Download The Weimar Republic 1918-1933:Timeline

Depth study
The Weimar Republic
1918-1933
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Syllabus outline: Depth Study A: Germany, 1918-45
1 Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?
Focus Points
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How did Germany emerge from defeat at the end of the First World War?
What was the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the Republic?
To what extent did the Republic recover after 1923?
What were the achievements of the Weimar period?
2 Why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934?
Focus Points
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What did the Nazi Party stand for in the 1920s?
Why did the Nazis have little success before 1930?
Why was Hitler able to become Chancellor by 1933?
How did Hitler consolidate his power in 1933-4?
3(a) The Nazi regime: how effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933-45?
Focus Points
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How much opposition was there to the Nazi regime?
How effectively did the Nazis deal with their political opponents?
How did the Nazis use culture and the mass media to control the people?
Why did the Nazis persecute many groups in German society?
Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?
3(b) The Nazi regime: what was it like to live in Nazi Germany?
Focus Points
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How did young people react to the Nazi regime?
How successful were Nazi policies towards women and the family?
Did most people in Germany benefit from Nazi rule?
How did the coming of war change life in Nazi Germany?
Specified Content
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The Revolution of 1918 and the establishment of the Republic.
The Versailles settlement and German reactions to it.
The Weimar constitution, main political divisions, the role of the army.
Political disorder, 1919-23;
Economic crises and hyper-inflation; the occupation of the Ruhr.
The Stresemann era.
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Cultural achievements of the Weimar period.
The early years of the Nazi Party:
Nazi ideas and methods, the Munich Putsch, the roles of Hitler and other Nazi leaders.
The impact of the Depression on Germany: political, economic and social crisis of 1930-3,
reasons for the Nazis' rise to power,
Hitler takes power, the Reichstag Fire and the election of 1933.
Nazi rule in Germany: the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, the death of
Hindenburg, removal of opposition, methods of control and repression
Use of culture and the mass media.
Economic policy including rearmament.
Different experiences of Nazi rule: women and young people, anti-Semitism, persecution of
minorities.
Opposition to Nazi rule.
Impact of the Second World War on Germany: conversion to war economy,
The Final Solution.
The Weimar Republic 1918-1933:Timeline
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1918 (November) End of the war
1918 (November) the Weimar Republic is born
1919 (January) Spartacist Revolt
1919 (June) Treaty of Versailles
1920 (March) Kapp Putsch
1922 (June) Walter Rathenau, Jewish Minister of Foreign Affairs was murdered by exofficers of the army.
1923 (November) Munich Putsch
1923 (January) Ruhr Crisis begins
1923 Hyper-inflation
1923 (August) Gustav Stresemann becomes Chancellor and introduces Rentenmark
1924 Dawes Plan
1925 Locarno Treaty and Germany Joins the League of Nations
1929 Young Plan
1929 (October) Wall St Crash and economic disaster
1933 (January) Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany: the death of the Weimar
Republic
The Weimar Republic 1918-1933
The Weimar Republic is the term used to describe the German republic which lasted from 1919 until
1933, when the Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler suspended the constitution and assumed power. The
Republic was established after workers and troops in the German empire revolted in late 1918 against
the government's refusal to end the War. On November 9th, Emperor William II fled the country and a
provisional coalition government was formed between the moderate Social democrats under Ebert and
the more radical Independent Social Democrats. This ruling coalition was intended only to be a
"caretaker" government until full democratic elections could take place in 1919. The armistice was
signed on 11th November 1918. There was a revolt going on in Berlin so the government moved to the
spa town of Weimar to draw up the constitution, hence it is known as the Weimar Republic.
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Spartacist Revolt: January 1919
On January 9th the Communists in Germany ("The Spartacists") led a mob of anti-government
demonstrators in Berlin and seized control of the main buildings. The Socialist led government called on
a group of Right wing ex-soldiers called the Freikorps to put down the rebellion. Within two weeks it
was over and the ringleaders executed. This unrest had three long-term results.
1. It encouraged the growth of right wing groups
2. It led to bitter feelings between the Communists and Socialists
3. It gave support to the idea that strong government was essential if chaos was to be
avoided.
