Why Did The Collapse Of The Weimar Republic

According to Abc.News, Germany had signed the debts to pay 269 million gold marks and around 96,000 tons of gold in Treaty of Versailles during 1919. The debts were unaffordable for Germans since they had also lost a lot of properties during the Great War. Followed along the debts that they had to pay to the Allies, there were the Great Depression. During 1930, the Great Depression occurs. “The total number of German workers involved in the unemployment easily reaches four million”(20,000,000 Unemployed in World," Revolutionary Age). Germans were frustrated with the government. Germans were ravenous and overwhelmed. Under this circumstances, the hopeless Germans started to believe that Hitler was the man who could bring the glory of Germany back. The propaganda poster below has shown that people were tiresome of trusting the government. The German words translated into English was “Our Last Hope— Hitler”. It indicated that Hitler was the last person as a leader they were going to believe. The poster enlarged the name “Hitler” to emphasize his importance, to attract attention, and to encourage people to join the Nazi Party.

The Nazi group had a major impact on the government and influenced the decision for the next Chancellor of Germany. “...Paul von Hindenburg, had appointed Hitler Chancellor. Having won more than 37 percent of the vote in the previous year's legislative elections, Hitler's Nazi party had enough power to effectively paralyze Germany's democratic government, which had been in place since 1919,” Smith says (pg.15). This shows that Hitler's Nazi group was extremely powerful and explains how Hitler arose to power. This quote reveals that Hitler had the most power since 1919, which demonstrates how powerful Hitler will become in the future. “By the early 1930’s, Germany was in desperate shape. Its defeat in World War One and the harsh conditions imposed by the United States, Britain, and France in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles - included debilitating reparation payments to the victors - had left Germany humiliated and impoverished, with ruinous inflation eating away at its economy. The worldwide Depression that followed the 1929 U.S. stock market crash exacerbated the situation as banks

During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people’s life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler’s ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full employment, convinced Germany, in a state of disillusionment, to support the nazi party. The Weimar’s instability contributed to the collapse of the Weimar republic provided perfect conditions for the nazi party to rise to power.

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).

Before the Great Depression, the Nazis gained 12 seats and 2.6% of the vote in the May election of 1928. Despite this, by July 1932, Hitler gained 230 seats and 37.3% of the vote in the Reichstag. This is a dramatic increase in popularity and support with much of this success due to the Great Depression. In October 1929, the American stock market crashed, plummeting the US into a disastrous economic depression known as the Wall Street Crash. US banks recalled their loans in order to pay off their debts, but German companies were unable to pay. German business began to close and millions lost their jobs, as Germany was so dependant on US loans in order to pay their reparations. The reality of the situation made a mockery of the weak, short-lived coalition governments in the Weimar constitution as it highlighted that Germany economic recovery was dependant on US loans and hence Germany was not independent. This enabled the extremist parties to claim they knew exactly how to solve this crisis and Hitler promised the public an authoritarian government in which he could achieve Autarky as well as jobs for the thirteen million people now unemployed. This aspect of unemployment gained Hitler

The Weimar constitutions set up was the President on top, the chancellor second in power and then followed by the Reichstag, then Reichstrat. However it was the powers that these people had that proved to be an issue. For example Article 48, this allowed the president to rule by decree in an emergency. This obviously sounds like a good idea in hindsight however this could easily be abused just like some presidents did. For example the Reichstag rejected the finance bill in July 1930 however Bruning had the bill issued by article 48. This meant that presidents could obviously easily over power everyone else by using this, getting rid of the idea of democracy and instead hinting at a dictatorship. This meant that because article 48 was used so much, a lot more than it should it perceived Germany to be in a crisis all the time, as article 48 was only supposed to be used in a time of emergency. This would be a problem for Germany’s government as it not only got rid of the idea of democracy what they were trying to bring in but it also perceived to other countries that they weren’t a strong country. If it seemed like Germany was in an emergency most of the time then it ruined Germany’s image, and made it seem like an unstable country.

By 1924, after years of crisis management and attempts at tax and finance reform, the economy was stabilised with the help of foreign, particularly American, loans. This relative "golden age" was reflected in the strong support for moderate pro-Weimar political parties in the 1928 elections. However, economic disaster struck with the onset of the world depression in 1929. The American stock market crash and bank failures led to a recall of American loans to Germany. This development added to Germany's economic hardship. Mass unemployment and suffering followed. Many Germans became increasingly disillusioned with the Weimar Republic and began to turn toward radical anti-democratic parties whose

Following World War I, the Weimar Republic emerged from the German Revolution in November 1918. The later period

To begin, the Weimar Constitution was ineffective and did not create a strong government. In the constitution, Article 48 stated that in any given emergency, the president could issue decrees without consulting the Reichstag. The article didn’t specifically state what an emergency was, therefore

Each difficult time led to him believing that he was standing up for the right thing. While Germany was left in a terrible depression from World War 1, their trade had been severely limited. Germany could not import or export goods. All their resources had been given to the War effort. This left Germany in a terrible way, dropping themselves from the rank of the second greatest economy. Germany began printing money at a large rate, leading to hyperinflation. Money, in turn, was worth little to nothing. Unemployment also reached record high levels. Approximately 6 million people were left unemployed. Hitler began to think like many of the racist organizations at the time, believing that the Jews were the sole reason for World War 1 and Germany’s economic

In Germany the economy was especially vulnerable since it was built out of foreign capital, mostly loans from America and was very dependent on foreign trade. When those loans suddenly came due and when the world market for German exports dried up, the well-oiled German industrial machine quickly ground to a halt. As production levels fell, German workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed throughout Germany. Savings accounts, the result of years of hard work, were instantly wiped out. Inflation soon followed making it hard for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued money. Overnight, the middle class standard of living so many German families enjoyed was ruined by events outside of Germany, beyond their control. The Great Depression began and they were cast into poverty and deep misery and began looking for a solution, any solution. By mid-1930, amid the economic pressures of the Great Depression, the German democratic government was beginning to unravel. The crisis of the Great Depression

Weimar Republic came from the German Revolution in 1918 to replace the German empire. The Weimar Republic existed between 1919 - 1933 and was faced with numerous crisis that led to its collapsed. Several factors accounted for the collapse of the Weimar Republic when Hitler captured power on January 30, 1933.

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

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 instability of the newly formed Weimar Republic resulted in a weak government prone to problems, Hitler took advantage of this weakness and introduced a secure alternative. During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people's life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler's ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full