The limitations it placed on Germany's armed forces, and especially the War Guilt Clause that blamed Germany and her allies for starting the war, left many Germans feeling humiliated. For these reasons it was deeply unpopular. Economic The Republic failed to pay full reparations to France so the French invaded the Ruhr region of Germany and took control of key industries and natural resources. This worsened the economic crisis in Germany. The inflation rate rose so dramatically that the German currency lost virtually all value.
By September 1930, the economy of Germany was in deep depression as a result of the Wall Street Crash of November 1929 and the recall of the American loans that had propped it up. Unemployment had rocketed to 3.1 million (15.3%), and the Weimar politicians seemed incapable of solving the problems. In this situation the Nazis began to be seen as a way out, and their support rose. They gained 107 Reichstag seats (18.5% of the total). By July 1932, the economic depression that
The Weimar republic was created in 1919 with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm ll, it was created at a time of confusion and chaos after Germany had lost the First World War. Between 1919 and 1923 it had to deal with many problems such as extremists’ attacks, the treaty of Versailles and the reparations crisis. Firstly Germany had no tradition of democracy and had always had strong leaders; Germans weren't ready for democracy and did not agree to it. With Germany suffering very badly because of the war it added onto the hatred the democracy had made. The new government was the body that signed the treaty of Versailles, and to many it was a betrayal and most Germans referred to it as the ‘stab in the back theory’.
During a depression, political trends become extremist and so the Nazis flourished; Hitler offered both a scapegoat and himself as a strong leader to look up to. The depression gave Hitler the edge he needed to gain ninety-five[1] seats in the Reichstag and ultimately progress from the leader of a minority party to the Dictator of the Third Reich. The Depression also drew attention to the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution; as poverty and unemployment increased, respect for the democratic system drastically decreased. The German population did not want to be governed by a democracy as it was such a governing body that signed the Treaty of Versailles. Hatred for this document was still rife in Germany and so Hitler, who openly detested the Treaty, became the obvious choice.
However it can be argued that the roots of Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933 lie in the disaster of the Wall Street Crash of 1829 and the subsequent depression. This economic crash and the rise in unemployment had the important effect of further polarising German politics. The fact that Germany’s growth in the 1920’s had been funded by American capital which was now forced to withdraw hit Germany’s industry hard. Furthermore it was unemployment and the consequential insecurity that so undermined confidence in the present structures. By 1933 over 6 million German workers were unemployed.
In 1929, the USA had suffered from a Great Depression. People lost their money, businesses went bankrupt leading to a soar in unemployment numbers and homes were lost resulting in the rapid increase in slums. After the First World War, Germany begun to borrow money from the USA to help their country recover. Due to the Depression having a big effect on the USA's economy, Germany was no longer supplied with the money they needed to recover. In 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
This in turn caused his support to wither and his opponents to build up in number. By being in control of the Army, Nicholas II left the running of the government to his German wife Alexandra. The Tsarina Alexander was unpopular for two main reasons: she was German, causing many to accuse her of being to sympathetic with the enemy of the war but also, she was under the influence of the much despised Rasputin. Rasputin was acting as Tsarina Alexandra’s confidant whilst Tsar Nicholas II was fighting in the war. Rasputin had a bad reputation for living a rather unorthodox lifestyle and was well known for his sexual promiscuity.
In the years leading up to when Hitler became chancellor the German government was in a constant state of limbo. Governments were ineffective due to parties being reluctant to work alongside each other. There was a global financial meltdown. The German peoples were becoming more and more cynical of democracy and if it could ever work. When the stock market collapsed on Wall Street in October, 1929, it sent financial markets worldwide into a meltdown this was tragic for the German economy.
“How important were weaknesses and divisons among his opponents in explaining Hilters’s rise to power by 1933?” After their defeat in the first world war, Germany was given an extremely harsh peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, which they were forced to sign in 1919. The treaty was a crippling blow to the newly formed Weimar Republic, which caused many problems for them and led to the eventual rise of Hilter and the Nazi party into power. The Nazis faced tough opposition from parties such as the Communists and Socialists, who didn’t believe in a democratic government, however these parties were relatively weak and divided, so were therefore defeated easily. There were many other factors which contributed to Hitlers rise to power such as weaknesses of the Weimar Republic, resentment over the Treaty of Versailles, economic crises in 1923 and 1929, the popular appeal of the Nazi’s and their effective use of propaganda and Hitler as a speaker. Historians disagree to an extent as to what the main reasons for Hitlers rise to power was.
In fact the groups within the right such as the Freikorps and consul organisation showed an increasing amount of violence because of their lack of support on democracy, which of course created a tremendous threat to the Weimar Republic. To an extent one could argue that the economy was a major threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic in the period 1919-1923 due to the severe reparation payments. The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany had to pay reparations for the damage which was caused in WW1. The poor leadership and economic problems consequently led to a German defeat. In 1921, the total amount of reparations was set at 269 billion gold marks.