Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive the challenges of 1918-1923?

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Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive the challenges of 1918-1923?

The Weimar Republic came as a solution to the political situation Germany faced straight after the Second World War. The Allies demanded the removal of The Kaiser and in November 1918 it was announced that Germany would have a Democratic Party led by a man called Friedrich Ebert. This moderate left winged party had little support from the German public and faced fierce opposition from other political parties. The S.P.D had taken over control of a country will a ruined economy and low moral. Many would then agree that it had little chance of surviving not one, but several strong challenges. So how did this government survive?

I will be reviewing six major challenges, the Putschs made from the left and right, the Versailles Treaty, Hyperinflation and the assassinations. I have chosen these to be “challenges” as I consider them to have had the potential to over throw the government.

The Weimar Republic received its first challenge early in 1919, by the U.S.P.D and Spartacus League. These two extreme left parties were not satisfied about the dismissal of a radical official and the proclamation of a democratic republic and so led a spontaneous rising in order to let Germany be ruled by Councils of Soldiers and Workers. The Weimar Republic survived due to the Freikorps, men who were ex-soldiers who hated communism and loved brutality. Not only did they out number the Sparticists but also they had superior weapons so the rising was crushed. The two communist leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were shot ending the rising and allowing Ebert to hold an election for a parliament. The Weimar Republic survived this Left-winged challenge due to three mains, the support of the Freikorps for the government, the disorganization of the rising and the lack of support for the communists. The Freikorps again saved the government a number of times during the years of 1920-23, when a wave of ill-planned revolts and strikes took place. Challenges were made by the K.P.D, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany) angered by economic problems rushed into a poorly supported rising. Inadequate leadership, poor organization, internal divisions, lack of support and government repression meant that the challenges the government faced by the left failed.

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In June 1919, Ebert’s Government reluctantly signed the treaty of Versailles, this brought immense disgrace for the country. The treaty took away one tenth of Germany’s land and gave it to her neighbours, this land meant that Germany would be losing people, factories, farms and mines. The treaty also took away a valuable source of Germany’s raw materials and trade, her over seas colonies. The German army was cut down to just 100,000 men that were not allowed to enter the Rhineland, a section of land separating Germany and France in which only allied troops were stationed. The Navy ...

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