Weimar never had a respectable leader but when they did he did not take long to expire, Gustav Stressemen did many things for Weimar but died at a time when a good leader was most needed.
The weakness of the economy was great; this meant that the Weimar Republic could no longer maintain social stability. This fact was clear due to the fact that parties were restless always attempting a ‘Putsch’, which means takeover. For instance, in Weimar’s early years many parties tried but failed to overthrow them. These attempts had an affect as later on they carried influence amongst the people particularly the middle class who suffered the most from World War 1. These concepts played some role in the collapse of Weimar. Taking in example Hitler, who earlier on attempted the ‘Munich Putsch’ received a minority vote from the public. The voting system and the constitution had flaws and weaknesses. Their system of voting was proportional representation, which enabled many parties in the Reichstag. In the early 1930s for example, there were 35 different parties. Overall, the results meant the Weimar could never achieve a majority government.
To elaborate further, the Weimar Republic was a democratic government; something that Germany was unused to, thus Germany did not warm to the idea of a democratic society. This was bound to become a massive problem for the Weimar Republic as great opposition was forming who wanted Weimar overthrown. Further to make matters worse, they were in enmity with left winged parties, which did not make it possible to unite in order to oppose right hand governments that were becoming more stronger, for instance Hitler and the Nazi party. The constitution gives substantial power to the President, he elects and dismisses the Chancellor, which could potentially mean he was bias in his decision. An example of this is Hindenburg who would no tolerate a left wing chancellor. His authority and power allowed him to rule by decree, this meant that he could announce a bill and it would be law.
The economy, an already great problem in the Weimar Republic had bean further exposed by the Wall Street Crash. This point of history was the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic. Relatively the most important factor in Weimar’s collapse. Weimar had lost their main and most important financial aid. Weimar had been described as ‘dancing on the edge of a volcano,’ they were leaving Germany’s welfare by living of ‘American money’, which at any moment could devastate them.
In retrospect, before all these happenings, Germany already had a weak economy. The great expense of War, for which reason reparations were forced upon them, Furthermore hyper-inflation devalued German currency leaving Germany and it’s people in a state of economic devastation and unemployment, all these weakened German economy greatly.
. There were evidently a lot of things that were going wrong for Weimar. When the Nazi’s influence became higher and they were being strengthened, it meant that Weimar had to be cautious as this was a increasingly popular group making them a fatal enemy. The methods which they used were cleverly thought out, Hitler leading with excellent leadership, a great propaganda method and backed by rich and influential people who provided the with the steps to success. Von Papen was their main backer; together with Hitler they were a ‘fatal combination’ that spelled Weimar’s destruction.
In conclusion it is quite clear that the negative points are great in Weimar’s case. Their decline started following the First World War, which could not be erased from global history nor from Weimar’s reputation. It is true the stood firm but at the end the devastation that the combined causes of political, economical and psychological had caused Weimar’s downfall. Nothing could have prevented Weimar’s fate as the odds were stacked high against them. Nazis were gaining power, the Wall Street Crash had left Germany’s economy shattered, their collapse was inevitable.