January - June 1919
Despite the unrest the general election, as planned, took place in January 1919. The system of voting
known as Proportional Representation was used which resulted in the new National Assembly
containing many different types of political party. The moderate Socialists ended up with the majority of
votes but they had to share power with Nationalists, Centre party, People's party and other minority
groups. This system meant that it was almost impossible for a party to ever have an overall majority. A
coalition of parties had to try to agree on policy and actions to be taken, this was very difficult and often
led to governments taking very little action. As a result, they were seen as "weak". This would always
prove to be a major weakness of the Weimar Republic.
The first Assembly met from February to July, and its composition was largely middle class. Its main
job was to draw up the Constitution (a written set of rules on how a country should be run and
governed). The written constitution was one of the most democratic ever devised
The Constitution
The Constitution was perfect but in practice it had huge flaws. To counterbalance coalition governments
the president was granted enormous powers, e.g. could dissolve the Reichstag (German Parliament) use
the army to put down revolution, could choose the Chancellor and suspend the constitution if he thought
there was a danger. These are some of the main points.
1. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION (system of voting): the party has the number of
deputies in proportion to the votes cast
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Impersonal since you were voting for a political party rather than a particular candidate
Encouraged a large number of small parties
No one party gained an overall majority in 14 years
Therefore, the Republic relied on a series of coalition governments made up of many parties –
this type of government tended to be seen as weak
2. ARTICLE 48 (the right to suspend democratic laws in the event of an ‘emergency’)
This was abused by later Presidents (e.g. Hitler) who used it to govern by edict and to ignore
people's rights which had been guaranteed by the Constitution.
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3. DEMOCRACY
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Rights of individuals were guaranteed: personal liberty, equality before the law, freedom of
movement, expression, association, collective bargaining.
Plebiscites or referenda could be held if demanded by a petition of one-tenth of the population.
Germany was to be a federal state of eighteen Lander; Prussia was the biggest, as big as all the
others put together.
The President was to be elected by everyone over 20.
Normally he was a figurehead, but in an emergency he could suspend the constitution and rule by
emergency decree (Article 48).
There was a bicameral (two-chamber) parliament:
 (i) Reichstag: this was to be elected every four years on a system of proportional representation;
60,000 votes were sufficient to secure a seat.
 (ii) Reichsrat: represented the governments of the Lander but Prussia was not allowed to have
more than two-thirds of the seats.
 The President chose the Chancellor (Prime Minister), but he had to command a majority. There
was cabinet responsibility for all ministers.
 There was to be a National Economic Council to advise parliament on economic matters
PROBLEMS FOR THE FUTURE?
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Could only work if the spirit to support it was there
In many cases in Germany it was not
Many people responsible for its welfare were not used to power.
Several of the parties of the Reichstag were opposed to the Weimar Constitution
The state governments were unhappy about their loss of independence and the fact that central
government had more control over them
The Weimar Republic had a few friends and many enemies.
OPPOSITION FROM THE COMMUNIST LEFT AND NATIONALIST RIGHT
The Left: Communists could not forgive the SPD for using the Freikorps to crush the Spartacists and
other left wing groups. They believed that the SPD had betrayed the Socialist Revolution. After 1920 the
KPD contested the Reichstag elections but the party was opposed to the Republic and only used the
Reichstag as a platform for propaganda. They continued to undermine the Republic at every opportunity.
The Right: Longed for the "good old days" and hated the Treaty of Versailles and the so called
‘November Criminals’ who had betrayed the Army. They disliked the idea of political parties competing
with each other since this was divisive.
GOVERNMENT
In order to keep the government running smoothly Chancellors and/or Presidents had to keep many of
the leaders of the armed forces, police or civil service on their side. Large numbers of these people were
opposed to the Weimar Republic and had open contempt for the Republic they were supposed to serve.
Indeed many Germans were lukewarm to democracy and preferred an authoritarian style of government
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WHO LED THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC?
