘putsch’ (take power by force). The army, which wanted revenge on the Weimar for signing the treaty, aided the Frei Korps, as well as the Berlin police. The government fled to Dresden. They then ordered the work force of Berlin to strike. The city shut down: water and coal supplies halted. Unable to maintain his attack, Wolfgang fled and order was restored. This showed how easily a group could have overthrown the Weimar Republic.
The Allies decreed that Germany would be charged £6.6 billion, and in 1921 Germany made its first instalment, but said that it would not be able to make another until 1924. The French were not convinced, and invaded the industrial heartland of Germany, the Ruhr, in the hopes of making back the money themselves. The government couldn’t counter invade the region because of the restrictions imposed by the treaty. 60,000 foreign troops captured all the industries in the region, and fortified the area with machine guns. Again, the Weimar instructed the population to stop work. This halted production in the area. The French were furious, and began shooting civilians who didn’t work. In the end they began sending workers form France to replace them, but in the end the plan failed and the French withdrew.
The amount Germany had to pay was so vast, the economists decided to print more money to cover the debts. This made German currency worth less and less, and prices soared. Wages were high, but the prices of goods were higher still. People could not afford to buy food or clothing, and many people starved. But people with debts could easily afford payments. The Upper classes did not suffer as badly, because many of their assets were tied up in land and property, but the majority suffered greatly. The people lost favour with the Weimar even more, and the Nazi Party staged another Putsch in Berlin. This was crushed however, but the economic crisis continued. Only through the work of the Chancellor, Gustav Stessemann, did Germany survive.
In conclusion, the Weimar was deeply troubled from the start. Public unrest and hatred marked its entrance to power, and many disliked the Republic from the start. The Weimar was forced to make dangerous pacts with the military to repress their political rivals, but this led to Putsch’s in the capital. Without a strong army, the government was forced to turn to the people time and time again to resolve problems. The Weimar Republic was not in favour with the people, and they only co-operated because they were facing a mutual foe. But the government returned this favour with betrayal, in the form of the economic crisis. The Weimar failed Germany, and it wasn’t likely the people would forgive them. But the all these problems stemmed from things beyond the governments control. At the end of the war, Germany was in critical conditions, but the Weimar stepped in and saved the country they had inherited. They set the country on the right course, and established a system that on the surface looked favourable to Germany in that it was democratic. But fundamental flaws in the constitution and the style of government itself weaken the Weimar Republic. The Treaty Of Versailles was hard on Germany and the Allies were indifferent to this fact. But all things considered, the problems facing the Weimar were generally within their power to resolve, but it was their mistakes, hyperinflation, overpowering the military and a slow government, that
