Who Was Responsible For The Downfall Of The Weimar Republic

First, the defeat of WWI was not just the beginning of the Weimar Republic but could be considered a catalyst to its downfall as well. During the later stages of WWI

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

Thus, a series of parties against the Weimar gained power, although through coalition, reducing the power of the already fragile Republic. Here we can see the system of parliamentary democracy was a factor in the collapse of the Weimar. The series of economic crisis’ which affected post World War One Germany assisted in both the fall of the Weimar and the rise of Hitler. The Treaty of Versailles left the country with extremely large debts and when Germany did not keep up with payments, the French responded by invading the Ruhr, an industrial region in Germany, resulting in a general strike and ruining the middle class who would eventually make up the foundation of Nazi supporters.

With Germans of all outlooks desperately seeking solutions for the nation's problems, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party began their climb to power. 'Hitler was gifted with effective political talents. He offered an explanation for Germany's defeat, and a vision of Germany's future destiny, that played upon the fears, prejudices, and hopes of many Germans. He promised to rebuild Germany's power and restore its prosperity' (Isaacman, 16). This won the support of many Germans. Hitler was such an effective speaker that anything he said was believed even if it was not true.

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

The defeat of Germany in World War I and the followed signing of the Treaty of Versailles reshaped the German society and economy and also created upheaval within them. The loss of the war and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles led to the collapse of the imperial government and economy (Aleskerov 25). As a result, in 1918, a new government called the Weimar Republic was established. During its history, the Weimar Republic was unstable and suffered budgets and high rates of unemployment essentially caused by the Treaty of Versailles (“Treaty of Versailles, 1919” 1). The Treaty of Versailles required that Germany pay outrageous war reparations which had notable effects on Germany’s economy (Aleskerov 26).

A factor that caused economic instability in Germany was the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was put in place of the old German government post-WWI. The Weimar Republic caused many problems such as economic instability for Germany. An example of this is, “...the economic instability of the 1920s and early 1930s [made things worse for] the

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

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.

The Weimar Republic was set up mainly to help Germany out of their economic crisis at that time. Germany lost a lot of its land and the German people very

Was the Weimar Republic doomed to fail? Explain your answer. There are many different factors that led to the Weimar Republic’s downfall: firstly, it had several issues with its institution: proportional representation prevented laws from being passed whilst Article 48 later allowed Hitler to run the country as a dictatorship. The public opinion of the Weimar republic was very low following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and stooped even lower during the economic crisis of 1923. Moreover, the constant opposition from extreme parties weighed down on the public throughout its time, which also attributed to its collapse.

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 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.

These included the aspect of German imperialism, the unresolved defeat of 1918, financial collapse and the forced struggle against the activities of the National party as well as inflation. Other factors which influenced the failure of Weimar were the structural weaknesses induced by the constitution and the basic lack of support for the Republic

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