To What Extent Did the Treaty of Versailles Weaken Germany Democratically, Between 1919 to 1929?

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.

No party ever gained majority government during the history of the Republic, and this weakened the government. Proportional representation was responsible for a series of coalition governments, which ruled Germany through the years of 1919 and 1933. However, the only time that a pro-Weimar party held majority was in the first elections of 1919, and every time after Weimar was the minority.

The Treaty of Versailles formed after World War I forced Germany to pay great amounts in reparation payments, which was severely damaging to their economy and to their collective national ego. In addition, they were forced to greatly weaken their army by demobilizing, abolishing universal compulsory military service, and by having their army be comprised by no more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. Furthermore, the country was also forced to return lands which they had viewed as 'Germanic' and had laid claim to, as well as overseas colonies, back to various other countries.

Hitler’s rise to power was the result of many factors, but Hitler’s ability to take advantage of Germany’s poor leadership and economical and political conditions was the most significant factor. His ability to manipulate the media and the German public whilst taking advantage of Germany’s poor leadership resulted in both the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler and the nazi party. During the early 1920s, Germany was struggling with economic instability and political uncertainty. Germany, after being defeated in the Great War, was forced to sign the unforgiving treaty of Versailles, which the Weimar Republic was held responsible for. This brought forward feelings of fear, anger and

To what extent did the Nazis succeed in establishing a totalitarian state in Germany in the years between 1933 and 1939?

It led to economic problems and a lack of food or jobs. These in turn

The Weimar Republic came into being on November 1918 and was born in the throes of military defeat and social revolution. In January 1919, a National Assembly was elected to draft a constitution. The government, composed of members from the assembly, came to be called the Weimar coalition and included the SPD, the German Democratic Party and the Centre Party. Weimar was a rushed and often referred to as a ‘mistaken democracy'. Its been said "The dysfunctional nature of Weimar democracy ... aided

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

According to the Second Reich constitution, it is clear that during the years of the Second Reich there was no democracy. The German Electorates could only elect the Reichstag, which

World War II: 80 million deaths; the largest war in history. And it is widely disputed whether the Treaty of Versailles was to blame. World War I resulted in ten million deaths (which is seemingly incomparable to World War II), but sparked a treaty to prevent further war. The superpowers of the world clashed wills over its content. The Treaty of Versailles was originally meant to liberate Eastern European countries, but in bitterness was Germany relentlessly punished. The Treaty of Versailles was the root cause of World War II through its terms causing Germany’s humiliation, insurmountable reparations, loss of land, and restriction of military.

How significant was the Treaty of Versailles to Germany? This is the question that has been posed to us for our first analytical history essay. I will go into depth about my opinions on both the long-term and short-term effects of the Treaty of Versailles. I believe that the Treaty had a powerful impact on Germany- it practically ruined their economy, and gave the Germans all the more reason to hate the Allies, eventually contributing to the beginning of World War 2. Although the Allies had a right to demand certain things from Germany (as they were the instigators of the war), they should have been more lenient and taken Germany’s poor economic situation into account. The war was a mistake on the part of the German government, but it was the people who payed the price. I have taken into account Germany’s loss of territory, the war guilt, the economical effects of the Treaty, and the armaments and discussed them in this essay.

The Weimar Constitution was a genuine attempt to create a perfect democratic country. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), American historian William L. Shirer described the Weimar Constitution as "on paper, the most liberal and democratic document of its kind the twentieth century had ever seen ... full of ingenious and admirable devices which seemed to guarantee the working of an almost flawless democracy.” The constitution guaranteed equal rights to the German people, yet also contained the fundamental structural flaws that would play a major part in the Republic 's downfall (and thus the Nazi Party’s rise). Two clear examples of such weaknesses were the use of an excessively proportional electoral system and the

Since the Weimar Republic was established in the aftermath of World War One, it was almost inevitable that it would be blamed for Germanys surrender and the Treaty of Versailles. The supposed surrender was even harder to accept since in 1918 Germany had signed an armistice with Russia. Weimar was in essence ‘brought about by defeat’ . The ‘November Criminals’ who signed the armistice were always associated with Weimar, thus making it difficult for Weimar to be associated with anything but defeat and humiliation. The war guilt clause was also difficult to accept because it lay all the blame on Germany for starting the First World War. This along with reparations were crippling not only the economy but German society itself

The mandate of Article(s) 231 and 232 , (respectively titled “The War Guilt Clause” and “Reparations”) of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th, 1919 served as unintentional catalysts for the arise of revisionism in post-war Germany, and its fall out of the international order following the Paris Peace Conference. These two articles politically, socially, and economically ravaged Germany, and created societal circumstances in which a totalitarian dictatorship (the National Socialist German Workers Party or “Nazi” party) gained popularity and was viewed as necessary in order for Germany to be restored to its former status as an economic and political world power. The national humiliation and economic burden that Articles 231 and 232 created injured German pride, strained its economy and triggered a resentful and hostile outlook to the “new peace” that the Allied leaders believed they had formulated. The German people viewed this as a “dictated peace” (Diktat) that had been enforced on them. It was seen by Germany as an unfair, un-justified and un-realistic punishment for losing the war, and instead of creating a long-term and prosperous peace on the European continent, the guilt and reparations of Articles 231 and 232 ignited a flame of vengeance in Germany that would evolve into an ultra-nationalist inferno and consume the world into a second and even more devastating and savage war.

The Versailles Settlement was more significant in shaping the history of the Weimar Republic overall, however other prevailing conditions worsened the effects of the Versailles Settlement to a lesser extent. From 1919 to 1921, the Versailles Settlement was less significant, as the instability of the German people was able to be stopped. From 1921 to 1923, the Versailles Settlement was more significant due to the inability of the Weimar Republic to recover its economy from the effects of the Settlements terms. From 1923 to 1929, the Versailles Settlement was less significant as due to the complying of terms, Germany was made more respected internationally. From 1929 to 1933, the Versailles Settlement was more significant as the restrictions of the Settlement terms resulted in a weak economy leading to the Nazi’s taking advantage to exploit the Settlement to influence the public.