The Kaiser agreed and Germany went from being an autocracy, where all the political power had lied in the hands of the Kaiser, to a parliamentary democracy, where the supreme power lied in the hands of the people and the Kaiser became simply nothing more than a ceremonial head of state. The ‘revolution from above’ was quickly overtaken by events, Germany demanded for the Kaisers abdication. The chief of the naval staff ordered an attack on the British however the sailors refused to obey order and the mutineers seized control of the port. This meant that people across the country could finally see that Imperial Germany’s ruling class had lost control. The German government couldn’t stand up to the people so they gave them what they wanted, the Kaisers abdication.
To a certain extent I do agree that Germany was an entrenched authoritarian state as the population was being led by a hereditary monarch that detained an unnecessary amount of power; the Kaiser was the defender of traditional privileges and enjoyed a large amount of support from other ruling elites, especially those leading Prussia. However, Germany was not an absolute monarch as there was an elected branch of the government, the Reichstag. As well the Kaiser also desired a world role; he therefore supported industrialisation as well as being enthusiastic about new technology and new industries. The prestige status of the Kaiser was still deeply ingrained in the minds of the Reichstag members. The constitution granted the emperor extensive powers which established his personal rule, as he had the power to appoint key government members, such as the chancellor and Reichstag members.
Kaiser, as "King of Prussia", dominated the Reichstag which protected the Conservatives, who were supported, and arguably, controlled by the elites (Junkers) who wanted to preserve their status and power. Some saw the Kaiser, and the elites, as claiming authority of Germany, but at no time was this challenged. Bethmann-Hollweg, 1910, suggested increasing the middle-class vote, but the Conservatives quickly rejected the idea, as there was
Even though Hindenburg was in Hitler’s way of gaining the Chancellorship, there were many other factors that lead to Hitler becoming Chancellor in January 1933 and not just because he was leader of the most popular Party in Germany. For example, the Weimar Republic was suffering from the political polarisation between nationalist and communist’s parties and the economic crisis caused by the Great Depression. These two issues put pressure on the governing coalition and it was beginning to break up. Furthermore political intrigue and the self interest of political parties, along with the inherent flaws of the Weimar constitution and the weakness of government by coalition, all played into Hitler’s hands. These factors caused the loss of public support for the grand coalition of the Weimar Republic and the German people subsequently looked for a new style of leadership.
The Weimar Republic faced many problems up to 1923, which all contributed to its instability. When Germany entered the war in 1914 it was an autocratic monarchy ruled by the Kaiser, who was confident they would quickly win the war. Following the end of the war came the October reform. General Ludendorff persuaded the Kaiser to transform the Second Reich into a parliamentary democracy. The vote for democracy was extraordinarily high considering Germany had never had democracy before.
The fact that Germany was an autocracy, meaning they were ruled by one single leader, meant that decisions were only made by the Kaiser and this was due to the fact that the Kaiser had the power to override the decisions of the Reichstag. This caused a massive rift in the political system, as with the Kaiser being the main figure of power the Reichstag feared opposing the Kaiser in fear of being tarnished unpatriotic and so as a result would often support the decisions of the Kaiser, even if in their heart of hearts they disagreed with the decision made. A prime example of Kaiser dominance can be found during the Zabern Affair, when a German army officer offended the locals of Zabern and even went as far to assault an old, crippled man, this sparked an uproar in Zabern to which the Kaiser did not even react to and instead passed off the
The political system in Germany at the time also favoured the Kaiser, as nothing could be passed without kaisers agreement, the upper house referred to as Bundesrat was a conservative body and the bills were first discuessed in the Reichstag before they were passed on to the Bundersrat. Reichstag could pass or reject governemnt legislation discuss or amend it however it could not make new laws. Essentially when the legislature was finally passed by the chancellor who had to approve of it, it would go to the Kaiser who would either accept it or decline it alltogether which again added on to his importance. However the Kaiser lacked power in certain areas, for example the Kaiser had to rely on the conservatives backing if he wanted a certain legislation to be passed, but in 1887 the conservative only won 48% of the vote and by 1912 it went down to just 26% which meant that the was no longer able gain help from the conservatives which also meant that he had less impact on politics. With the Social Democrat Party coming in The Kaiser was loosing Atocratic power and Germany was slowly becoming a more Democratic country, the SPD won 35% of the votes by 1912 meaning that they had more authority over the
Blair sought to centralise policy making through structural changes to the Prime Minister’s office and the Cabinet Office. From this emerged a strengthened Prime Minister’s Office in managing the media and policy making and a ‘Prime Minister’s department that will not speak its name, otherwise known as the Cabinet Office’. Some believe that Blair killed off cabinet government by effectively rendering it completely under his control and making it a
It became an offence to belong to another Party than the Nazis party. ALL other parties were banned, and their leaders were put in prison. Therefore, from the very beginning of Hitler’s rise to power, he was able to control what people thought. ONLY the Nazis ideology was the right one to get Germany back on its feet, and if only you were German and publicly showed your opposition, you were seen as a factor that would retain German industrial growth. We can see through this how Hitler, from the very beginning of his arrival to power, managed to put his hand over the people’s minds.
The Constitution gave Congress the power to impeach and remove officials, including judges or the President himself. The President was given the veto power to restrain Congress and the authority to appoint members of the Supreme Court with the advice and consent of the Senate. In this intricate system, the role of the Supreme Court had not been defined. It therefore fell to a strong Chief Justice like Marshall to complete the triangular structure of checks and balances by