Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive 1919 - 1929?

Authors Avatar

Weimar Republic                                Belinda Aspinall

Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive 1919 – 1929?

“The Second half of the 1920s is often seen as a period of prosperity for Weimar, a time when the difficulties of the earlier years had been overcome and the democratic republic was able to flourish, (survive, until 1929)” (Dennett, et al). The Weimar republic can be categorised into three distinct time periods; 1918 – 1923 which was a period of political and economic crisis. 1924 – 1929, which was a period of growing economic prosperity, this is sometimes known as the ‘Stresemann era’ or the ‘golden era’. Lastly, 1930 – 1933 (will not be covered in essay) which saw a return to political and economic crisis with the Great Depression. Certainly for Weimar, its political (various rebellions and putsches, weakness of the Weimar constitution, government instability, treaty of Versailles), economic (treaty of Versailles leading to reparations leading to hyperinflation,), social (negative consensus, decease in living standard, role of army, unemployment), and foreign (treaty of Versailles, dawes and young plan, lacarno treaty) issues made the development and survival of democracy difficult. Yet while these factors were important they did not doom the republic to inevitable failure. Within the limits imposed by these major factors numerous courses of action and results were taken to overcome a range of problems in order for the democracy to survive.

The German revolution began on 29th October 1918 when the German navy mutinied, refusing orders to attack the British. This became known as the Kiel Mutiny. The Workers’ and soldiers’ council supported this move, which led to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (9th November 1918). In the same month Germany was forced to drop out of the First World War, upon signing the treaty of Versailles.

On the day of the Kaiser’s abdication, chancellor Max von Baden handed power over to Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Germany had moved from Imperial to Republican Germany. A national assembly met at Weimar and wrote up the Weimar constitution in an attempt to establish a peaceful, liberal, democratic regime in Germany.  

Political problems including weaknesses and opposition arose at the creation of the republic despite attempts to form a strong stable democratic republic. The main period of political crisis was between 1919 – 1923 and lasted until a change in government led by Gustav Stresemann.

The Weimar Republic suffered many political weaknesses. The Weimar republic was born out of defeat due to WW1 and many people believe that that would weaken it considerably, and be an influencing factor causing many rebellions and instability. However, one of the greatest dangers to the republic was ‘the weakness within’ – the constitution. The ineffective Weimar Constitution did not create a strong government. Two major examples from the constitution that would affect the government include Article 48 and proportional representation. Article 48 of the constitution gave the president sole power in ‘time of emergency’ (presidential decree). This caused unhappiness and would eventually undermine the Weimar Republic. Proportional representation is a method of voting which led to the formation of 28 parties. This made it virtually impossible to establish a majority in the Reichstag, and led to frequent changes in the government. These frequent changes caused political instability, which be directly related to the constitution.  Another factor of the constitution leading to political weakness was the fact that the army was not fully under government control. It failed to support the government during the Kapp Putsch or the crisis of 1923. The ineffective constitution weakened the government once again as it ‘employed’ government officials (especially judges) that aimed to destroy the government. The decision made by the leaders of the new republic to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which was harsh, humiliating and vindictive in the eyes of the Germans, was seen as traitor instincts, which caused bitterness and lack of support in the people towards the government. Other factors, which also caused weaknesses, include the assassination of politicians such as Walter Rathenau.

Join now!

Political opposition was also a factor that placed the republic in a dire situation. Terrorism and rebellions from both the left and right wing posed serious problems for the republic. There were three attempts at overthrowing the government. Firstly, in January 1919 the Sparticist uprising from the left was a rebellion in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. It was a futile gesture against the government and was suppressed when the government led by Ebert called on the Freikorps to crush the rebellion. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were murdered. Secondly, in March 1929 Wolfgang Kapp led the Kapp ...

This is a preview of the whole essay