Why did the political right pose such serious threats to the Weimar Republic in the years 1919-25?
During the years 1919 to 1925, the Weimar Republic was forced to face threats from both the political right and left. However, the most serious ones came from the right side which encompassed many different parties and ideas. The moderate right was often prepared to work with the Weimar government but often also opposed it. The extremists, on the other hand, openly opposed the government.
In March 1920, the Weimar Republic was faced a direct threat – the Kapp Putsch. Wolfgang Kapp was a right-wing journalist who opposed all that he believed stood for especially after what he believed was the humiliation of the . Kapp was assisted by General Luttwitz who lead a group of Freikorps. They seized Berlin and proclaimed that a new right of centre nationalist government was being established with Kapp as chancellor. The army refused to support the government. had no immediate response to this in the sense that he could not impose his will on the situation. For the second time, he had to leave his capital – once again undermining his status and to some emphasising his weak position within Germany. Ebert then decided to call a strike in order to paralyse the supporters of Kapp. This caused the failure of the putsch as, due to a lack of support, Kapp had to leave the government after only 5 days. However, this putsch was very serious in that it showed that the government was unable to enforce its authority even in its own capital and that it was also unable to put down a challenge if not by calling a general strike. However, the most important and serious threat that the Weimar had faced was the lack of support from the army. With the army on his side, Ebert knew that his government would not be overthrown. This proved to be true 3 years later during the Munich Putsch.
