A further way the right wing violence was a significant threat to the stability of the republic was its violence in the form of political murders. Out of the 376 political murderers that occurred in the period right wing organisations, such as the Consul Organisation, were responsible for 354 of them which suggests that the right was responsible for a majority of the violence towards the republic. A noteworthy political murder committed by the right wing Consul Organisation was Rathehau, the foreign minister, whose murderer Count Arco received only a short prison sentence for the crime he had committed. This demonstrates that the right wing organisations were not afraid to assassinate key figures of the government as they knew they had the support of the judiciary. Overall, this scale and successes of the violence from the right significantly threatened the stability of the republic however there would not have been a huge amount of resistance from the right without their opposition to the much hated terms of the treaty of Versailles.
It is clear that the Treaty of Versailles was met by bitterness and hatred from the majority of German people. One of the reasons for this was article 231, the war guilt cause, which put the blame of the war on Germany. Attempts were made by Germany to drop the article from the final version of the treaty however there was no avail. The people of Germany blamed the government for agreeing to the war guilt clause of the treaty as they didn’t believe that Germany was responsible for the war. However the government which was a SPD/Centre Party coalition listened to Hindenburg, who said the government needed to sign the treaty as Germany was not strong enough to withstand an invasion from the allies, and signed the treaty. This lead to a threat to the republic as it became a reason why both right and left wing groups were dissatisfied with the republic and wanted to overthrow it. The impact of the war blame combined with the territorial provisions and military restrictions lead to a hatred of the republic from both the right and left which eventually threatened the stability of the republic as it caused significant opposition to the establishment. The war guilt clause was more significant than the violence from the right because without the Treaty of Versailles there would have been less dissatisfaction from the right.
It can be argued that the reparations from the Treaty of Versailles were a significant threat to the Weimar Republic as they caused social unrest in Germany which caused people to turn to extremist parties. The cost of reparations and war debt drastically raised the deficit. To deal with this the government printed more money which meant that by 1923 the Reichmark wad practically worthless. This meant the everyday commodities such as bread was worth millions which was not good for workers as their wages were not raised. This left the people poverty stricken and frustrated with the government, which led the people to support extreme groups which weakened the republic as it lost the support of the people so couldn’t with stand the threats posed from the left and right extremes. Printing more money didn’t make the paying of reparations any easier as they were to be paid in a fixed currency such as the US Dollar. This meant that the reparations were still a problem in Germany as hyperinflation led to a depression in which people lost savings and had to deal with lowered living conditions for which they blamed the democratic republic. This blame posed a threat to the republic as the republic lost support of a lot of the people. However this, like the war guilt clause, was more important than the violence from the right because without the impact of reparations there would have been less unrest in Germany so therefore less need for political violence.
It can be argued that ironically the constitution of the Weimar Republic was one of the factors that threatened the establishment. The constitution was created by Preuss on July 1st 1919 as a ‘revolution from above’ which meant that the introduction of democracy in Germany was born out of defeat in WW1 with the purpose of taking the blame for signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This meant that the republic was destined for instability from the start. Article 48 which let the president rule by decree demonstrated a threat to the republic as it provided the president with too much power over Germany. It meant that the personality of the president was accountable for whether or not he used the law to rule by decree. The first president of the Republic, Ebert, used Article 48 on 136 occasions which suggests that that the article was misused to an extent. This threatened the stability of the Weimar Republic, as it lessened the democracy of the establishment and meant that anyone who could persuade the president could successfully take control of the republic. Another weakness of the constitution was the voting system used to elect members of the Reichstag. Proportional representation meant that it was increasingly difficult for a single party to gain majority in the Reichstag as the proportion of votes received indicated the proportion of seats it gained. This meant that there was instability with in the government as all of the republics 28 parties found it difficult to agree and collaborate. Between the years 1919 and 1933 there were 20 separate coalition governments. This inconsistency in the Reichstag posed a threat to the stability of the republic as it meant decisions and agreements were difficult to achieve. Although the constitution posed threat to the republic it did to some extent provide stability to the republic as it gave the people fundamental rights and had a series of checks and balances that helped it remain secure. Overall, it is clear that the constitution was flawed and because of this provided a minor threat to the stability of the republic however this threat was not as significant as the violence that the republic faced from the right.
Without a doubt the threat from the left was not as significant as the threat from the right as the government managed to put down left putsches with more ease. For example the Spartacist revolt in 1919 which involved poorly planned uprisings in Berlin. The revolt was crushed by members of the right-wing Freikorps which showed that the republic was too reliant on anti-democratic forces to restore ‘order’. This showed the instability of the republic because it highlights the levels of dissatisfaction of the extreme left communists which were a serious danger to the establishment. Other threats from the left arose in Bavaria in 1919 when a Bavarian Soviet Republic was set up and lead by Levine who introduced reforms and raised a Red Army. This shows that the left was a serious threat to the republic as managed to overthrow the Bavarian government for a month before being crushed by30,000 Freikorps; it also demonstrates that violence from the left was not just confined to the capital. Even though there were serious attempts to seize power by the left, they were all easily but down by the Freikorps and the agreement between Ebert and General Groener 1918. The left didn’t play a huge part in the political violence in the period. Out of the 376 political assassinations the left were only responsible for 22 which is 6%. These figures show the left were not a huge threat to the republic and clearly not as significant as the violence from the right or the effects of the Treaty of Versailles.
It can be seen that the reparations and war guilt from the Treaty of Versailles were the most significant threats to the republic as it caused republic to lose the support of the people. However the violence from the right cannot be underestimated as it was an overpowering force that was supported by the judiciary or the army. Violence from the left and the weakness of the constitution also can be proved important dangers to the republic however alone they wouldn’t have had the ability to pose as a major threat to the rebublic.
by
kitcat12 (student)
