What were the main problems for the Weimar Republic 1918-23?

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History Essay By Joe Wright What were the main problems for the Weimar Republic 1918-23? In the period of 1918-23 the Weimar Republic was facing many problems these were, Spartacist week, The Kapp Putch, The Constitution, The treaty of Versailles, The occupation of the Ruhr, Hyper Inflation, The Munich Beer Hall Putch. In order to answer this question we must first establish whether in-fact the problems that Weimar faced were un-defeat able and how much of a threat they posed to the survival of the republic. The years of 1918 to 1923 are deemed by many as the “crisis years” as they were a period of much unrest and annoyance, to add to this there were social, economic and political breakdowns and much opposition from several quarters. Before the arise of any additional problems there was already instability in the government, with the abandonment of the Kaiser Reich, three parties made up the broadly based Weimar Coalition. Although democratic, the coalition operated on a system of proportional representation – in other words if party A, for example, gets 10% of the votes then they would get 10% of seats in the Reichstag. The introduction of proportional representation became a controversial issue and was the subject of much criticism at the time. By having several parties running the country, all with different aims and ideas, it was difficult to agree on policies. It can also be argued that this system may have assisted in the rise of Nazism and Communism.There was also tension in the government due to the ambiguous relationship between the President and the Reichstag. The president acted as a counter-balance to the Reichstag as a result of fears of parliamentary absolutism, he could dismiss and dissolve the Reichstag and had the right to interfere with legislations. This ambiguity meant that there was uncertainty from the start as to whether ultimate authority was with a representative assembly or the elected head of state. Due to the continuity of traditional social and economic institutions and the introduction of progressive civil liberties, the daily life of the republic was greatly influenced by conservative foundations. Many of these institutions, such as the legal and education systems and the civil services were opposed to the republic. Although it had its problems, the Weimar Constitution proved to be democratic and liberal which was an improvement on the totalitarian and strict Bismarkian constitution. However, it could not control the circumstances and conditions in which it was forced to function.The Treaty Of Versailles, a peace treaty with the allies, meant harsh terms for Weimar; compulsory military service was to be abolished, the army was to be reduced from600 000 to
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100 000, naval personnel not to exceed 15 000, a limit if twenty-four naval ships with no submarines, all military and naval aviation to be abandoned and all importation, exportation and production or war materials was to be stopped – thus resulting in Weimar having insufficient resources to keep order and defence and left many soldiers unemployed. Weimar was ordered to provide all countries that sustained damages from the allies during the war with compensation, both financially and in the form of trade goods – this compensation was known as ‘reparations’. There was also a loss of many German colonies; ...

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