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THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC.
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Discusses problems of Germany's Weimar government.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses problems of Germany's Weimar government. The structure of the new Republic following Germany's defeat in World War I. Issues of war debts, inflation and monetary crisis, reparations, divisions within Germany, unrest. The Weimar Constitution. Emergency powers of the president. Failure of the German elite to support the new government. Political strife.
Paper Introduction:
WEIMAR REPUBLIC
The Handicaps
Germany’s Weimar Republic was beset by troubles from the start. Born of the nation’s humiliating defeat in World War I, it emerged from the chaos of bloody street battles and divisive strikes that all but engulfed German society in the war’s wake. The so-called elites that had held prewar Germany together never supported the Weimar government, massive war debts fueled runaway inflation that shattered Weimar credibility, harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty burdened the country with huge reparations and occupation troops, and divisions within Germany itself fueled almost continual unrest. Indeed, “the frustrations, resentments, and disunity generated by … [the] wartime collapse [of Imperial Germany] became the hallmarks of political discourse in th
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Specifically, party leaders "hit back at the protestmovement with disproportionate force, when they ought to have tried to getto grips with the underlying reasons why the unrest had arisen in the firstplace" (Mommsen 1997 253). The need to thensubsidize the Ruhr workers quickly became a major burden to the already-fragile German economy. The chaos that ensued before, during and after Weimar's inceptionseemed to prove their point, as Germans seemed unable and unwilling toplace blame for their troubles more correctly on the just-ended war and thepolicies that drove it (Fulbrook 1991 1 ). "True the Weimar constitution was democratic and proclaimedequality before the law" (Pulzer 1996 3 6). New York: Oxford University Press. [but afterward] its traditionally privileged status as a protectedsector collapsed overnight" (Mommsen 1997 227) - and its state subsidieswere cut off. Thus, as if at the very moment when Weimar seemed all but extinct, afew motivated people with some fresh ideas would keep Weimar alive throughthe end of the decade and beyond. [Weimar] with a more authoritarianpolitical system as soon as was practicable" (Fulbrook 1991 45). Yet even as the Weimar Republic, andthe government trying to run it, seemed virtually to be disintegratingbefore the eyes of an anxious populace, stability somehow emerged from theruins. A dozen years later, it would once againlay in ruins, impoverished and at the mercy of the Allies. Pulzer, Peter. Mommsen, Wolfgang J. This made the partythe second largest in the nation, with 1 7 of 6 8 Reichstag deputies. And when the depression that followed America's stock market crash of 1929struck Europe soon after, the republic called Weimar was all butexterminated. Martin's Press. Retallack, James. For instance, "The agriculturalcommunity had managed to preserve its privileged social position during thewar ... Imperial Germany, 1867-1918: politics,culture, and society in an authoritarian state. Thus, for a little while,it seemed that Germany itself and its relations with its numerous neighborshad been normalized. Similarly, upper middle class members of the higher gradesof civil service and other professionals found themselves impoverished andlargely out of power after the war had ended. There was, some believed, hope yet for democracy inGermany. The Social Democrats, who early on gained control of Parliamentthrough a series of coalition governments, was an otherwise centrist partythat nevertheless adopted repressive policies which caused long-lastingsocietal scars. Professionals, bureaucrats, farmers, themilitary, the churches all tended to view Weimar in particular, anddemocracy in general, as a foolish experiment with little chance forsuccess. Theparty would more than double this share in 1932, to a pre-Nazi takeoverpeak of 23 . "The Germans responded with apolicy of 'passive resistance,' ceasing economic production and refusing tocooperate with the occupation" (Fulbrook 1991 33). Eds.: Smith, Gordon, Paterson,William E., & Padgett, Stephen. People were paid theirwages by the cartload; prices doubled and trebled several times a day ...The savings, hopes, plans, assumptions and aspirations of huge numbers ofpeople were swept away in a chaotic whirlwind" (Fulbrook 1991 34). That made the Nazis Germany's biggest political party andHitler's selection as chancellor the following year virtually inevitable.Thus, Germany's fate was sealed. [radical] leaders KarlLiebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were brutally murdered" (Fulbrook 1991 28).In May of that year, an attempt to set up an independent Bavarian Republicwas likewise crushed in an armed action that claimed some one thousandlives. Durham: Duke University Press. On theother hand, it bestowed huge emergency powers upon the president, allowinghim, among other things, to dismiss the chancellor, dissolve parliament andcall