Right wing extremists were angered by the terms of the treaty due to wanting to re-create a greater Germany. A group of officers who were outraged by the large cut in army numbers joined Wolfgang Kapp and a number of units and marched into Berlin in order to overthrow the government. Their numbers rose to 12,000 as other units of Freikorps joined them. The Kapp Putsch was a major threat to the government and members were forced to leave Berlin after the army refused to act against the putschists claiming that ‘Reichswehr does not fire on Reichswehr’. The Kapp Putsch failed due to Ebert and Bauer’s proclamation that all factory workers must strike in order to remove the ‘military dictatorship’ that would destroy their freedom. After just four days the putsch finally collapsed due to a complete lack of support and Berlin at a complete standstill. This attempted putsch threatened the future of the government as it proved that discontented German nationalists were prepared to act and also proved that the government could not always rely on the support of the Reichswehr.
Attacks from the right wing did not stop after the attempted putsch as a ‘white terror’ spread across Germany. The murders of Erzberger and Rathenau – a DDP member involved in fulfilling the reparation terms of the treaty, sparked even more anger from the German people as the government failed to counter right-wing outrages. Most of the violence caused by right wing parties was arbitrary but few of those responsible were ever brought to justice. The governments lack of ability in controlling law and order throughout the white terror posed a huge threat to its survival as more people were becoming bitter and active in their protests.
Even though the right was committing most political murders, the left received greater punishment due to the threat of the spreading of communism. Sparticist uprisings in Berlin and a soviet republic being declared in Barvaria posed another threat to the government. Workers were frustrated with the economic problems that were a result from the war and the treaty. Strikes due to workers wanting shorter hours and better conditions were dangerous for an already fragile economy and this added pressure onto the government. Any revolts from the KPD failed due to inadequate leadership and the freikorps and army crushed any serious uprising from the left.
The rise of Extremism made the coalition government weak as it had to work with discontented minority parties and decisions became extremely difficult. The Reichstag was already bitter and divided as many members did not wish to accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Divisions in the government began to occur and chancellors struggled to form successful coalitions. The resignation of Scheidermann started a long line of other chancellors’ resignations as they failed to solve the reparation crisis. This undermined the new Weimar Constitution, as there was no time to establish the republic due to economic problems and the constant changing in coalitions. All this made the government unstable meaning controlling the economy and the extremist uprising became particularly difficult.
Reparations were a huge threat to the survival of the government. Wirth in 1922 asked for a moratorium but the French prime minister refused, as he wanted to keep Germany weak so they could not restart a war and further negotiations to modify the demand were refused. The fees that were due caused huge economic problems and this lead to further social discontent and further strikes from workers. This increased the rise of extremism that was already causing great damage to the government.
Germany could not afford to pay the full annual reparation fee due in March 1921 and only managed to pay £50 million. On the 11th January 1923, Poincaré, The French prime minister sent 60,000 French and Belgium troops across the river Rhine to occupy the Ruhr. This region was the industrial heartland of Germany where 80% of the nations steel and 71% of its coal was produced. The Ruhr was the region on which the whole German economy was dependent. This had immense effects on the German economy and was one of the factors that lead to the hyperinflation crisis in August 1923. This caused another huge problem for the government as it had to deal with more economic disaster whilst controlling law and order and the increasing discontent of the population.
Overall, the Treaty of Versailles posed a huge threat to the Weimar Republic. The government that barely had time to establish itself was greeted with harsh terms that would cause economic problems for the country. The economic problems lead to social discontent as people become angry at having poor living conditions that could lead to poverty. The rage of the population increased with the war guilt clause that reinforced the ‘stab in the back theory’ and further bitterness was caused with the problems of reparations. The increasing social discontent lead to extremist uprising from the left and right wing and this threatened the government as they found it hard to form law and order and came close to being over thrown. The government was further weakened by constant changes in coalitions and resignations of chancellors making decisions difficult. Finally, the actions of the allies caused a huge economic collapse, which made people loose complete faith in the new democratic government.
