From 1924, despite prior severe economic difficulties, the Weimar Republic seemed to be moving towards a brighter future thanks to the appointment of Gustav Stresemann as Chancellor and Foreign Minister. These years were referred to as the 'Golden Years' of the Weimar Republic, during which the problems of the past decade were righted. This posed a large problem for all radical parties, including the NSDAP – they fought for revolution and drew in the support of those to whom revolution seemed the only way out of their dire situation. But during the Golden Years, there was nothing the public truly felt the need to revolt against. Germany appeared to be on the road to recovery, and the need for revolutionary action – especially the aggressive sort which the NSDAP were inclined to employ – faded. The last hope for a politically-insignificant NSDAP was a return to the economic turmoil of the years before 1923 and, as luck would have it, Hitler didn't have to wait long before his chance to take power arises.
In October 1929, America faced economic and social hardship as a result of a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity known as the Great Depression, the ramifications of which were felt across the globe. This spelled disaster for the Weimar Republic as the basis of Weimar's improved situation was a number of loans from America to the tune of around 8 million marks, aiding Germany in her struggle to return to economic stability. The drawing in of these loans by the suffering America returned Germany to a state almost as dire as before, proving Gustav Stresemann's prediction correct: “The economic position is only flourishing on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term credits are called in, a large section of our economy would collapse." Coincidentally, Stresemann died just a few months before the Wall Street Crash, which, some historians argue, left a dangerous vacuum in German statesmanship that further oiled the slippery slope to Weimar's collapse.
As mentioned before, when things get tough, the people not only lose faith in the current leaders but look to the revolutionaries for guidance, and in 1930 things certainly got tougher. The rapid bankruptcy of hundreds of businesses that could no longer afford to pay their workers, who in turn lost their jobs and could not support their families, forced even more strain on resources as more and more people required unemployment pay and Germany's industry slowed to a fraction of what it had been during the peak of the Golden Years. Tensions and disputes over the rising unemployment figures, which had reached 3 million at this point in 1930, caused enormous friction in the current Chancellor Müller's coalition, the last legacy of Gustav Stresemann dubbed the “Great Coalition” for its impressive political stability. On March 27th 1930, this prime example of German democracy crumbled, leaving Reichspräsident Hindenburg to select a new government. His chosen Chancellor was Heinrich Brüning , whose financial and economic acumen made him a candidate for chancellor and his military background, highlighted by the political lobbying of General Kurt Von Schleicher on his behalf, won him approval from the eternally militarily-inclined Hindenburg. However, Brüning 's policy of tight credit and a roll-back of all wage and salary increases to further his ultimate aim of liberating Germany from the burden of war reparations did not go down well with the Reichstag, who took less than a month to decide to reject his suggested measures. This was seen by an already anti-Reichstag Hindenburg as a “failure of parliament” and new elections were called to, hopefully, form a more willing Reichstag. Unfortunately, all this served to do was further marginalise any remnants of the Grand Coalition's stability by doing away with the majority held by the parties of the Grand Coalition in favour of the Communists and the National Socialists. The elections saw political shift on a massive scale, with five times the amount of votes going to the Nazis than did in 1928, an impressive 18.3% of the total vote, making the NSDAP the second largest party in the Reichstag after the SPD. There was now no possibility of forging a party coalition and even less possibility of passing the radical bills that Brüning wished to pass, and so from 1930 to 1932 Brüning took to basing his administration on the “Notverordnung” (Presidential Emergency Decree) outlined in Article 48, which effectively rendered the parliament with very little power.
The increase of support for the NSDAP cannot be solely credited to the suffering economy and pitifully lacking government, although these did play a majority part in the rise of Hitler and his party. Hitler was very aware that getting above his opponents would require more than sheer reliance on the decline of Weimar, and so he made the decision to employ Joseph Goebbels as the party's propaganda chief. Goebbels, unlike Strasser who had his own political agenda, was utterly devoted to Hitler and worked only to improve and polish Hitler's image. He pioneered the use of radio and aircraft as propaganda tools, attempting to show the innovation and progression symbolised by the Nazi Party. The success of the 1930 elections was also aided by the weakening of traditional nationalist parties who, ordinarily, would have competed with the NSDAP for nationalist voters' votes. However, with Goebbel's relentless propaganda, rival nationalist groups could not compete with the almost legend-like portrayal of Hitler, and he soon became the figurehead of the opposition. Donations, too, helped the party progress, and the fact that at the same time as the Nazi party was being funded by wealthy, Communist-fearing fat cats, they were being applauded and supported by the poor for their promise to end unemployment. This is a clear demonstration of Hitler's amazingly wide appeal, that he could rally support from such different ends of the social spectrum at the same time. Germans voted for Hitler primarily because of his promises to revive the economy (though he never specified his means clearly before his appointment as Chancellor), to restore German greatness, to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and to save Germany from the ever-present threat of Communism. Simple promises on paper, but ones that resonated with almost every German.