Frederich Ebert (1871 -1925): 1919-1925
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First president and from the Social Democrat party
Gustav Stresemann (1878 - 1929)
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Chancellor in 1923 coalition and then Foreign Affairs minister
Negotiated the end to passive resistance in the Ruhr and French and Belgian withdrawal
Associated with the Locarno Treaties 1925 and the start of Allied withdrawal from the
Rhineland.
Associated with the admission of Germany to the League of Nations in 1926
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Aristide Briand of France
Signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war
Presided over a relatively stable period for the Republic from 1925 - 1929
He had just accepted the Young Plan to cut reparations payments when he died in Berlin on the
3rd October 1929
General Paul von Beneckendorff und Hindenburg (1847 -1934)
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President from 1929 - 1934.
More right wing and less keen on compromise with foreigners
He was not in favour of Germany being a republic.
He appointed Hitler as Chancellor in 1933
THE POLITICAL PARTIES OF WEIMAR
German National People's Party (DNVP)
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They had been called Conservatives before the 1918 Revolution.
Was the party of the landowners and great industrialists who had run Germany before the war
They were very right wing, patriotic and racist.
They wanted a restoration of the monarchy.
They opposed the Republic and hated the Communists
German People's Party (DVP)
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Regretted the loss of the monarchy.
Reluctantly supported the Republic to preserve law and order.
They were the party of big business - wanting policies to help industry and commerce.
They were supported by the urban Middle Class.
They supported equality and freedom for all citizens regardless of religion and class.
The German Democratic Party (DDP)
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Supported the Republican Constitution.
Middle Class intellectuals, small businessmen and professionals voted for it. It supported the
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freedom of the individual and democracy e.g. freedom of speech, the press, trade unions etc.
Zentrum (Catholic Centre)
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Appealed to all classes and represented the Catholic viewpoint.
It supported democratic government and policies of social reform. It opposed socialism and
communism.
The Bavarian People's Party
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This was a Catholic Party which operated only in Bavaria supporting its interests.
It opposed the Weimar Constitution and wanted power returned to the individual states.
It took a strong line on the Church, the Family and Education.
The KPD
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The Communist Party boycotted early elections but became a major force after 1924.
They did not support the Weimar Republic and hated the SPD for using the Freikorps to defeat
the Spartacists.
They believed that they were the true party of the working class.
They wanted state ownership of land and capital, power over the armed forces control over the
civil service and the legal system.
They were hoping for a Second German Revolution on the Russian Model!
The German Socialist Party (SPD)
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Supporters of Ebert and the Weimar Constitution.
They wanted social reform through changes made in Parliament.
They worked for a gradual improvement of worker's conditions.
German Worker's Party - later the National Socialist German Worker's Party. (NSDAP-NAZI)
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They were strongly opposed to the Weimar Republic and very patriotic.
They believed that obedience was more important than individual freedoms
They first appeared in the Reichstag in 1924 but were not strong until the depression (1929)
They believed that they alone had the right to rule and offered strong leadership
Importance of this
Between 1919 and 1933 no party won more than half the votes cast in any election. Because a system of
proportional representation was used in the Weimar Republic, this meant that no party got more than
half the seats in the Reichstag or parliament. Under proportional representation parties get seats in
relation to the percentage of the total vote that they win. A party winning 10 % of the vote will get 10%
of the seats. Since none of the parties was able to win a majority of the seats in the Reichstag, none of
them was able to govern without help from others. The Weimar Republic was ruled by a series of
coalition governments. Forming these coalitions was far from easy. The parties which wanted to
overthrow the Republic kept clear of them. The Nazis and Communists never joined coalitions and the
Nationalists did so only briefly. Another problem was that parties which did support the Republic could
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not always agree to work together. The Social Democrats, for instance, were uneasy about co-operating
with non-socialists. They did enter coalitions at the beginning and end of the 1920s, but for the most part
they left government in the hands of the middle class parties. Thus, it was very difficult to ever achieve a
period of stability in the years of the Weimar Republic.
