Weimar Germany

Weimar Germany

Strangths and weaknesses
1. The Weimar Republic looked like the perfect democracy, but it had two great weaknesses - proportional representation and Article 48.
2. It was too dangerous to make a declaration in Berlin where there had just been a revolt by a Communist group called the Spartacists.
3. Bill of Rights - every German freedom of speech, religion, and equality under the law.
4. All men and women over the age of 20 were given the vote.
5. There was an elected president and an elected Reichstag
6. The Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government
7. Instead of voting for an MP, Weimar Germans voted for a party. Each party was allocated seats in the Reichstag exactly reflecting the number of people who had voted for it. It was a disaster,resulted in dozens of tiny parties, with no party strong enough to get majority, and, therefore, no government to get its laws passed in the Reichstag. This was a major weakness of the Republic.
8. Article 48 said that, in an emergency, the president did not need the agreement of the Reichstag, but could issue decrees. The problem with this was that it did not say what an emergency was.
Problems
1. The Kapp Putsch aimed to set up a new government as the rebels were angry at them for signing the Treaty of Versailles.
2. Nationalist terror groups assassinated 356 government politicians.
3. Many of the people in Germany were communists, who wanted to bring in a Russian-style communist government. There were a number of communist uprisings. For instance, in 1919 the Spartacists rebelled in Berlin.
4. a French invasion of the Ruhr
5. a general strike
6. runaway inflation - hyperinflation
7. a number of communist rebellions
8. an attempted Nazi putsch in Munich
9. Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by the Communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.
10. communist workers' councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist People's Government took power in Bavaria.
11. Dr Wolfgang Kapp took over Berlin. The army refused to attack him; he was only defeated when the workers of Berlin went on strike.
12. after the failure of the Kapp Putsch, a Communist paramilitary group called the Red Army rebelled in the Ruhr.
Crisis of 1923
1. he 1923 crisis began when Germany missed a reparations payment. This situation spiralled out of control and once again the German people were unhappy and in financial difficulty, so uprisings occurred throughout the country.
2. Germany missed reperation payments so the french invaded the ruhr, so there was a strike, so the gov. printed paper money, so there was hyperinflation.
3. People collected their wages in suitcases.
4. One father set out for Berlin to buy a pair of shoes. When he got there, he could only afford a cup of coffee and the bus fare home.
5. People on wages were safe, because they renegotiated their wages every day.
6. A nationalist group called Black Reichswehr rebelled in Berlin
7. A fascist group called the Nazis attempted a putsch in Munich.
8. Communists took over the governments of Saxony and Thuringia
9. Communists also took over the Rhineland and declared it independent.
How did it survive?
1. Gustav Stresemann
  1. realised that something needed to be done to save Germany
  2. organised the Great Coalition of moderate, pro-democracy parties in the Reichstag.
  3. the government called off the strike, persuaded the French to leave the Ruhr and even got the rest of the world to allow Germany to join the League of Nations
  4. introduced reforms to help ordinary people such as job centres, unemployment pay and better housing.
2. Charles Dawes
  1. Under his advice, the German Reichsbank was reformed and the old money was called in and burned.
  2. ended the hyperinflation
  3. arranged the Dawes Plan with Stresemann, which gave Germany longer to pay reparations. Most importantly, Dawes agreed to America lending Germany 800 million gold marks, which kick-started the German economy.
3. singer/actress Marlene Dietrich
4. architect Gropius the leader of the Bauhaus movement
5. artists Paul Klee and Otto Dix
6. The Great Coalition collapsed before the end of 1923, and the Reichstag returned to chaos. When the crisis came, it was unable to respond.
7. The nationalists and fascists did not win many seats in the Reichstag, but they were allowed to exist and campaign, so they were just waiting for the right opportunity to attempt a takeover again.
8. Everything depended on American money
9. Everything depended on American money - if that stopped, Germany was ready to return to crisis.

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	Created by Fred Gill almost 11 years ago