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:
- In Berlin on 1 October 1923, soldiers calling themselves Black Reichswehr rebelled, led by Bruno Buchrucker.
- The Rhineland declared independence (21–22 October).
- In Saxony and Thuringia the Communists took power.
5. Munich Putsch
On 8–9 November 1923, Hitler’s Nazis tried to take control of Bavaria (the Munich Putsch).
How did the Weimar Republic survive its problems 1919–1924? [FASS]
Although it seemed that the Weimar Republic MUST collapse, it managed to survive.
In the period 1919–1923, it used:
1. Freikorps
The SPD Defence Minister, Gustav Noske, used bands of Freikorps. They were right-wing and enjoyed putting down the Communist revolts of 1919–1920.
2. Army
The Army, led by von Seeckt, was also right-wing, and enjoyed putting down the Communist revolts of 1923.
3. Strikes
The Kapp Putsch, which was right-wing, so the Freikorps and Army refused to help. Ebert appealed to the workers of Berlin (who were left-wing), who went on strike. Berlin came to a standstill and the Putsch collapsed
In the period after 1924, a politician named Gustav Stresemann led the government (he became Chancellor in August 1923). At first he opposed the Weimar Republic, but realised the alternative was anarchy.
4. Stresemann [DIFFER]
He achieved:
• Dawes Plan, 1924
Stresemann called off the 1923 Ruhr strike and started to pay reparations again – but the American Dawes Plan gave Germany longer to make the payments (and the Young Plan of 1929 reduced the payments).
• Inflation controlled, Nov 1923
Stresemann called in all the old, worthless marks and burned them. He replaced them with a new Rentenmark (worth 3,000 million old marks).
• French leave the Ruhr, April 1924
Stresemann persuaded the French to leave.
• Foreign Affairs
In 1925, Stresemann signed the Locarno Treaty, agreeing to the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. In 1926, Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations. Germany had become a world power again.
• Economic Growth
Germany borrowed 25,000 million gold marks, mainly from America. This was used to build roads, railways and factories. The economy boomed and led to prosperity. Cultural life also boomed (the Roaring Twenties).
• Reforms
Stresemann introduced reforms to make life better for the working classes - Labour Exchanges (1927) and unemployment pay. Also, 3 million new houses were built
The problems
Here is a chronological list of the problems faced by the Weimar Republic. Read through them and think about how you might group them according to political, economic and social problems.
-
- The government had signed the Versailles Treaty even though this included Clause 231. This was sometimes called the 'war guilt' clause which stated that Germany had to pay to make up for the cost of damage during the war. It was a common belief that the army had not been defeated but had been betrayed by the politicians. Hitler and many others believed that they had been "stabbed in the back" by the "November Criminals", the politicians who had signed the Armistice which had brought the Great War to an end on 11th November 1918.
-
Social divisions - There were deep divisions within society. Some people wanted a revolution like the one that had happened in Russia, to give power to the workers, while others wanted a strong government which would protect industry, and the rich, against trade unions and the threat of .
- Communistrising Communist risingroup called the Spartakists, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Carl Liebknecht, attempted to begin a revolution but the rising was suppressed with the help of the army and the leaders were executed.
- Kapp Putsch - Wolfgang Kapp led a right-wing attempt to seize power in Berlin in 1920. The army refused to act against Kapp's supporters who were often ex-soldiers, and the official government actually left Berlin; but a general strike by the trade unions meant that Kapp could not control the situation and the rebellion failed.
- Reparations - The Allies now fixed the total amount of reparations at 132,000 million marks (6,600 million British pounds). Germany claimed this was completely unrealistic since she had lost important resources and industrial land because of the Treaty in 1919.
-
and the invasion of the Ruhr - The government continued to print paper money even when it did not have sufficient resources to support the currency; this led to constantly rising inflation. By 1923 prices had become ridiculous, although people who had taken out large loans (such as industrialists) benefited, and German goods were cheap for other countries to buy, which stimulated trade and employment. When Germany could not make the reparations payment due in 1923, France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, which made the economic situation even worse.
- Social effects of hyperinflation - As a result of the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, money was almost worthless and many people found they could not keep up their standard of living. The middle classes were possibly the hardest hit because they were more likely to have savings, which were wiped out, and they tended to be professionals who depended on cash payments, and, in a crisis like this, there was less demand for their services, e.g. doctors, teachers, lawyers. Unemployment was rising and there was a high level of discontent within society.
- Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch - In 1923 Hitler led a right wing attempt to seize power in Munich but his attempt collapsed when he faced opposition from the police.
Political
1. Treaty of Versailles
3. Communist rising
4. Kapp Putsch
8. Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch
These are all political problems which made it difficult for the new German government to run the country properly.
Economic
5. Reparations
6. Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr
These are both mainly economic problems. (Although 6. also includes other problems which resulted from the inflation).
Social
2. Social divisions
7. Social effects of hyperinflation
These are mainly social problems.
- However, in order to return Germany back to peace and stability, the SPD had made a pact with the old order who had strongly supported the Kaiser; they compromised themselves by cooperating with the business community and the army in order to prevent a social revolution.
- In 1916, the German Social Democratic Party, which controlled the Reichstag, split in order to cater for the tensions between the reformist and revolutionary wings. They formed the majority socialists (SPD) and the Independent socialists (USPD). Another group split from the SPD to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
- Threat from the right-kapp putsch, Munich Putsch
Right wing attempts to overthrow the government were also made. The main reasons for nationalist hostility to the régime were that firstly, they felt that the new Republic had betrayed Germany as they believed that whilst the German army were willing and able to continue fighting, they were "stabbed in the back" by German politicians who surrendered by signing the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles greatly weakened the German nation as it caused Germany to be severely cut back as a military power with its army and navy being dramatically reduced in size. The treaty also caused Germany to lose a large amount of territory as well as all its colonies. Finally, the treaty included the War Guilt Clause, which forced Germany to accept that they bore sole responsibility for World War One and would consequently have to provide compensation for any damage they had caused. Many Germans, however, did not believe that they were responsible for the war nor that they had been defeated. Thus, the nationalists, who believe in the idea of a strong nation, were deeply angered at what they saw as Germany's decline from the greatest power in Europe to a second-class power. In March 1920, Dr Wolfgang Kapp, with the support of the Freikorps, launched a Putsch (revolt) in Berlin in order to overthrow the government. They did manage to take over Berlin, but as a socialist city, Kapp was not likely to find many supporters in Berlin and so the government, fleeing the capital for safety, called for a general strike of German workers and without essential services such as transport, gas and electricity, Kapp was not able to govern and so his rebellion failed. However, if it had not been for the far left's general strike, Kapp could easily have seized power. This was very worrying for the Weimar Republic because, again, it had been saved by those that despised it, and the army that was supposed to be supporting it refused to act against Kapp and his supporters of which many were ex-soldiers; this was very humiliating for the government as it meant that they had to flee Berlin .The government was to face much more right wing opposition though in the form of political murders and violence. For example, in June 1922, Walther Rathenau, a leading Weimar politician who believed that Germany should fulfil the terms of the treaty of Versailles, was murdered by right wing extremists, who threw a bomb into his car and shot him several times whilst he was driving to work. Thus, the government was shown to be even more unstable and weak and these rebellions showed how little support people, including Germany's own army, had for the new Republic.
The main opponents of the Republic on the Right were the German National People’s Party (DNVP) and the National Socialist German Workers (NAZIS) founded in 1919 by Anton Drexler, but soon dominated by Adolf Hitler. Monarchists detested the Republic. Nationalists resented the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles and the scale of reparations that had been agreed to. On 13th March 1920 Berlin witnesses the first serious right-wing attack on the Republic—the Kapp Putsch. The putsch began when the Weimar Government, as part of its obligation under the Versailles Treaty to cut its armed forces, called on Captain Ehrhadt to disband his Freikorps Marine Brigade encamped near Berlin. Ehrhadt refused, and conspired with General Von Luttwitz, the Reichswehr General of Berlin and Dr. Wolfgang Kapp a reactionary civilian to march his brigade on Berlin to set up a right wing regime which Kapp was to lead. Kapp seized control of key government buildings and forced the government to flee to Stuttgart. General von Seeckt, Chief of Staff of the Reichswehr refused to use the army to put down the coup. The Kapp Putsch was defeated however, because the Berlin workers and civil servants were opposed to a military dictatorship, and called a general strike. The city of Berlin was paralysed and Kapp was forced to resign within within a week. The leaders of the Kapp putsch however, were barely punished because of right wing sympathies in government and the judiciary. No action was taken against Von Seeckt (he was in fact promoted), nor any attempt made to reform the Reichswehr, which developed the idea that it was independent of government or civilian control. This contrasted sharply with the way left wing activists were treated. The failure of the Kapp Putsch showed that Germany at this time did not want a military a right wing government. Not only did the workers oppose it, but so did the middle classes. The Putsch also showed that the time was not ripe for the left wing. The Independent Socialists tried to continue the general strike, but failed to do so.