Hitler's popularity was so great that he only narrowly missed out on becoming President, just slightly out-voted by Hindenburg. Hindenburg's victory was down to Brüning 's and the entire German left's support of the man and fervent belief that he was the "last bulwark" of the German people. Despite this, Hindenburg moved further to the right, and eventually asked Brüning to step down as Chancellor. On the 30th of May 1932, Brüning announced his resignation from the post as Chancellor following this disloyalty from Hindenburg, although he refused to make the President's disloyalty public as he was still a strong supporter of his.
With Brüning gone, Hindenburg appointed Franz Von Papen, a member of the Centre Party right up until he became Chancellor, at which time he was expelled from the party for accepting the position. Indeed, Papen appeared to be a somewhat comical character. The German people viewed what they called the “Cabinet of Monocles” with ridicule and incredulity, a lack of support that was mirrored within the Reichstag. However, all the member of the new cabinet did share the same views as Hindenburg, and began to pursue the co-operation of Adolf Hitler, first by lifting the ban on Hitler's paramilitary SA group (a force of around 400,000 mainly unemployed men).
Opposition in the Reichstag was still a major problem for Von Papen, and in July 1932 he called for new elections, which showed massive gains for not only the KDP but also the NSDAP, who won 37.4% of the vote, making them the largest party in the Reichstag by a wide margin. This meant that with a combined 52% of the vote and a seat majority, the two parties that virulently opposed the political system were now the most influential in the Reichstag. Hitler refused to join a ministry under Papen and demanded the chancellery for himself, a demand which was refused by the still-wary Hindenburg who found Hitler irritating and irrational. Papen called for new elections that November to find a way out of this stalemate, but the electoral result barely changed. Nazis + KDP = 50% and a seat majority.
Interestingly, however, Nazi support had fallen by over 2 million voters. Many historians believe that this is simply because the surge in Nazi support had peaked along with the peak in economic distress, and now that the worst of the Depression had passed, so had the knee-jerk reaction of voting for the most radical party. Others believe that votes were being lost from businesses who voted for Hitler in protest, to show the Reichstag and Hindenburg who had the power in the situation, but now that the prospect of Hitler actually getting into power was a reality, had backed away. Whatever the reason, the NSDAP saw this as a warning – they must act now.
Still unable to form a majority, Papen yields to Schleicher's (the general who had lobbied for Brüning , and who was the Minister of Defence under Papen) pressure and steps down on November 17th 1932. Schleicher lasts only 2 months, and during this time Papen and the nationalist press mogul Alfred Hugenburg (who had donated large sums of money to the Nazi party in the past) worked to persuade Hindenburg that the political landscape was safe enough to appoint Hitler Reich Chancellor at the head of a cabinet including only a minority of Nazi ministers. As Schleicher failed, as had the rest, to form a majority government and requested emergency powers, Hindenburg realised that Papen and Hugenburg made a very valid point. Hindenburg refuses to grant Schleicher any emergency powers and he resigns as Chancellor on the 28th January 1933, less than 2 months after being appointed. Two days later, Hitler is appointed Reich Chancellor, with Von Papen as Vice-Chancellor.
Hindenburg himself was very wary of this move. He had a deep mistrust of the Nazi party and it's policies, and hated Hitler himself, who he admitted to finding irritating and egotistical. However, it is clear to see that Hindenburg had been left with no other choice. With Hitler as Chancellor, the government would be stable, and the threat of violent uprisings to put Hitler in power were dissolved. Besides, Papen's theory that, with support for Nazi's ebbing and a Conservative majority in the Reichstag, plus the experienced Papen himself as Vice-Chancellor, Hitler would be easy to control does seem plausible. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.
The date on which Hitler was appointed Chancellor, known to Nazis as the Machtergreifung (seizure of power), is commonly seen as the beginning of Nazi Germany and the end of Weimar. Despite Papen immediately sensing that he had underestimated Hitler's craving for control and requesting that Hindenburg dismiss him following a rapid marginalisation of Papen and the rest of the cabinet by Hitler and his allies, attempts to undo this grave error failed, and by March 1933, the Nazi Party had secured 288 seats in the Reichstag.
Hitler was well on his way to dictatorial power.
The reasons for the Weimar Republic's collapse are the subject of a long debate. From the analysis within this essay, it would not be unreasonable to concluded that it was doomed from the beginning, with hatred coming from the extremists and dislike coming from almost everyone in-between. Germany had limited democratic traditions and Weimar democracy was widely seen as chaotic, a new experience for everyone involved. And since Weimar politicians had been blamed for the 'Dolchstosslegende' — the popular legitimacy of the government was on shaky ground.
No single reason can explain the failure of the Weimar Republic, and instead the collapse of this valiant attempt at democracy is the result of a plethora of terrible mistakes, inexperience, bad luck and a lack of support. Had it been executed better, or even had it been built on a legacy that wasn't the nation's humiliation in a war still known to this day as the Great War, then perhaps it would have had a more optimistic chance at working. But, as it is, the Weimar Republic was merely a brief break for Germany between wars, and, in all honesty, was lucky to survive for the length of time it did.
