Failures Of The Weimar Republic

Hitler’s assumption of power on the 30th of January 1933 was seemingly due to the mass popularity of the Nazi party. However it was far off achieving the 50% majority it needed to put Hitler automatically in power. As well as popularity, backstairs intrigue and the short-sightedness of those in power enabled Hitler to become Chancellor. The weaknesses of Germany’s political leadership were fundamental to Hitler’s success. In some senses the popularity of the party only provided an opening, available for exploitation.

The Weimar Republic would have continued to be a functional government far longer than achieved if not for the defeat of WWI, the economic burdens imposed by the Versailles Treaty, and the flawed Article 48 which all contributed to the down fall of Germany’s first attempt at a legitimate Democracy. This paper will argue that the societal, economical, and constitutional aspects all played a role in the hopeless Democracy Germany attempted which ultimately lead Germany into a totalitarian state that would further shake the world with the rise of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler.

Even though Hindenburg was re-elected with a ballot of 53%, Hitler was only marginally behind with a ballot of 36.8%. By the 1932 election, the Nazi’s accounted for 37.3% or 230 seats in the Reichstag. These figures meant that the Nazi party were the largest party in the Reichstag, although they did not have an outright majority and therefore could not assume automatic power. By January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg.

On The 30th of January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In the 18 months succeeding this, Hitler became, essentially, a dictator. This essay will look at what a dictatorship is and how it operates, how the population is brought to a point where they accept a dictatorship, and examine and analyze the vital events that took place in Germany which lead to Hitler assuming dictatorial power: the Reichstag fire, the Emergency Decree, the Enabling Act, the banning of trade unions and other political parties, the Night Of The Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the German army’s oath of loyalty to Hitler. It will

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

When fire damaged the Reichstag building in spring 1933, Hitler blamed the communists and persuaded President Hindenburg to sign dictatorial emergency decrees.

The collapsement of the Weimar Republic was due to many social, political and economical issues within. From its birth it faced numerous political problems, for which the causes were many and varied. These problems included political instability, deep divisions within society and economic crisis; problems were constantly appearing for the new government. The Weimar Republic never really had a stable political party, having a whole six different parties between 1924-1928 does not create stability. Many of these parties were also narrowly sectioned, with messed up

The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any

When looking into the history of Germany and determining what led to the startling rise in Nazism in Germany and its detrimental effects on the social outcasts in Europe, it can be easy to deduce that the Nazi regime was one where Hitler walked in with his officials and took office by force. The truth is that, while the Nazi party is responsible for the atrocities that occurred before and during WWII, they would have not gotten far if it hadn’t been for the cooperation of the German people themselves. Life in the Third Reich provides proof through voting, youth programs and village life that the Nazi party rose into power with German support.

The Nazi Party’s strength in three main areas allowed it to precipitate the failure of democracy in Germany. Ideologically, structurally and politically the Nazi party was superior to the Weimar Democracy especially in the period 1928-1934. Ideologically, historian Hans Mommson claims the Nazi Party was a “catch all party” in that the party’s nationalistic, socialist and racist policies

Henry Mann, a novelist in 1931 described the situation as; “the majority are losing a bit of their courage because the enemy no longer appears to have any doubts. Most people would like to be democratic and peaceful.” (document 10) The citizens of Germany had given up hope on the Weimar Republic’s system of government. Psychologically, people’s spirits were down.

Hitler took advantage of the huge economic issues that were taking place in 1929 to spark his rise within Germany’s society. Germany was not very reliant on production and exports; instead, they used American loans to prop up their economy. When the Great Depression hit and America ceased the loans, Germany’s economy fell, suffering greatly. Regardless of the overwhelming need for a financial program to be set up to help the German economy, Chancellor Bruening encountered stubborn opposition to his plans. To break the stalemate, he went to President Hindenburg and asked him to invoke Article 48 of the German constitution, which gave emergency powers to the president to rule by decree. After a huge outcry from the opposition, an election was

Article 48 of the constitution allowed for the president to gain full power with ought the agreement of the Reishstag in “times of emergency.” In July 1930 Chancellor Bruning cut government expenditure, wages and unemployment pay, the worst thing to do during a depression. He did this by using President Hidenburg's power to pass the measures by decree given to him by Article 48. It wasn't specified what the emergency could be and thus this flaw led to be a back door that Hitler used to take power legally in January of 1933.

The collapse of the Weimar Republic can not be seen as solely indebted to the severe economic problems faced during the period of its rule, but consequently it was the economic issues that became a footstep to the ultimate demise of the Republic. Subsequent to Germany’s defeat in the First World War and German Emperor Kaiser’s abdication from power, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed. The Republic that had emerged from the German Revolution of November 1918 would inevitably fall as a result of numerous issues. However, the extent of which economic problems had in the dissolution of the republic, and how these issues caused or came about due to separate concerns faced by the new democratic system became a major contributing factor.

The Weimar republic from 1919 to 1929 had many successes and failures, starting in chaos and ending in relative stability. However, due to individual perspective these successes and failures were often viewed as both successes and failures- not either. Class, political leanings and other moralistic beliefs, primarily influenced the individual's perspectives. Overall, due to the relative stability, (the aim of any government) primarily achieved by Streseman's influence, the successes outweighed the failures by 1929.