The third reason for the collapse of the government was the economic problems. The Weimar had many economic issues during its rule. These problems were that under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany were forced to pay £6.6 in compensation for the war. Germany could not cope with the reparations as they were too high. As a result of Germany not paying the reparations, the French decided to invade the Ruhr, which was Germany’s main industrial area, they sent 60 000 soldiers. They took raw materials and goods to replace the reparation payments. Because the German army was small, they could not prevent the invasion. In respond to being helpless the government ordered workers to carry out passive resistance-workers went on strike and did not cooperate with French/Belgium soldiers. The troops reacted violently to this passive resistance and the industrial production of Germany broke down. The invasion led to hyperinflation. As workers on strike still needed to get paid, the government had to print more money to pay them. This meant that the value of money decreased and the prices of goods etc rose. As more and more money was printed, the prices increased more. More money then had to be printed to cope with the high prices and soon money became worthless. This was hyperinflation. Hyperinflation came with many problems; people struggled to buy food and goods, banks suffered and many more. Only a few people benefited from hyperinflation. Germans blamed the Weimar for this and this made them even more unpopular. This led to the Munich Putsch. Nonetheless, when Gustav Stresemann came into power he revolutionized the Weimar. He first ordered strikers to go back to work and introduced a new currency-rentenmark. He also agreed to the Dawes plan in 1924, in which USA lent Germany 800 gold million marks, to help pay the reparations. The next 6 years were called the “Golden age”. However in 1929 the Wall Street Crash occurred. This was when USA banks went bankrupt and could not lend money to Germany anymore. As Germany became too dependant on USA the immediate loss of money led to the Great Depression, where people lost jobs. The government were powerless to do anything about the depression. German people began supporting the parties which promised to solve problems. Some critics also saw the Weimar as unpatriotic and immoral. This reason brought the downfall of the Weimar republic because it led to many other difficulties e.g. hyperinflation, invasion of the Ruhr, relying too much on USA and the Wall Street crash.
Moreover, a further reason for the downfall of the Weimar was the Nazis gained a lot of support. Many people began to listen to the Nazis as they promised to solve economic problems, give employment, help farmers and small shop keepers and increase Germany’s prestige by getting rid of the Treaty of Versailles. Both the German people and Hitler, who was the leader of the Nazis disliked the treaty, so when the Nazis pledged to tear it up, support for the Nazis increased. This was a problem for the Weimar Republic as its popularity reduced even more. The SA made it difficult for other parties who supported the Weimar republic to run a free election campaign. Hitler was portrayed as a strong leader in comparison to the leaders in the Weimar. As a result there was a growth in support for the Nazi party in the Reichstag elections. This motive brought the downfall of the Weimar republic because many people supported the Nazi party and liked the promises they made, this led to the support of the Weimar to decrease, which made it harder for the Weimar to win the Germans back.
The final key cause for the failure of the Weimar republic was Bruning’s economic policy. Chancellor Bruning came into power in 1930. This was after the Wall Street crash and the great depression. The government were surprised at how the effect of the depression increased quickly. Chancellor Bruning had to deal with the effect and also try to repay the USA loans. The depression brought high unemployment and the government needed money to help the unemployed. In order to do this they couldn’t print more money as it would lead to hyperinflation once again and so they raised taxes to get money and help the unemployed, but this was unpopular with businesses being taxed. They also raised wages of public officials, but this made the situation even more difficult and so therefore they decreased the benefits of unemployed people. These policies resulted in other political parties leaving the coalition. This cause brought the downfall of the Weimar republic because it led to it not being able to pay the USA loans, become more unpopular with the German people due to it raising taxes etc and loosing coalitions.
In conclusion, after considering all the evidence, I think the main reason for the collapse of the Weimar republic was that the government was unpopular from the start. I think this because the government signed the Treaty of Versailles. From then on German citizens despised the Weimar republic as they did not agree with the harsh terms of the treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles led to all the other reasons for the downfall of the Weimar republic. The terms of the Treaty were not approved by the German people and hence they blamed the government for signing it. Since then all the issued faced by the government were somehow caused by the treaty and were made even more difficult by the unpopularity of it. However, the economic problems was also a main reason for the downfall of the Weimar, as it led to hyperinflation etc, but the unpopularity of the government was more significant as it was a long term cause.