In 1921 right wing assassins murdered Matthias Erzberger, (Germany’s representative to the Reparations Commission) because he had signed the Treaty of Versailles. In 1922 the same group murdered Walter Rathenau the Foreign Minister, because he argued that Germany should fulfil its obligations under the peace treaty and probably because he was a Jew. It has been estimated that between 1919-22 there were 376 political murders in Germany; 356 of which were attributed to right wing extremists. While 17 left wing assassins were rigorously punished, 10 with the death penalty, only one right wing assassin was severely punished, but not with the death penalty. Average prison sentences were 15 years for the Left; only 4 months for the Right. In November 1923 Hitler and some Nazi followers tried to seize power in the so-called ‘Beerhall Putsch’ in Bavaria. The uprising was put down by troops. Hitler and his associates were arrested, but once again the prison sentences were short. Hitler now decided not to try a putsch again, but to come to power legally.
The took place on , , involving a group of troops who captured and installed (a right wing journalist) as chancellor. The national government fled to and called for a . This completely halted the economy and the Kapp government had collapsed by .
Further pressure from the right came in 1923 with the , staged by in . In , the had become the (NSDAP), and would become a driving force in the collapse of Weimar. Hitler was named chairman of the party in July . The was established in November 1921 and acted as Hitler's personal army. On , , the , in a pact with , took over a meeting by Bavarian prime minister at a beer hall in Munich. Ludendorff and Hitler declared a new government, planning to take control of Munich the following day. The 3,000 rebels were thwarted by 100 policemen. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, a minimum sentence for the charge and he served only nine months before his release. Following the failure of the Beer Hall Putsch, his imprisonment and subsequent release, Hitler focused on legal methods of gaining power
The Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch occurred on the evening of Thursday, to early afternoon of Friday, , when the nascent party's , the popular General , and other leaders of the , unsuccessfully tried to gain power in , . (A putsch is the German equivalent of a , or the revolt of a small number of people, e.g. a military coup.)
The word '' literally means a thrust or blow. In political terms, a 'putsch' is a . The Kapp Putsch - or more accurately the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch - was an extreme right-wing attempt to overthrow the which resulted directly from the imposition of the .
In early 1919 the strength of the , the regular army, was estimated at 350,000. There were in addition in excess of 250,000 men enlisted in the various . Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, was required to reduce its armed forces to a maximum of 100,000. Freikorps units were therefore expected to be disbanded.
In orders were issued for the disbandment of the . Its leaders were determined to resist dissolution and appealed to General Lüttwitz, commander of the Reichswehr, for support. Lüttwitz, an organiser of Freikorps units in 1918-19 and a fervent , responded by calling on and to stop the whole programme of troop reductions. When Ebert refused, Lüttwitz ordered the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt to march on Berlin. It occupied the capital on the 13th of March. Lüttwitz, therefore, was the driving force behind the 1920 putsch. Its nominal leader, though, was , a 62-year-old civil servant and fervent nationalist.
At this point Noske, the defence minister, called upon the regular army to suppress the putsch. He encountered a blank refusal. Chef des Heeresleitung General , one of the Reichswehr's senior commanders, told him: "Reichswehr does not shoot on Reichswehr". The government, forced to abandon Berlin, moved to . As it did so it issued a proclamation calling on Germany's workers to defeat the putsch by means of a general strike. The strike call received massive support. With the country paralysed, the putsch collapsed. Kapp and Lüttwitz, unable to govern, fled to .
There were two main reasons why the Weimar Republic survived in 1920. First, the rallied to its defence. Second, Kapp and Lüttwitz had the support of only a minority of the extreme right. Many potential sympathisers, including most of the leading Freikorps commanders, thought the putsch ill-timed and refused to join it.