Initial problems
Treaty of Versailles and effect on Germany
Germany was very bitter and felt humiliated. The terms of the Treaty were very hard on Germany. She
felt she could not meet them and the leaders of the new Republic could not accept the terms. However,
they had no choice, there were in no position to re-start the war. There was a blockade and they were
very short of food. On the 28th June 1919 it was signed. The "Stab-in -the -back" legend started, and
the Socialists were blamed. The Chancellor resigned, and the fleet was sunk at Scapa Flow. The leaders
of Weimar who had signed Versailles were henceforth known as the "November criminals". In addition,
the War had left Germany with many social and economic problems. There was inflation, a huge
national debt and extreme food shortages. The Germans naturally felt embittered towards the huge
reparation cost they faced as well as the humiliation of blame for starting the War. The Government
was therefore opposed from the start by both the left and the right for signing Versailles. In 1920
the Freikorps, led by Dr Kapp, tried to seize Berlin and there were numerous Communist revolts.
The Kapp Putsch
In 1920, bands of ex-servicemen, extreme nationalists called the Freikorps led by Dr Kapp attempted to
seize power in a coup with 5,000 men. They wanted to form a new government. They hated the Republic
and felt it had betrayed Germany. It was only stopped by trade unions that paralysed the city. The coup
occurred in Berlin but was over after four days. In the meantime the government had gone to Dresden.
This led to an expectation of violence that if things weren't right people should attempt to overthrow the
government. The leaders of the coup went unpunished as people secretly supported them.
Discontent spreads
Excluded from the League of Nations Germany needed friends. A start was made when the Jewish
Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo in April 1922. This was a treaty
of friendship with Russia, re-establishing diplomatic links between the two countries, abandoning claims
for war damage and promising economic co-operation. The Allies were furious since the Russians were
refusing to pay back money borrowed under the Tsar. Ten weeks after Rapallo, Rathenau was
assassinated by two anti-Semitic, anti-Communist German Nationalists working for the Freikorps. It was
a bad omen for the future. Violence became a way of life.
In fact between, 1919 and 1922 there were 356 political murders. Mainly murders of left wing
politicians (e.g. Erzeberger who signed Treaty of Versailles, Rathenau who was foreign secretary). It
was less easy to arrange murders of right wing politicians because there were many more of them and
they had powerful friends e.g. in the civil service, army, courts. These right wing dissidents were
Nationalists i.e. they regretted the collapse of the German monarchy, hated the Treaty of Versailles and
despised democratic politicians. This was an important destabilizing factor in the Weimar Republic.
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The Ruhr Crisis and Hyper-inflation
The harvest of 1918 had been disastrous and Germany was very short of food. Versailles had taken away
Germany's main raw materials of iron and coal and she had to find money to rebuild her economy and to
pay reparations. In 1921 for example, Germany was faced with a 136,000 million mark reparations bill
but she was bankrupt. Unemployment was high and many soldiers could not find jobs. Early in 1923 the
Germans informed the allies that they could no longer meet the payments. The workers refused to export
any more coal to France. French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr in January 1923 to extract
payments for themselves. Suddenly and unexpectedly, all were united in a common hatred of the French.
Passive resistance was the policy and the workers refused to work. French workers came in and violence
erupted. A customs cordon was put around the Ruhr which was then isolated. No goods were allowed in
or out and it was subsequently occupied. The French imprisoned leaders of the resistance.
Fighting broke out and over one hundred and thirty people were killed and many more were made
homeless. The Government had to import more supplies from other countries to support German
workers in their passive resistance against the French. More and more paper money was printed to pay
the workers but this had disastrous results. The value of the mark fell rapidly. By the end of 1923,
Germany was in the grip of hyperinflation and the mark was worthless. Factory workers were paid
twice a day. Prices changed daily. Shopkeepers stuffed the day's takings in tea chests. All this was
blamed on the government.
Consequences
Again this crucially undermined the new Government because not only were they viewed as traitors but
in the eyes of the public, they could not handle the economy either! Thus there was a huge erosion of
confidence. Most importantly, they lost middle class support as these were the people who lost the
most because they were more likely to hold savings to have pensions. As prices rose, their income
remained the same. They found they could not afford to eat, buy clothes or heat their homes. The
wealthy also suffered. Their life savings in the bank were wiped out as inf1ation climbed higher. Those
with thousands of marks in the bank in 1922 found that, by the end of 1923, they could not afford a box
of matches. They felt cheated and betrayed by the Government.
