Why was the Weimar Republic so unpopular with many Germans between 1919 and 1923?

Another reason why the Weimar Republic started so badly was that there were economic problems. The Communists disliked the new republic because not much would change. The workers would still be poor and the rich would still be rich. They wanted the workers to have power. This was economically a problem because the communists had different views on wages and on money from other groups in Germany. Hyperinflation made money worthless by 1923. People with savings or pensions suffered a lot. The people that had lost the value of their saved money would be ‘poverty-stricken’ and would want the original value of their money back with compensation. The new government of Germany was the SPD. Many people disliked them because they only helped the workers. The people that were not ‘workers’ disagreed that workers should receive even wages. Germany had lots of reparations to pay after 1921 (£6,000,000,000). This was an economic problem for the Weimar Republic because Germany could not afford to pay these vast sums of money to other countries, after having paid for a huge war. The Ruhr area of Germany was invaded by French and Belgian troops in 1923. This was an economically a bad start for the Republic because France and Belgium only did this to claim the capital owed to them, if Germany was not in serious financial problems it probably would have paid. After the War Germany was very poor and short of supplies and food. This was an economic problem because it states that Germany had not a lot of money, “Germany was very poor.” The Treaty of Versailles upset many Germans because it took away land from Germany; made her pay reparations; made her army very small. This was an economical problem because it made her pay reparations and it took away land from Germany, this land could have produced goods for selling.

A final Reason for the bad start to the new republic was the Treaty of Versailles. Some people were very upset that the Kaiser had been forced to leave. If the Weimar Republic were to be replaced again by the Kaiser Germany would have to break the treaty of Versailles, also this was a bad start for the Weimar Republic because people could blame them for the loss of the Kaiser. Hyperinflation made money worthless by 1923. People with savings or pensions suffered a lot. Some people thought that the new government had surrendered to the Allies unnecessarily. They thought that the government had stabbed Germany in the back so that they could rule instead of the Kaiser. The Treaty of Versailles had not helped the Republic here because they gained a poor reputation (backstabbers). Germany had lots of reparations to pay after 1921 (£6,000,000,000). This was a bad start for the Republic due to the treaty of Versailles because Germany could not afford to pay such huge sums of money; the politicians did not have any experience. The Ruhr area of Germany was invaded by French and Belgian troops in 1923. This was linked to the Treaty of Versailles because Germany had not kept their part of the reparations agreements.  Some people disliked democracy. They preferred a strong leader who would decide what was best and tell them what to do. This was a bad start for the Weimar Republic because they were replacing a political system that was banned by the Treaty of Versailles, but loved by many internally. The Treaty of Versailles upset many Germans because it took away land from Germany; made her pay reparations; made her army very small. This part of the Treaty of Versailles made the early years of the Weimar Republic very difficult because the some of the German people wanted revenge for their shock (to them) treatment at the Treaty of Versailles, they had been thinking that Wilsons fourteen points would be all.

In conclusion I think that the main reason why the Weimar Republic got off to such a bad start before 1923 was that they had too many political problems. I think that there were too many groups of people that either wanted the old political system or wanted a new one. The fact that the Weimar Republic was so weak (power was shared to evenly or not evenly enough) did not help it’s popularity. The sizes of the debts that Germany owed were too big for a new government to handle, especially a coalition government.