new elections at will. Indeed, amid deteriorating business conditions and soaringunemployment, Hitler's Nazi Party, which had won just 2.8 percent of thevote in 1928, went on to capture 18.3 percent in 193 . trans.: Richard Deveson,London: Arnold. However, Hitler and his followers wouldreap national publicity from the abortive attempt and the trial thatfollowed, and it acquired the air of one more nail in the coffin of thetottering regime (Fulbrook 1991 35). The structure of the new government itself may have been part of theproblem. Germany in the age of Kaiser Willhelm II.New York: St. Hisreplacement in a special election was Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, a"seventy-seven-year-old right-wing monarchist ... Ebert, a Social Democrat,was committed to the survival of Weimar and of democracy in Germany. In addition, if a coalition majority could notbe reached in parliament, the president could authorize the chancellor torule by decree (Fulbrook 1991 29). Inthe process of being arrested and imprisoned ... (1991). The so-called elites that had heldprewar Germany together never supported the Weimar government, massive wardebts fueled runaway inflation that shattered Weimar credibility, harshterms of the Versailles Treaty burdened the country with huge reparationsand occupation troops, and divisions within Germany itself fueled almostcontinual unrest. Elements of the radical left, which had considerable support at thetime, never forgave the Social Democrats for either of these incidents. A key Weimar difficulty from the beginning - and for that matterthroughout its brief run - was the failure of German society's elite groupsto give it their support. Thus, theman now in charge of Germany would use all his considerable power toundermine the fledgling and frail democracy he'd been elected and sworn touphold. Indeed, "the frustrations, resentments, and disunitygenerated by ... Germany's simmering political strife never sank far below the surface. Bornof the nation's humiliating defeat in World War I, it emerged from thechaos of bloody street battles and divisive strikes that all but engulfedGerman society in the war's wake. "This they did with a vengeance. " ... However, it (arguably) mayhave placed a bit too much emphasis on democracy's participatory aspects,allowing periodic plebiscites on complex and significant issues. (1997). The year 1923 saw the Weimar regime reach its infamous and spectacularmonetary crisis in the form of monstrously out-of-control inflation. (1996). The divided nation: a history of Germany,1918-199 . "Model or exception - Germany as a normalstate?" Developments in German politics 2. Among other things, between 1924 and1929, the new administration: set up a new plan to delay payment of warreparations; signed a new series of treaties with France, Belgium, Italy,Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russia agreeing to respect one another's bordersand not to invade except in self-defense; entered the League of Nations in1926; sought and won the withdrawal of the allied military commission in1927; and achieved Allied agreement to withdraw from the Ruhr and theRhineland in 193 , five years ahead of schedule. Onceagain, the root of the trouble lay in a decision by the Imperial governmentto finance the war with bond sales rather than tax hikes - investment inwhich left many German families destitute when Germany lost the war and thebonds were worthless. There is a theory that no one person is indispensable. However, muchof Germany's hope for the future perished with the death of WeimarPresident Friederich Ebert in February, 1925. A new government took charge and eased the monetary confusion,first off by ending the passive resistance of Ruhr Valley workers. Exactly one week before the inflationary spiral peaked, the so-calledBeer Hall Putsch of Munich took place. This inturn eliminated the need for costly subsidies and helped make the regionproductive again. Even right after the war the German Mark had remained relativelystable, worth about 64.8 to the dollar in January, 192 (up from 4.2 justbefore war broke out in 1914). It was led by one Adolph Hitler.Government troops and local police quickly suppressed it, and it was oflittle significance at the time. [the] wartime collapse [of Imperial Germany] became thehallmarks of political discourse in the new republic" (Retallack 1996 91). However, by July, 1922, that Mark perdollar figure had risen to 493.2; then to 17,972 six months later, inJanuary, 1923; then, exacerbated by the troop occupation, to 4.6 million inAugust; and finally to a truly unthinkable 4.2 billion Marks to the dollaron November 15, 1923 (Fulbrook 1991 34). References Fulbrook, Mary. [who] made little secretof his intention to replace ... Indeed, in January, 1919, the Social Democraticleadership overreacted to spontaneous protests in Berlin, rushing in troopsto crush the demonstrations by force. (1996). WEIMAR REPUBLICThe Handicaps Germany's Weimar Republic was beset by troubles from the start. The crisis slowly came to a head after January whenFrance and Belgium, invoking their powers under the harsh terms of theVersailles Treaty, decided to send a total of 1 , troops to Germany'sRuhr valley to supervise coal production. Thus, the new WeimarRepublic provided a convenient target.
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