Some people gained from the inflation. Industrialists who had borrowed vast amounts of money before
the invasion of the Ruhr could pay back their debts with the worthless banknotes. Those who hoarded
goods also did well since they could sell them at a great profit after the inflation was over. The right
wing extremists and Nationalists were furious at the invasion and the economic situation. They felt that
the Government had betrayed Germany by allowing the French to invade. They looked for new
opportunities to overthrow the Weimar Government.
On September 26th 1923 Chancellor Stresemann introduced a new currency called the Rentenmark and
called off the strike in the Ruhr. From 1924 new loans were negotiated with the Americans (Dawes Plan)
and there was some success in getting the economy going again. However, this further infuriated Hitler
and other Nationalists who saw it as a ‘sell out’.
The Stresemann Years 1923-1930
This German leader helped to end the French/Belgium invasion, improve the German economy and
make Germany respectable again in Europe. It is important to consider that his achievements prove
the Republic was not doomed from the start. In 1924 he negotiated easier payments for Germany in
reparations through the Dawes Plan. In October 1925 he signed the Treaties of Locarno, which secured
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for Germany her western frontiers. The allies then withdrew their occupation forces and in 1926
Germany was admitted to the League of Nations. A new currency was established: the Reichsmark, with
much tighter controls and an impressive economic recovery began. However, the economy was heavily
dependent on foreign loans for business and for reparation payments, and government spending was
therefore dangerously high. Although Stresemann had been successful, American loans had been vital,
what would happen if they stopped? Secondly, although they enjoyed higher living standards, few
Germans were totally behind the Weimar Republic, as it was always seen as weak and unable to restore
German pride. In other words, they never really trusted it.
In the political sphere, Stresemann dealt with extremist movements such as the Communist Putsch in
Hamburg in October 1922 and Hitler's in Munich in November 1923 by proclaiming martial law in
conjunction with the army command. An attempt to create a separatist 'Republic of the Rhine' was also
defeated. He could play the part of the international statesman convincingly, but his true aim was the
recovery of Germany's European authority.
(a) 1925, Locarno Treaties signed by Austen Chamberlain (Britain), Aristide Briand (France) and
Stresemann:
(i) In the West, the demilitarization of the Rhineland was agreed, and there was a mutual guarantee of
Germany's western frontiers by Belgium, France and Germany, all of which promised to resolve their
differences by arbitration. Britain and Italy stood as guarantors to enforce the agreement.
(ii) In the East, arbitration treaties were made between Germany and its neighbours Poland and
Czechoslovakia in case of frontier problems. These were guaranteed by France in separate defensive
treaties, but Britain was not party to these guarantees. This meant in effect that the Germans did not bind
themselves to respect their eastern frontiers as they did their western; westwards they recognized their
frontiers as permanent, but eastwards they still cherished their ambitions.
The Allies had disappointed Germany in 1925 by refusing to evacuate the Cologne bridgehead and the
northern third of the Rhineland when the time agreed at Versailles arrived, but Stresemann was now able
to persuade the Allies to do this in 1926.
In September 1926, Germany was at last admitted to the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the
Council.
In 1927, the Central Control Commission supervising German disarmament was wound up;
disarmament now proceeded on German good faith.
In 1928, Germany was one of 65 states to sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as an
instrument of policy.
Allied troops were withdrawn from the second zone of the Rhineland a month after the death of
Stresemann, and from the third zone in June 1930. But by 1930 the international skies were once again
beginning to darken: the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression were beginning to have their effect
on Europe.
The death of Stresemann removed the Weimar Republic's ablest politician from the scene
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The Wall Street Crash and its effects on Germany
In 1929 reparations were reduced further by the Young Plan. In October 1929 the Wall Street Crash
took place. This had five major effects on Germany:
1. US banks recalled loans which German industry had relied on.
2. Many German banks were ruined.
3. Many industries closed.
4. Exports to the US fell dramatically thus worsening the depression.
5. Unemployment climbed rapidly, reaching 6 million by 1931.
A popular plebiscite against the Young Plan failed in December to reach the required numerical limit,
but it led to the resignation of Hermann Muller as Chancellor over contributions to unemployment
insurance, and the end of the parliamentary period of the Republic.
