Crisis in Weimar Germany 1919-1923

Crisis in Weimar Germany 1919-1923

1. Bad Start

   • Kaiser Abdicates
     • Removal of strong leader
       • Germany had no tradition of Democracy
   • Starvation and Economic collapse after war
   • Treaty Of Versailles
     • "Stab in the back"
     • 'November Criminals'

2. Weak Government

   • Weimar Republic used Proportional Representation
     • No one political party got majority
       • Lead to weak coalisions

3. Extremist Groups

   • Communists
     • Extreme Left
     • German Communist Party (KPD)
     • Wanted communist state - everything shared/owned by workers equally
   • Nationalists
     • Extreme Right
     • Nazis in later years
     • Wanted to bring back Kaiser

4. Revolts and Uprisings

   • Spartacist Uprising (1919)
     • Extreme Left
       • Communist
     • Rosa Luxembourg & Karl Leibnecht
       • Were murdered
     • Tried to start Revolution in Berlin
       • Look control of newspaper and telegraph bureau
         • Failed to capture anything else
       • Government used Freikorps to defeat Spartacists
   • Kapp Putsch (1920)
     • Extreme Right
       • Freikorps
         • Not punished
           • Sympathetic judges
     • Marched on Berlin
       • Government forced to run away
         • Appealed to ordinary workers
           • They went on strike
       • Pulled out of Berlin within days because of the strike

5. 1923

   • French invasion of the Rhur
     • Government called for workers strike
       • Printed more Dutch Marks to pay striking workers
         • Dutch Marks becomes worthless
           • Hyperinflation
     • Germany couldn't keep up with reparation payments