What problems did the Weimar Republic face from 1919 to 1923, and why did it survive?

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Introduction

What problems did the Weimar Republic face from 1919 to 1923, and why did it survive?

Intro-        How was it set up, what was it? Why was it set up? How it faced problems from the very start.

        Weimar Germany faced many problems during 1919-1923, in order to evaluate just how the Government managed to survive one must consolidate how each problem was over come.

Between 1919 and 1923 the Weimar Republic faced repeated political and economic crises. The Republican regime was blamed by enemies on the Right and the Left for the harsh peace settlement and for any problems in society and politics. After the war, Germany’s economic problems were enormous. In the task of adjusting to a peacetime economy, Germany was handicapped by the loss of territories and resources under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. After 1921 this task was made greater because of the enormous reparations payments imposed by the Allies.

Politically, in this period the Weimar Republic had to survive attacks from both the Left and the Right. The main parties supporting the Republic were the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Catholic Centre Party and the Liberal Democratic Party.

The new government of Germany, the Weimar Republic, was set up in 1919. From the very beginning it faced a range of problems, including several rebellions, economic problems and deep divisions between different groups of society. Although the government survived the first problems, more appeared afterwards so that the first few years, until 1923, consisted of one crisis after another.

Weimar Republic

  • ,   sent as Vertrauensmann to infiltrate the German Worker’s Party ().

  • ,   
  • ,  Communists seize demilitarized Ruhr; Dortmund, Remschied, Hagen, Mulheim, Dusseldorf; 300 people killed (mostly policemen).
  • ,  Kapp Putsch ends.
  • ,  Adolf Hitler mustered out of the military.
  • ,  21 different Freikorps units, under the command of General Baron , annihilate the Ruhr Communist uprising in five days; thousands killed.
  •   Government stops paying Freikorps units.

  • ,  Plebiscite in Upper Silesia. They vote to remain part of Germany.
  • ,  Allied Plebiscite Commission rejects vote, draws boundary anyway; takes section of mines, mills and furnaces and 350,000 Germans and puts them under Polish rule.
  • ,  Allied Reparations Committee levels 33 billion war reparations debt onto Germany; commands the handing over of 26% of all exports for 42 years and puts the Germans immediately into 12 billion in arrears.
  • ,  London Ultimatum which set the total sum of the war indemnity at 132 billion marks.
  • ,  Under Allied pressure, all Freikorps units outlawed.
  • ,  Adolf Hitler resigns from the party to force the hand of Anton Drexler not to unite with the DSP.
  • ,  Adolf Hitler rejoins the party.
  • ,  Adolf Hitler assumes leadership of the NSDAP. He becomes "Der Fuehrer".
  • ,  , (finance minister of ) gunned down by OC killers
  • ,  Hitler and SA disrupt speech by Otto Ballestedt of the Bayernbund; beaten badly; Hitler with others arrested.

  • ,  Adolf Hitler sentenced to three months.
  • ,  Hitler Incarcerated. Also:
  •  assassinated.
  • Reichsmark (RM) was 272 to 1 American dollar
  • ,  Hitler released.
  •   670 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
  •   2,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
  •   45,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
  •   10,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
  • ,  500,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar

  •    buys back RM (or reichsmark); stabilizes RM at 20,000 to 1 US dollar
  • ,  RM 40,000 = 1 US dollar
  • ,  RM 70,000 =1 US dollar
  • ,  RM 150,000 = 1 US dollar
  • ,  RM 3,500,000 = 1 US Dollar
  • ,  RM 4,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
  • ,  RM 10,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
  • ,  Chancellor Stresemann ends the passive resistance in the Ruhr; infuriates the nationalists.
  • ,  Major  crushes a coup attempt by the Black Reichswehr. Also:
  • RM 60,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
  • ,  General  marches on  to prevent a communist takeover. Also:
  • General  in Bavaria is relieved of command by Berlin; he refuses.
  • ,  Communist takeover of  
  • ,  Hamburg uprising suppressed
  • ,   
  • ,  Beer Hall Putsch quelled.
  • ,  Rentenmark issued; pegged to the Gold Standard; Rentenmark 4.2 = 1 US dollar; at this time:
  • Old Reichsmark 4,200,000,000 = 1 US dollar

Ideally, you should also have connecting comments between the parts of your essay. These comments are an opportunity to show the examiner that you understand the cause and effects of events.

  • A comment at the end of part one to connect it to part two
  • A comment after part two to connect it to the third main paragraph
  • Another comment connecting paragraphs three and four

1. Treaty of Versailles
Comment A This meant that the government faced a great deal of resentment and distrust and therefore it was not very stable. Besides trying to solve all the other problems, they needed to get people to accept the new style of government but this was not easy and there were attempts to seize power by left-wing Communists and right-wing military style groups.

2. Political problems: Communist rising; Kapp Putsch; Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch
Comment B These rebellions were dangerous because the government had very little support from the ordinary people who had suffered when trade and economy were disrupted by the war. The new government seemed unable to cope with the political challenges it faced, but its failure to deal with economic problems made the situation even worse.

3. Economic problems: Reparations; hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr
Comment C The invasion of the Ruhr caused further problems for the government, who were seen as being weak because a foreign country had invaded Germany. The combination of these problems then increased discontent within German society.

4. Social problems: Social divisions; social effects of hyperinflation


Part 1: Problems

Weimar problems 1919–23  [ILRIM]

1.        Ineffective Constitution

The Weimar Constitution did not create a strong government:

  1. Article 48 of the constitution gave the President sole power in ‘times of emergency’ – something he took often.
  2. The system of proportional voting led to 28 parties. This made it virtually impossible to establish a majority in the Reichstag, and led to frequent changes in the government.
  3. The German states had too much power and often ignored the government.
  4. The Army, led by the right-wing General Hans von Seeckt, was not fully under the government’s control.   It failed to support government during the Kapp Putsch or the crisis of 1923.
  5. Many government officials – especially judges – were right-wing and wanted to destroy the government.   After the Kapp Putsch, 700 rebels were tried for treason; only 1 went to prison.   After the Munich Putsch, Hitler went to prison for only 9 months

2.        Left-wing Rebellions

The Communist KPD hated the new government:

  1. In Jan 1919, 50,000 Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.
  2. In 1919, Communist Workers’ Councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist ‘People’s Government’ took power in Bavaria.
  3. In 1920, after the failure of the Kapp Putsch, a paramilitary group called the Red Army rebelled in the Ruhr.

3.        Right-wing terrorism

Many right-wing groups hated the new government for signing the Versailles Treaty (June 1919):

  1. The Kapp Putsch: in March 1920, a Freikorps brigade rebelled against the Treaty, led by Dr Wolfgang Kapp.   It took over Berlin and tried to bring back the Kaiser.
  2. Nationalist terrorist groups murdered 356 politicians. In 1922, they assassinated Walter Rathenau, the SPD foreign minister, because he made a treaty with Russia.
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4.        Invasion–Inflation: the crisis of 1923

The cause of the trouble was Reparations – the government paid them by printing more money, causing inflation.   In January 1923, Germany failed to make a payment, and France invaded the Ruhr.   This humiliated the government, which ordered a general strike, and paid the strikers by printing more money, causing hyperinflation:

  1. In Berlin on 1 October 1923, soldiers calling themselves Black Reichswehr rebelled, led by Bruno Buchrucker.
  2. The Rhineland declared independence (21–22 October).
  3. In Saxony and Thuringia the Communists took power.

5.        Munich Putsch

On 8–9 November 1923, Hitler’s ...

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