Why did the Weimar Republic face political problems in the first years of its existence (1919-1923)

        There are several reasons why the Republic faced the Nationalist problems; the first is the German surrender in the war and Hindenburg’s speech about the surrender. General Hindenburg was the Commander in Chief of the German army during the First World War and towards the end of the war, when he knew that Germany had no chance of winning, he told the Chancellor that surrender was necessary. After the war, Hindenburg addressed the public and said that the German army had been “stabbed in the back” by the government and that they could have gone on fighting. This statement was issued, not only to turn people against the new government but also to defend the honour of the German army and General Hindenburg himself.

        Soon after the German surrender, the Socialist Government were made to sign a treaty by the Allied countries. This treaty had many unfair terms including the reduction of the German army, the dissolving of the German air force and navy, the payment of reparations to the affected countries. The treaty also meant that Germany had to admit to causing the war and this greatly dented the morale of the Germans. Several territories were given up to neighbouring countries and foreign troops were sent to monitor places in Germany. The raising of reparations was extremely hard for the German government because Germany was also in financial difficulties because of the money spent on the war. The reparations eventually resulted in hyperinflation making the German mark worthless. The inflation was another cause for the political problems and it got so bad that the price of a loaf of bread was raised from 0.63 marks to 201,000,000,000 marks.

        I think that the main reason for the political problems was the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty led to lots of others of these political problems: the Treaty led to the dissolving of the German military forces angering the Nationalists. The Nationalists were also angered by the loss of the German lands because their beloved Germany had lost its status as a first class power. The reparations owed due to the Treaty, were the cause of the hyperinflation as well as the money spent on the war. The surrender wasn’t the biggest cause of the political unrest, in fact, it should barely have been a factor but the Nationalists chose to hold it against the Weimar Republic and made it a major issue.