Why was the Weimar republic attacked by both the political left and the political right in the years 1919-22?

The second reason why Weimar was attacked was because it was held responsible by the right wing for causing an unstable change in traditional ways. Germany has been a united state since 1870; and with the successful role of the monarchy in place, the right wing (army) with the monarchy lead to many nationalist victories. But Weimar's policy of fulfilment meant obeying international orders as means to show that Germany was unable to deal with the treaty of Versailles. This was important to the right wings hatred as it went against their traditional nationalistic ways. Weimar was shown to be weak and not strong enough by following rules implemented upon them. The right wing opposed this naturally as they were for what was best for Germany's economy.

The third reason was that the left wing hated having to work together wit the right. This fact would cause instability as Ebert made a pact with Groener, for the SPD (left) to be able to wield the army (right) - (hoping to Holt any revolutions from the right). Left wing supporters did not like this movement by their SPD party leader Ebert. This would start to cause divisions among left wingers. Also the stinnes legien agreement was to join trade unions with employers, trying to ban strikes etc. This meant that employers had full control of industry which communists hated (left). This lead to an attack upon Weimar because it forced a clash of views and beliefs. Joining 2 different views together would undoubtfuly cause instability as it meant that the left could not deliver policies of the commintern to gain power for the working class. This meant that the autocracy was still in control of Germany as the left wing was being torn apart from within.

The fourth reason was the left was angry at Weimar for its favoured treatment of the right wing supporters. The right wing was made up of people from the army, Junkers and the judiciaries. When the right wing conducted the kapp putsch the left wing was unprotected by Weimar as 'Germany's army' would not defend its government but would fight against it with the rightwing (reichswehr will not fire on reichswehr). This lead to the attack on Weimar by the left as it was dominated by the right. The government twixt 1919-22 was generally left wing mandated but it was right wing controlled. E.g. attempts made by the left wing communists were foiled by right wing military support - Ruhr uprising. It showed that even though left wing controlled the government the country was still controlled by the right wing. Weimar was powerless against the might of the right (kapp putsch), and the left wing couldn't do anything about it.

The final reason was that the Weimar republic was attacked was because it was born out of defeat. When the Germany came out of the war it had lost and been betrayed by its own government. Weimar was created on these foundations and from then on was viewed upon as a failure. This lead to an attack on Weimar as it showed Germany as a weak push over who had more problems inside its own country than the rest of the world. With the kapp putsch from the right and the uprising in the Ruhr and Saxony the German economy was not a strong state as it would lead to one turmoil after another.

In conclusion, the political right wing is fuelled by the impact of the treaty of Versailles upon their army. Who have been basically brought to their knees with limitations and rulings; this would link to the way that the left wing would approach upon how to handle the treaty of Versailles. Using their policies of fulfilment they went along with the treaty to a certain extent. This would enrage the right wing which would lead to the attack and assassinations upon leftwing members (e.g. Liebknecht killed by friekorp). Before Weimar existed there was peace within Germanys borders under the control of Kaiser Wilheim 2nd. But now Weimar is being attacked because it has thrown the country into a virtual war between the two political stances.

2 Samuel Smithers