Weimar Republic

Weimar Government: 

• People were able to elect their own President and Parliament

• Regular elections to choose representatives in the German Parliament (Reichstag)

• Proportionate representation

  • A political party receives the same percentage of seats in Reichstag as their votes

  • Wide range of views were formed

  • Disadvantages: 

    • Encouraged many small parties to form

    • Difficulty in getting a single majority party

    • Many governments were coalition governments; Composed of many small parties

    • Weak and did not last long; 9 coalition governments in 4 years

  • Troubled Years (1919 - 1923)

    • Blame for Treaty of Versailles

      • Weimar Government was unpopular and was blamed for signing the Treaty of Versailles (November Criminals)

      • Many believed the army had been stabbed in the back by WG

      • Seen as a traitor

      • WG had little support

    • Rejection of Democratic Government

      • People were used to the monarchy and found it hard to accept the WG

      • Communists wanted communist government, right wing parties wanted strong central government

      • Different people wanted different types of government, led to lack of support for WG

    • Repeated attempts to overthrow WG

      • 1918 Communist attempt to overthrow

      • Beer Hall Putsch by Hitler

      • All revolutions were not well-handled by WG; Had to rely on ex-army officers to bring down 1918 Putsch, Hitler got out after 9 months in jail

      • Showed weaknesses of WG, led to lack of confidence

    • Hyper-inflation

      • Heavy financial burden, lost of Saar, war reparations and economic situation in Germany

      • Could not tax people as they were experiencing financial difficulties

      • Printed much money to overcome this problem

      • Hyper inflation, lead to value of German currency dropping

      • Those who saved lost much, thus they were unhappy towards the government

      • Egg (1.6 marks in 1921) --> Egg (320 trillion marks in 1923)

    • Unemployment

      • Raw materials were under foreign control (Saar and Alsace-Lorraine) - Centres of steel and iron production

      • Production in mines and factories reduced

      • Massive unemployment

      • Soldiers that returned from war were jobless 

      • Germans though WG was not doing anything to help them

  • Recovery Years (1923 - 1929)

    • Gustav Stresemann

      • Chancellor, then Foreign Minister from 1923-29

      • Wanted Germany to be prosperous again

      • Sought better relations

    • Arrangement to repay reparation

      • Germany failed to pay Germany reparations, France raided Ruhr 

      • GS persuaded French to withdraw troops from Ruhr

      • Helped to get factories working again, people could find more work

    • Resolve currency problems

      • Hyperinflation was big problem

      • GS withdrew the Mark and replaced it with Rentenmark (which had proper financial backing)

      • Boost people's confidence

    • Improved international relations

      • Signed Locarno treaty (1925), agreeing not to recapture lost lands

      • Gained confidence of allies

      • Germany joined LON in 1926

      • Allies withdrew troops from Rhineland in 1929 (5 years ahead)

      • War reparation reduced to 1850 million pounds

      • USA gave loans and increased investment in Germany

      • Germany was thus able to recover economically, boosting confidence

    • Dawes Plan

      • Dawes Plan, with international loans, helped German economy stablise and prosper

      • Invest in new facilities like hospitals and school 

      • Wages increased, working hours decreased

  • Depression Years (1929 - 1933)

    • Wall Street Crash in 1929 

    • Germany had come to rely almost entirely on US loans and investments

    • Investors began calling in loans

    • USA and other countries had less money to buy German goods

    • WG could not endure the large retraction of money

    • Factories closed   -> Unemployment

    • German economy collapsed totally

    • People started blaming WG

    • People started supporting right-hand parties