The Munich Putsch
Causes [Why Nazis Supported Munich Battle]
1. Weimar Weaknesses
- Constitutional flaws/ Left Wing opponents (the KPD)/ Right Wing opponents (see page 4) had all made the government weak and vulnerable.
- Invasion and inflation made the government VERY weak in 1923. Everybody was very angry with the government – there were Communist rebellions in Saxony and Thuringia.
2. Nazi Party Growing
- In the crises of 1923, the membership of the Nazi Party grew from 6,000 to 55,000.
- The Nazi Stormtroopers (SA) grew quickly, and wanted a revolution - in October, an SA leader told Hitler that, if there was not a rebellion soon, the SA would ‘sneak away’.
- Hitler became friends with General Ludendorff (a WWI hero) – he thought that the Army would follow Ludendorff in a putsch.
3. Stresemann calls off resistance
In September 1923, the German Chancellor, Stresemann, called off the general strike in the Ruhr (it was ruining Germany). This made EVERY German angry with the government.
- There was a right-wing revolt (by the ‘Black Reichwehr’) in Berlin on 1 October 1923, and the Rhineland declared independence on 21–22 October.
- The government had to proclaim a State of Emergency, Sept 1923–Feb 1924.
4. Mussolini’s Example
In 1922, Mussolini had seized control of the government of Italy by marching on Rome. Hitler hoped to copy his example.
5. Bavarian Rebellion fails
In Bavaria, the right-wing local government wanted to rebel against the Weimar Republic. Its leaders – Kahr (State Commissioner), Lossow (Local Army Commander) and Seisser (Chief of Police) – planned a march of 15,000 soldiers on Berlin. Hitler was going to help them, but on 4 Nov., they postponed the rebellion. Hitler hoped the Munich Putsch would force them to rebel.
Events
1. 8 Nov 1923
- Hitler interrupted the Beer Hall meeting, and forced Kahr, Lossow and Seisser at gunpoint to agree to support him.
- The SA took over the Army HQ (but NOT the telegraph office).
- Jews were beaten up, and the offices of the anti-Nazi Munich Post newspaper trashed.
- Kahr, released by Hitler, called in the police and army reinforcements.
2. 9 Nov 1923
- The Nazis marched on Munich. Stopped by police in Residenzstrasse, 16 Nazis were killed. Ludendorff was arrested. Hitler hid, then fled (he was arrested 2 days later).
Results [Defeat? Tell Me Something!]
1. Disaster
The Nazis were defeated and their leaders were arrested. Hitler was arrested and put on trial for treason. He was imprisoned for 9 months and forbidden to speak in public
BUT
2. Trial
Hitler turned his trial into a publicity opportunity, giving long speeches. Before the Munich Putsch, Hitler was an unknown Bavarian politician. After his trial he was a national right-wing hero. Even the judge said he agreed with Hitler, and gave him only a short prison sentence.
3. Mein Kampf
While he was in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, in which he set out his life-story and beliefs. The book sold in millions, and made Hitler the leader of the right-wing opponents of Weimar.
4. Strategy
Hitler realised that he would not gain power by rebellion. He began a new strategy – to gain power by being elected.
Origins of the Nazi Party
1 Start
The German Workers’ Party, led by Anton Drexler, was formed in 1919. Hitler joined and soon became leader. His speeches gave people scapegoats to blame for Germany’s problems:
- the Allies,
- the Versailles Treaty and the ‘November Criminals’ (the politicians who signed it),
- the Communists and
- the Jews.
2 Twenty-Five Point Programme
In 1920, the party renamed itself the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis), and announced its Twenty-Five Point Programme.
At first, the Nazis were both nationalist (they believed in Germany’s greatness) and socialist (they believed the state should benefit everybody equally).
3. Mein Kampf
After the failure of the Munich Putsch in 1923, Hitler was sent to Landsberg jail. There he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) advocating:
- National Socialism – loyalty to Germany, racial purity, equality and state control of the economy.
- Racism – the triumph of the Aryan race by armed force, because all races, especially the Jews, were inferior to the Aryan (pure German) ‘Master Race’.
- Lebensraum – to expand into Poland and Russia to get ‘Living Space’.
- Strong Government – complete obedience to the Führer.
