Frederick William shared this view and was unwilling to potentially cause a war with such a powerful state. This caused the Frankfurt Parliament to fail because Prussia did not grasp the opportunity to unite and neither did the King, therefore Germany remained divided. Although he desired power, William IV was not willing to put himself and Prussia under control of the Frankfurt Parliament as he distrusted ‘the gentlemen of Frankfurt’. This meant that the Parliament had no real leader, and so lost support because people distrusted the parliament as an influential figure stated he would not be associated with them. This aided in causing the failure of the Parliament because with no real leader, no one could influence the masses or help to make decisions.
Germany was not a parliamentary democracy in any shape or form. The Herero Revolt took place from 1904-1907 and resulted in the subjection of a deliberate policy of genocide including execution and incarceration in concentration camps, dramatically reducing the number of Herero people by 80%. The chosen punishment for the revolt was slated massively by many people, including Matthias Erzberger, highlighting the lack of financial control in parliament and pointing out that the punishment for the Herero rebellions had cost the state 456 million marks, a substantial amount of money. This incident produced a political crisis, and the political parties in the Reichstag were no longer content as they had previously been. This refusal to agree with each other and frequent 'slating' of the decisions was not the appropriate conditions for a democracy, as many people would be unhappy for a majority of proposed arrangements.
However the central committee and the politburo refused to order Ruitin’s execution, Stalin viewed this as a betrayal. In December 1934, Kirov was murdered by Nikolayev who claimed was working for a secret terror group who wanted to overthrow the soviet government; however Zinoviev and Kamenev were arrested for the conspiracy of Kirov’s Murder. This murder rid Stalin of his most powerful rival, whilst allowing him to imprison two of his old opponents, basically “two birds with one stone”. The Murder of Kirov allowed Stalin to establish dictatorship because with the death of Kirov, it gave Stalin an excuse to purge and the purges became more systematic and far-reaching.In the spring of 1937, Stalin argued that the conspiracy against the Soviet people was not restricted to the forty or so people involved in the show trials, and so the start of the purges against the party and army began. The effects on the party were dramatic.
All Russian governments in this period faced strong opposition to their regime with the period as a whole punctuated by riots, disturbances and revolutions. Political change was expected in Russia during this period, particularly during the Tsarist regime where the growth of the revolutionary intelligentsia, ironically an effect of the Great Reforms, led many to question the need for a Tsar or a royal family at all. The first main success of political opposition is widely considered to be the assassination of Alexander II at the hands of the People’s Will in 1881. Although they assassinated their Tsar, it is very likely this did not actually lead to their desired outcome, it being greater political freedom/democracy. Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia.
The problems began after the 1st World War, and after the German government signed the papers at the Treaty of Versailles, agreeing to its conditions and punishments, the government was very much resented by the people. The first political event that marked the beginning of the collapse of the German democracy was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty took place in Paris in 1919. After Germany was held responsible for starting the war, the government faced numerous problems: both economical and political. Although the conditions of the agreement seemed extremely severe, the allied countries had no sympathy for the Germans.
This event led to labor unrest, peasant insurrections, student demonstrations, as well as army and navy mutinies. Although the shooting was not Nicholas II’s fault, he was given the nickname, “ The Bloody Murderer” and stated that he was not going to make any changes for the people. This was the last major event before the Revolution of 1905 officially broke out. New councils created by urban workers in order to better organize strikes were created called Soviets. During this time, Russian cities were dying because all the workers and peasants were focused on rebelling against the government and seizing the land of their landlords, instead of working in the factories and living the life of a peasant or urban worker.
Years later, on Joseph Stalin's orders, Trotsky was assassinated. No one could take action against the Bolsheviks who were subverting the army, passing out fire-arms, and appointing their supporters as commissars of military units. On the night of November 6-7 the Bolsheviks attacked, and gained control of the capitol after several days of fighting. Meanwhile, Lenin had to deal with the war. Peace negotiations failed, so Lenin dealt
A crucial quantity of Russians had lost their faith on Czar Nicholas II leadership, believing that ceding his command would lead them for more efficacious war outcomes. In January 9th, 1917, over 14,000 workers decided to strike in Petrograd, immortalizing the Bloody Sunday. The situation became worse in February 22nd, 1917, when more than 100 thousand workers decided to strike in the Petrograd, and the Duma reassemble, deciding to be in favor of the population and attack the government. It became known as the February Revolution, in behalf of more and more people joining the cause; in order to reorganize Russia to an enfranchised and fair
Brunning wanted to change things, but laws can’t be passed without the Reichstag. The Reichstag didn’t want to pass it, so he goes to the president and uses article 48. The depression needs to be dealt with by the Reichstag refuse so the Reichstag is dissolved and they hold new elections for a new Reichstag and hope that its more right wing. Bruning had no support from the SPD, this wasn’t good because they were the majority and not having support from them meant that her didn’t really have any support at all.
Why is the Weimar republic sometimes described as doomed from the beginning? * They were thought of as the November criminals who signed the armistice that ended the war * The German economy was ruined after WW1 especially when they had to pay out reparations * Treaty of Versailles took away a lot of land and industry as well as people from Germany * The invasions of the Ruhr right at the beginning of the Republic was a big blow and led to hyperinflation * There were several challenges to the Weimar republic from the left and right wing- Kapp Putsch and Munich Putsch for example * Proportional representation damaged the Republic because there were too many weak coalition governments * Article 48 of the constitution said that if there was an emergency the President could over rule anyone What were the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany? * 13% of land taken away from them * 6 million people were not German anymore * 16% coal production was taken away * 15% agricultural production would no longer be Germany’s * 48% of iron production was taken away * They had to pay 6.6 billion pounds in reparations * The people blamed the government for signing the treaty of Versailles so they were hated * The government was accused of stabbing the German army in the back by signing the armistice Why was the Weimar Republic in danger of collapsing 1919-23? * The invasion of the Ruhr stopped the German’s gaining any income from that area for nearly two years since France and Belgium only withdrew in 1925 * Hyperinflation in 1923 ruined most of the working class German’s who had spent all their lives saving and made some rich people now very poor making them hate the government * The challenges to the Weimar republic from the likes of the Spartacists and the Kapp Pustch made the Republic’s life