peoples have been subjected as a result of the war” Article 231, Treaty of Versailles.
The War Guilt Clause caused Germany to be held responsible for all the damage the
war had caused, and therefore, meant that she had to pay for it. The Reparations that the
victorious nations demanded were set at six thousand six hundred million pounds, and they
were set on April 27th 1921. The then leader of the Weimar Constitution, Joseph Wirth,
was forced to agree to these terms. However, Germany could not actually afford the
Reparations. Agreeing to pay the Reparations was a huge problem faced by the Weimar
Republic because she could not meet the demands, and yet the trust of the victorious
nations, and the chance to regain some economic and European growth relied upon her
meeting the demands.
The reason that Germany could not pay her Reparations was due to several factors,
one of them being Europe’s general bankrupcy after the expenses of the war and one of
them being the land that she lost to the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine to France in the agreement, this was an industrial area
and vital to Germany’s economy because it was an iron and steel producer. By loosing the
district, Germany lost the profits from the land and also she lost National Pride because
Alsace-Lorraine had previously been French territory until Germany had claimed it off them,
and thus the Weimar Constitution agreed to part with a district that was a symbol of
National strength and pride. This was a problem for the Republic as it made them unpopular
with the citizens and also reduced Germany’s income out of which she had to find the
money to pay the Reparations. Loosing Alsace-Lorraine was not as major a problem to face
as signing the War Guilt clause though because losing some income was less important than
admitting to have caused a war. However, the loss of the district meant that there could be
problems which sprang from a poor economy at a later date which meant that it would
become a major cumulative problem.
The Saarland was taken from Germany and this contained coal fields that were very
important to Germany’s industry. It reduced the income and production levels within
Germany and hindered her economic stability. This meant that there was less money
available to pay the reparations set by victorious nations. The loss of the Saarland was less of
a problem for the Weimar Republic than the loss of Alsace-Lorraine because the Saarland
was smaller and had less money to be made from it.
The league of Nations also removed the overseas colonies of Germany and gave
them out to other nations. The Germans had started late in the race for an empire, and had
believed it was “Their time for a place in the sun” so the loss of their colonies meant that
national pride was damaged and the citizens blamed the Weimar Republic for the loss of
their colonies. This meant that the Republic had less chance of pleasing the Germans and
had national hatred to contend with. The loss of the overseas colonies was not as an
important problem then the loss of the economically beneficial parts of Germany because it
did not mean that Germany would have trouble paying her reparations so much, and so the
problems could not branch out to create more problems at a later date concerning a poor
economy.
The Treaty of Versailles took away Germany’s industrial port Danzig, where a lot of
shipbuilding took place. This reduced the economic profit and meant that reparations would
be harder to pay. Furthur more, Upper Silesia was another industrial area lost. The losses
were equally as important as losing the Saarland because it meant that Germany lost out on
economic gain and put her in an awkward position concerning her ability to pay the
demands of the victorious nations. The loss of the individual industrial lands meant that the
losses could gather collectively into a prospectively large problem with the finance situation.
The Treaty of Versailles put restrictions on the German Army, allowing her only one
hundred thousand men, no conscription, light infantry and cavalry only and no tanks or
armoured vehicles, heavy artillery or chemical weapons. This raised the unemployment levels
in Germany because a great deal of the soldiers returning from the war found themselves
unemployed. This caused great dissatisfaction among the citizens. Unemployed German
soldiers opposed the Treaty of Versailles and proposed a serious threat to the government as
they were skilled and highly trained in over throwing people. The loss of a powerful army
was also damaging to pride and inspired more hatred for the Weimar Republic because the
army was the symbol of power and stength. This was a serious threat to the Republic,
perhaps more so than the loss of the individual districts such as Danzig because unemployed
soldiers are likely to join radical rebellious groups who have room for military action in their
hopes for revolution, thus putting the whole constitution at immediate risk.
The Navy was also restricted.
Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria (Anschluss) under the Treaty of
Versailles and nor was she allowed to join the League of Nations. This made Germany have
no say in what was to happen to her regarding the terms on the treaty, and also meant that
she was not allowed to gain support to prevent being abused from her close ally Austria.
This put Germany in a very unsafe position, especially seen as the Rhineland was
demilitarised, and she was open to attack from the French at any time, and could not defend
herself because she had both a small army and no help from other countries. This was a less
important problem than the loss of economically supportive parts of Germany, but it
reduced national pride and reduced the strength of the nation and so reduced support for
the Weimar Republic.
Uprisings from the left wing proposed problems to the rule of the Weimar Republic.
A group of Spartikists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebkneght demanded the country
be led by the workers and united under Communist Russia’s slogan “All power to the soviets!”.
In January 1919 the Spartakists ( the then German Communist Party KPD) organised a
general strike and an attempted revolution in Berlin. However the Weimar Republic
managed to supress the uprising easily with the Freikops and the army. The people of
Europe were historically scared of communists and so the communists lacked sufficient
support to succeed in overthrowing the government. Although the communists posed a
small threat to the Republic, they were not a major problem, just a mere annoyance because
they were an opposition party and so were critical of the way the government ran, therefore,
damaging public opinion and planting alternative ideology in desperate people’s minds. The
communists were not as much as a threat as the right wing Nationalists because nationalists
were more publically acceptable. They were also not as much a problem as the Treaty of
Versailles. The communists could be crushed easily, and would have been less prominent if
the Treaty of Versailles’ demands had not caused so much damage to Germany that the
government lacked support. However, it could also be argued that the communists could
pose a huge threat in the future if the Weimar Republic continued to lose support due to not
improving the situation, but in between 1919 and early 1923, the communists were not high profile.