- Treaty of Versailles, Armistice
- Threat from the Left, Spartacist Rising
Naturally this sparked off communist anger; the SPD had created a middle class democracy, while the communists demanded a worker's state like that in Bolshevik Russia. The communists wanted nationalisation to take place (i.e. factories, businesses and land to be owned by workers), they wanted workers to be more in control of their lives by means of locally elected councils (soviets), they wanted the army to be replaced with a Citizen's Militia, and they wanted to prevent the middle class from exploiting the working class. In other words, they required a much more radical change than that made since the Kaiser had left. In January 1919, the Spartacists (an old name for the KPD), led by Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxembourg, attempted to overthrow the government and establish a worker's republic by means of an armed uprising in Berlin, Germany's capital. The Spartacists, however, did not have enough support and their revolt was brutally suppressed by a group of armed volunteers called Freikorps. The significance of this uprising was that it was the SPD who had allowed the right wing Freikorps to suppress the Spartacist revolt and so the communist hatred of Weimar was deepened even further. A more successful communist revolt occurred in Bavaria, Munich in April 1919 when Bavaria was proclaimed a Soviet (Communist) Republic and a Red (Communist) Army was established to protect their revolution. However, on May 1 1919, the government sent the Freikorps to crush the revolution. Finally, in March 1920, a communist revolutionary attempt was made in the Ruhr, Germany's industrial region, and a Soviet Republic was declared. However, yet again, the government sent the Freikorps to suppress the revolution
In the first few months of its life the Weimar Republic fought for its existence against the left wing Socialists who wished to establish a Communist state in Germany. The attempt of the Communist Spartacists to seize power in Berlin in January 1919 was only stopped and suppressed with the help of the Reichswehr (Army) and the Freikorps (a militia composed of ex soldiers). In March 1919 a Spartacist revolt in the Ruhr (Germany’s industrial heartland) was put down with great ferocity by government forces. In April 1920 the Left again challenged the Republic by setting up a Bavarian Soviet Republic in Munich. Attempts by left wing extremists to start a social revolution in Thuringia and Saxony were similarly crushed by the Reichswehr.
Inspired by the general strikes, a communist uprising began in the when 50,000 people formed a "Red Army" and took control of the province. The regular army and the ended the uprising without orders from the government. Other communist rebellions were put down in March in and .
The most important economic impact of the treaty of Versailles was its demand on Germany to pay reparations (compensation for war damage). The figure for the reparations was eventually fixed by the Allies at 132,000,000,000 marks (£6,600,000,000). The government no longer had sufficient resources to support the German economy, but continued to print paper money. This caused rapid inflation, which Germany used as an excuse for not being able to pay its second instalment towards the reparations. The French government, however, decide to force Germany to pay. It did this by sending French and Belgian troops to the industrial heartland of Germany, the Ruhr to collect reparations still owing to them, but the German Chancellor called for "passive resistance" by the workers of the Ruhr; a refusal to co-operate with the troops. This, however, led to the collapse of the German economy, as the government was forced to print more paper money in order to pay the striking workers in the Ruhr. This caused hyperinflation as Germany was not producing anything; its industrial heartland had been destroyed and yet the number of notes in its economy was increasing. The German currency soon became worthless and prices were constantly rising (For example, an American dollar in July 1914 was worth about 4 marks, whilst in November 1923, its equivalent in marks was 4,000,000,000,000 marks). The social effects of this hyperinflation were disastrous, particularly for the German middle classes who had lost all their savings and pensions as a result. Then, in September 1923, Gustav Stresemann called for the end of passive resistance in order to begin the restoration of the German economy. This led to great political humiliation however, as it showed that Germany had been forced to do what the French wanted.
By , the Republic could no longer afford the reparations payments required by the Versailles treaty, and the government defaulted. In response, and troops , Germany's most productive industrial region at the time, taking control of most mining and manufacturing companies in January of . Strikes were called, and passive resistance was encouraged. These strikes lasted eight months, further damaging the economy and raising expensive imports.
Since striking workers were paid benefits by the state, much additional currency was printed, fueling a period of . The value of the Mark had declined from 4.2 per US dollar to 1,000,000 per dollar by August 1923 and 4,200,000,000,000 per dollar on November 20. On December 1, a new currency, the , was introduced at the rate of 1,000,000,000,000 old marks for 1 new mark. Reparation payments resumed, and the Ruhr was returned to Germany.
