Describe the Stages in Which Germany Changed From an Authoritarian to a Democratic Republic 1918/19

As the war ended it become obvious to many fractions of German society that the new civilian government would have limited power because the Kaiser still held his office. This especially agitated the radical left-wings demands of communism and workers. An example of this is the Kiel Mutiny where Sailors refused orders and demanded the abdication of the Kaiser, (31st October 1918.) The unrest spread through cities where workers’, sailors’ and soldiers’ councils where set up. The authority of the Kaiser seemed to have been demolished with the declaration of an independent state in Bavaria. To control the situation Prince Max hands over the chancellorship to Socialist leader Ebert and the moderate SPD leader Philip Schiedemann declared a republic to a crowd in Berlin. Ebert was furious that a republic had been declared illegally, however he had to accept that the monarchy had collapsed because on the same day, the Kaiser abdicates and flees to Holland; this is the end of an absolute monarchy in Germany. This signalled that full control of the country had now been given to the civilian government. This had occurred because the pressure the Germany public had placed on the authorities through mutinies and unrest.

As the civilian government was extremely new and young; although it had a great amount of power it was relatively ‘weak’ and was open to a great amount of fear that the radical left would force a Bolshevik style revolution. The new civilian government was concerned to maintain order and organised an election for a constituent assemble which would draw up a democratic constitution. Ebert believed that the regime needed support from the traditional elite as was prepared to co-operate with them.  On the 10th November General Groener and Ebert agreed to a secret deal. In return for the government promising to maintain the authority of the existing officers, the army would defend the new government. This agreement upset the USPD who withdrew from the government. However this agreement was very useful for the civilian government because they faced several uprisings during December 1918, January 1919 and the springs of 1919 and 1920. The uprisings were crushed by the army and units of the Freikorps who were loyal to army officers. The choices Ebert made meant that the Government travelled in a certain direction and missed the chance to take views from a cross section of society.

The most important stage of the change was the formal establishment of the new regime. The newly elected National Assembly (Reichstag?) meet at Weimar to draw up a new constitution which was completed by August 1919. The constitution was the final piece in creating a democratic Germany. They agreed on a wider electorate by allowing men and women over the age on 20, where previously it had only been men over 25, this made the elections more legitimate. They would also vote every 7 years for the president and every 4 years for the assembly. Other points such as great civil rights and federal structure with local and national government were included. This created a complete democratic Germany and completed the change from Authoritarian to a Democratic Republic.

There are many stages to the changes in Germany starting with the imminent defeat in WWI and including such stages as army deals due to communist fears and elections for a new assemble. The assemble and the constitution although democratic did not leave everybody satisfied and was only a temporary solution which in the end fell apart and led to the controlling of Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party.