The uprisings from the right posed a far greater problem to the Weimar
Constitution than the communists. Nationalists believe in military greatness and therefore,
they had the support of the army, because at this point the army were unemployed and were
very angry at the Treaty of Versailles restrictions. One uprising was lead by Dr Wolfgang
Kapp. Some of the police were in favour of Kapp’s plans to destroy the Republic and
replace it with a military dictatorship, therefore, they were able to help the members of the
attempted revolution to avoid arrest early on, and thus create a very real threat to the
constitution because they had military support. Dr Kapp planned to take over using a
putsch.
On the nights of 12th-13th of March Dr Wolfgang Kapp managed to take over Berlin.
“They proclaimed the National Assembley disollved, the Weimar constitution void, and the government deposed in favour of one headed by Kapp and General Von Luttwitz” D Thompson
This was highly embarrassing to the Weimar Republic and was a serious problem as
it exposed them as a weak government lacking the support of the army. It also revealed the fact that
internal powers of Germany were not supportive of each other.
“This night has shown the bankruptcy of all my policy. My faith in the officer corps is shattered, you have all deserted me.” Minister of Defence.
Therefore, it meant that the people of Germany did not have faith that the Weimar
Republic could make Germany great again and so Weimar lost support. Despite the fact that
the government managed to put down the Kapp Putsch, by ordering a general strike by the
Berlin workers,
“The putsch was defeated by the Berlin Wokers, who declared a general strike and paralysed the city” D Thomson
The memory that an opposition party had nearly gained power made the people of
Germany feel afraid of political unrest and left them wanting a stronger government. It also
made the other opposition groups aware that they had a real chance at a revolution. Kapp
was a very bad leader, but that did not mean that other groups would have bad leaders and
could not take over. It put the Weimar Republic in a cautious and threatened position.
The opposition from the right was a very real threat, even more so than the
communists, because they had the support of the army and so had power to take over using
violence. Opposition was more of a threat also than the loss of individual lands. However,
any radical opposition thrives in desperate times, so the existence of strong opposition was
most likely a branch from the fact the Treaty of Versailles made Germany insecure. Thus,
the opposition was not a major problem, but the general state of Germany induced by the
victorious nations wanting to “bleed her dry”, was the real problem faced by the Republic.
The government did not like to start to build their economy again because they felt if
they looked strong, the League of Nations would start to impose more demands on them.
Weimar Republic faced a problem of either economic collapse by not helping the economy,
or economic collapse by trying to help the economy, and having more restrictions placed on
them by the leauge of nations.
In December 1922 the Government failed to pay reparations to France and in early
1923 the French invaded the Ruhr to reclaim the reparations to which they felt entitled. The
government, because of reasons discussed before, simply could not afford to pay the
demands. The French planned to wait in the Ruhr and cause havoc and take what she
needed as well as agitating the Germans in other ways, such as killing them if they refused to
comply. The Weimar Constitution’s reaction to this action was to order a general strike and
halt industry until the French ceased their occupation. The government however, was still
paying the workers their wages.
“This paralysing blow to Germany’s economy united the people… the workers of the Ruhr declared a general strike and received financial support from the government in Berlin, which called for a campaign of passive resistance.” WL Shirer.
Thus the economy collapsed. The demand for products greatly exceeded supply and
the demand for money to pay reparations also greatly exceeded supply. The government
printed more money to meet the demands. Hyperinflation set in as the value of the mark
plummeted. This was very damaging to the Weimar Republic. Although much hatred was
given to the French by the citizens, the German people blamed their government for the
inflation that meant that one dollar was equal to four thousand million marks within a period
of eleven months after the occupation. The citizens savings were lost and the government
could not help the economic situation which lead to widespread starvation and in turn more
people looking to radical extremists such as the newly founded Nazi Party, for help.
The people blamed the Weimar Republic for Hyperinflation for accepting the War
Guilt clause and agreeing to such high reparations. This was a very serious problem for the
government because all of the other problems, although major, did not inflict serious change
to the average German’s life. Hyperinflation affected everyone all over Germany and posed a
threat to being a catalyst to revolution. This situation could be arguably the single most
dangerous threat to the Weimar, although it could also be argued that it is just another
inevitable bad situation, which sprang from the high demands set by victorious nations and
Government inadequacy to propose major reform.
The Weimar Republic faced many problems when coming to power after the war.
Not only was their country bankrupt from the monetary demands of the war, but they faced
situations that meant they could not successfully rebuild their economy. The problems all
seemed to stem from the fact that the Treaty of Versailles did not give Germany a fair
chance to improve herself, and did not give a fair chance to the Weimar Republic to gain
support.
The country seemed to be on an exponential course for doom. Decreasing support
for the Republic due to damaged national pride meant an increase in support for extremist
parties. Also being forced to sign treaties that professed Germany was guilty and demanding
reparations that were too high did not help the Weimar in her popularity.
In conclusion the Treaty of Versailles meant that the Weimar Republic could not
establish a strong government and thus she encountered many branched problems.