The crisis was caused by the War and the treaties, which followed it. The War had left Germany broken and half-starved. By the time that the Allied blockade was lifted, over 250,000 had died of starvation. The 1918 harvest had been disastrous and prices were up sevenfold. The peace treaties deprived Germany of three quarters of her iron-ore resources, one quarter of her coal and 15% of her arable land. The government was faced with the initial problem of assisting the recovery of industry and agriculture after the War. The Allies demand for the payment of reparations to the value of £6,000 million added to the problems of the Weimar Republic. Right wing critics condemned the Weimar politicians for agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles and blamed the reparations for the economic hardships endured by the German people. More than half the reparations were to be made in cash payments; the rest in goods.
The Chancellor Joseph Wirth began a policy of ‘Fulfilment’, by which he intended to show, not a total willingness to pay the total reparations amount, but rather evidence of good faith on the part of the German government in paying some reparations in the hope that the Allies would scale down what most Germans regarded as an obscene amount to pay. The Weimar Government made the first cash payments in August 1921, but at the end of the year announced that it would not be able to make the payments planned for Jan-Feb 1922.
In 1923 the Inter-Allied Commission declared Germany in arrears of timber and coal payments. France, also angry at the recently signed Treaty of Rapallo (between Germany and Russia) decided to force Germany to pay by invading the Ruhr (Germany’s industrial heartland). The French were aided by a small contingent of Belgian troops. Cuno, Wirth’s successor denounced the invasion and called for a policy of ‘passive resistance’ which did little to help the situation.
The problems in Germany were made worse by the inflationary policies of the government, which made little effort to limit the amount of money notes being printed. In 1918 the rate of exchange had been about 20 marks to the pound. By mid 1921 rapid inflation had set in. With the invasion of the Ruhr, the fall in the value of the mark became catastrophic; reaching 20,000 million marks to the pound! German money was literally not worth the money it was printed on. Notes of enormous value were printed—100,000 marks—and were needed for even the smallest purchases. Workers took suitcases, even wheelbarrows to collect their wages. The collapse of the value of pensions and savings ruined many Germans and further alienated them from the Republic and undermined their faith in the democratic process. According to Snyder:
As money was virtually valueless, many people resorted to a system of barter; shoes were mended for sausages, cinema seats were paid for with lumps of coal. Workers faced starvation. Members of the middle classes were ruined and blamed the Weimar Republic for their problems.
- Constitution, setting up of regime
- German revolution, above and below.
Part 2: how they solved:
- Threat from the right-kapp putsch, Munich Putsch
- Treaty of Versailles, Armistice
- Threat from the Left, Spartacist Rising
- Constitution, setting up of regime
- German revolution, above and below.
Conclusion:
Over all survival
The Weimar Republic, in spite of all its problems, did survive the crisis that had befallen it between 1919 and 1923; even though it had inspired violent political opposition from right and left wing groups, it had faced a devastating economic situation creating a high level of discontent within society, and had brought about serious political humiliation upon itself, it had still managed to survive. All these problems contributed to the political difficulties which Weimar faced during its first few years; a general hatred amongst Germans of the new system and constant opposition towards it. The political issue of the Treaty of Versailles was probably the most important individual cause of Weimar's crisis however. It had been the Treaty of Versailles that caused nationalist opposition to Weimar and the German nation to step down to a second class power, losing much of its territory, having extreme military restrictions imposed on it, and it had been the treaty of Versailles that had brought about reparations, leading Germany into an extremely difficult economic situation causing further social tensions, and it had been this treaty that had inspired communist opposition by bringing about the need to get Germany back to work, causing the SPD to cooperate with the old order. It can be argued that this treaty was responsible for most of the hatred of the German people towards Weimar between 1919 and 1923, but on the other hand, Germany would not have been able to negotiate peace had they not signed the treaty.
It seems amazing that the Weimar republic could survive so many problems. The government faced challenges from left and right wing groups not just in 1919 and 1920 but right up to 1923. Meanwhile, the economic problems, which were bad in 1919, seemed to get worse during this period until there was a crisis in 1923. These economic problems also made the social problems worse. Out of them all, the economic problems were probably the worst and without them there would probably have been fewer social problems and less opposition to the government.