How democratic was the Second Reich? Essay

The Weimar Constitution itself could also been seen as a threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic. In the Bundesrat, Prussian seats were elected by those who paid more tax, resulting in it therefore been dominated by conservatives. 17/58 seats in the Bundesrat were from Prussia and had power to veto bills. This in itself mean that any decisions in the Bundesrat were most likely to be that of traditionalist and conservative decisions as oppose to socialist or liberal. Furthermore, the Republic was trying to introduce democracy through this constitution. However, the Kaiser still had enough power to over-rule any decisions, making the system dependent on the abilities and personality of the Kaiser. Such a system would be seem as fundamentally flawed and therefore unable to provide stability and a working democracy. Additionally, the proportional representation voting system meant that a party had to have over 51% of the vote in order to form a government which normally resulted in many coalitions. This also resulted in six different governments coming into power between 1919 and 1923. This meant stability within the Weimar Republic was highly unlikely with so many governments coming in and out of power.

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.

Due to the failure of the Weimar Republic and general public dissatisfaction arising from poor economic conditions exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, German citizens were understandably desperate for change. Until this point in time the Nazi party, and Hitler, had been essentially unpopular. However, the economic situation ensured Hitler’s increasing popularity as the people looked toward more extreme but non-communist ideals. The initial consolidation of Nazi power in 1933 arose from key events such as the support of the Nationalist Party with the Nazis to form a coalition government, implementation of the Enabling

This caused a huge issue in the Weimar republic as it meant that no party could get a majority vote leading to many disagreements and arguments between everyone, meaning nothing would get done. If the government had just one party and not coalition parties, then Germany’s recovery could speed up. Many people wanted a strong lead figure instead so difficult decisions were made quickly and progress would be made. Unfortunately, Stresemann’s government did not do this and took a long time to make decisions because the whole of the Weimar Republic had to vote. Germany was not ready to run a democratic government after the Treaty of Versailles stated it in the terms. Stresemann’s government did not help or speed up the recovery of

Before Hitler came along the people had a democratic government. The individuals had freedom of speech, and of the press, of petition, and of assembly, and freedom from arrest for political opinions. They could form political parties, and elect the party or the parties they liked to rule.

Epstein writes that only a small minority of Germans resisted Hitler’s dictatorship, but that is not necessarily to say that they actually supported it. Though most Germans did approve of the core values and goals of the Nazis, racism, anti-Marxism, and German national renewal, there was also an element of coercion that may have stifled any public dissatisfaction anyone had for the regime (pp. 97-98). Displaying resistance did not offer much benefit to those who disapproved, as opposition was typically met with arrest and/or death sentences. Further, the Nazis targeted those that were largely disliked by ordinary Germans to begin with, which would explain why there are not records of large scale resistance (pp. 110-111). Epstein further remarks that the support of the Third Reich, is not truly meaningful if the support comes because there is no other option. The Nazis censored the press, outlawed any other political party besides their own, and banned strikes and absenteeism (p. 112). To the outside observer, it appears that the Nazis had the support of the German people, but it is imperative to look below the surface at what was happening to ordinary people.

In this essay I will argue for neither option provided by the prompt as I feel the options provided are not mutually exclusive. I will be arguing that this political leader both shaped democracy as Germany knew it and that his actions were constrained by the pre-existing circumstances. I will argue that the existing political climate in which Hindenburg was elected to was already on the way to radicalism. Furthermore, I will also use historical evidence to help prove that his decisions did help to shape modern Germany. Each choice a leader makes has the potential to shape a world for years to come.

All of these factors made it very difficult for the German people to be trustworthy, faithful and supportive of the regime of the Weimar Constitution. This idea is re-affirmed through German historian Friedrich Meinecke saying that “true loyalty to the Fatherland requires disloyalty to the Republic”, leading to an opening for extremist parties as well as the Republic’s doom.

Germany, a country rich in culture and heritage, yet plagued by the fallout of World War I and World War II, has progressed to become the centerpiece of the European Union and the world’s third richest economy. The first German Empire dates back to the Roman Empire starting in the 8th century AD. During the Middle Ages the German Empire fended off many attacks against their soil from the Hungarians and the Slavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes.

Third, the false Golden Age of economic prosperity created by the Dawes (1924) and Young (1929) Plans and resulting loans from the US Government the during the 1920s had come to a close as the Great Depression hit, and unemployment rose to over 6 million in Germany. Yet, the Weimar Government has survived the hyperinflation of the early 1920s, and therefore it is easy to over-estimate to impact of the Great Depression on the failure of democracy. The economic situation did help to draw more voters towards the fringe parties, and create an atmosphere more willing to foster extremist views as the Weimar Government was seen as weak and unable to cope with Germany’s problems. Thus, the first major factor attributing to the downfall of democracy in Germany was the preceding failure of the Weimar Government politically, structurally, and economically to take a firm hold over Germany.

On the other hand, if this were to have existed in a dictatorship, one would merely get used to how something went because that was how life would be from now on if there was a dictator present. With all the mess and distress already present, the body of laws present in a democracy is much slower to be established, while it usually took much less time with a dictator. Rather than one person having to agree on a law or come up with one, a democracy requires the whole body instead to ratify or accept it. This is due to the fact that your own personal needs must be given up in a dictatorship, while they are respected and valued on the other hand in a democracy. Therefore, seeing from all these changes, the alteration in government that the German government faced must have produced overwhelming challenges for Germany as a whole. They must completely abandon the norm for them and accustom themselves once again to a new way of life. Not only will these bring upon conflicts within the human population, but in all aspects including political, social, and economic qualities. In specificity to all these problems, it was many problems that accumulated and grew through time that presented a chance for Hitler to rise to power. Adolf Hitler was not only a strong and powerful leader that could have rose to power completely on his own, yet many of the inhabitants in Germany was tired of everything and needed a changed

However, this success seemed to be short-term and relied on Germany’s unguaranteed success to keep people from voting for extremist parties. Although Stresemann’s Germany looked promising, there was still political instability because no one party could gain a majority in the republic. Governments had to be formed from coalitions of parties working together. This meant that decision-making was difficult and could easily be overturned by a smaller, less significant party. Up to 1930, the Social Democrats always won the most votes, but never enough to govern on their own. There were twenty-five

German history is seen as a ‘painful issue for thousands of Germans and other Europeans’ . However it has interested many historians over the years into inquiring how and why Hitler came to power and how much of this was to do with the failure of parliamentary democracy in Germany. To fully ascertain to what extent these events have in common and what reasons led to the fall of democracy and rise of the Nazis, each have to be looked at individually. Also it seems beneficial, to be able to evaluate these in the relevant context, to look at the situation in Germany was in prior to 1920.

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.

There were various factors that contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic of Germany and the ascent of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party into power on January 30, 1933. Various conflicting problems were concurrent with the eventuation of the Republic that, from the outset, its first governing body the socialist party (SPD) was forced to contend with.