Heinrich Bruning became Chancellor, and, early in 1930, was forced to resort to presidential powers
under Article 48 to pursue deflationary policies with emergency decrees to safeguard public finances,
lower prices, cut back on wages, slash spending and reduce unemployment benefit. Both the policies and
the methods of enforcing them were very unpopular, and provided opportunities for the extremist
parties to exploit the situation. In the elections to the fifth Reichstag in September 1930, the communists
and Nazis made big gains.
The spread of violence, 1930-32
Violence developed from both sides. The communists made no secret of their wish to overthrow the
Republic and set up a Bolshevik state. They battled in the streets and resorted to violence to intimidate
their opponents. In this they were outdone by the Nazis; their violence was better organized, and their
'storm troopers' proved more than a match in most of their street battles with the left. An eyewitness,
Kurt Ludecke, reported:
Brownshirts were everywhere in evidence . . . Private armies, equipped at the very least with jack-knives
and revolvers, daggers and knuckle-dusters, were shouting in the squares and rampaging through the
towns. Processions and meetings, demonstrations and protests, festivals and funerals, all wore the same
face but a different uniform -except that the SS and the SA of the Nazis and the Red Front of the
Communists marched more defiantly, the Social Democrat Reichsbanner more fatly, the Stahlhelmer
more sedately. It was the Reichswehr who were the least in evidence.
By 1932, the respectable classes of Germany had almost given up hope of a stable government, and were
beginning to turn their backs on politics altogether. It seemed that the only alternative to the period of
chaos was an authoritarian form of government.
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Conclusion: Why did the Weimar Republic fail?
1. Germany found defeat in the First World War difficult to accept: Germans were convinced of the
legitimacy of their cause. They did not accept that they had been truly defeated: they thought their
government had been 'stabbed in the back' by left-wing Germans who lacked patriotism. In addition,
Germany was extremely resentful of its treatment at the peace conference in Paris in 1919. Weimar
governments could never escape the fact that they had signed Versailles and the myth of the army
being ‘stabbed in the back’ was impossible to dislodge.
2. There was a powerful military tradition in Germany inherited from Prussia: the prestige of the army
was well respected. In addition, the country had always been governed by an efficient bureaucracy who
had no sympathy with western liberal methods of government. The Weimar Republic did not arise out of
the democratic wishes of the German people; it was the result of defeat in war and the abdication of the
Emperor. The democratic institutions it set up were new, untried and, with many, unpopular; certainly
they were too superficial to withstand the problems resulting from that wartime defeat. Therefore, to
have a democratic system of government was unacceptable to many powerful sections of society
who saw the Republic to blame for all of Germany’s problems.
3. To create a lawful government, to make peace (the armistice was only temporary) and to draw up a
new constitution for Germany. The main party (SD) always had to rule with a coalition- had only 165
out of 423 seats, therefore had to compromise on issues, different parties wanted different things. PR
would always make Weimar weak; it worked when times were good but major splits would occur when
there was a crisis. The parties that were loyal to Weimar were too weak and disunited to provide
acceptable alternatives to Hitler.
4. The Weimar Republic might have stood a chance if it had been faced by only one problem but to have
to face political extremism and major economic crises was too much for the Weimar Republic. They
were opposed by Nationalists, Freikorps and Nazis Ex-soldiers (opposed to Versailles), Communists
(resentful at being crushed), Middle class (resentful at hyperinflation). Therefore, there were simply
too many enemies and not enough supporters to keep the Republic alive.
5. When the Great Depression put millions out of work and paralysed the Reichstag, a desire for a strong
hand and order intensified. At a time when capitalist-democracy seemed to be failing, people looked to
extreme movements, such as fascism and communism, throughout Europe. Conservative politicians,
eager to win popular support, began to court the Nazi Party, culminating with Hitler's appointment as
chancellor in January 1933. Therefore, it seemed in the drastic circumstances that the only
alternative was an extremist party. Democracy had been discredited.
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