POLITICAL Successes: Creating a democracy out of the ashes of defeat and the threat of Revolution in 1918/19 Creating a modern democratic constitution with explicit freedoms, PR, female suffrage and an elected Presidency. Eyck called it “an experiment in liberal, parliamentary democracy” Surviving the revolutionary period of 1918-19 and the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. Creating the stability and foreign policy successes of the ‘Golden Years’ (1924-1929) Henig - remember how fractured German society was – social class, region, age Failures: The ‘Ersatz Kaiser’ - Article 48 gave the President emergency powers. This was used extensively by Hindenburg after 1930. PR allowed small parties like the NSDAP in the 1920s, to thrive.
However Germany’s weak economic and political position between 1919 and 1923 cannot purely be put down to the Treaty of Versailles. Other factors such as the nature of the Weimar constitution and the threat from the right and the left of the political spectrum also played a role in the inevitable collapse of the Weimar republic and rise of the Nazi party in 1933. Nevertheless I feel that the Treaty of Versailles was the main blow to the Weimar Republic’s legitimacy as well as the most significant cause of Germany’s hyperinflation during the 4 year period. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in November 1919 by officials from the Weimar government. These men went on to be known as the November criminals, a clear sign of the resentment the German people had for the men that had effectively gave in to the allies as they saw it.
Stresemann called of the policy of passive resistance in order to try to persuade the French to leave the Ruhr. He also promised to pay reparations. This caused the French and Belgium troops to leave the Ruhr and German workers returned to their jobs; which meant industrial production began again. However, the Treaty of Versailles was involved because Germany had to pay huge sums in reparations to the allies. Once again loans were used to prop up Germany’s economy and government spending.
To what extent was Germany a parliame ntary democracy in the years 1900-1914? In the years 1900-1914, Germany was a parliamentary democracy due to the concessions and the laws that were being introduced that benefitted the growing working class. The definition of a parliamentary democracy is that there should be people who are elected to represent the country and the elected body should have more power. Though, there are clear signs that despite of all of the laws and the responsibilities given to certain groups, the Kaiser still had the ultimate power and control over Germany and the Chancellor still had overriding power of the Reichstag. Arguments to agree with the statement is that Germany did have a voting system and this was done on universal suffrage for all males over the age of 25, which was exactly the same in countries such as Britain and France and arguably better than America who discriminated against racial minorities.
The stability between these years can be seen as a result of the various agreements and pacts set up. The Dawes plan set up in 1924 was essentially a short-term agreement in order to reduce the amount of reparations Germany had to pay. However, it did mean that Germany had to agree to their bank being supervised by the Allies in order to ensure payments were made. An essential element for Germany in signing the deal was the fact that the French forces would end
At first glance, one would have to suggest Wilhelm II did control an authoritarian Germany. He favoured "personal rule", whereby he could make all the decisions, and seemed at the time to control the politics, the leading figures, the military, and as a result the whole of Germany, with a firm hand. However, was this the case? The Kaiser, and "personal rule" of an authoritarian Germany, was exemplified by his quote that reads "There is only one ruler of the Reich and I am he". He defended the Prussian Monarchy, and strongly believed in the Divine Right of Kings.
Regardless of this, although Germany seemed politically calm, there were still massive problems arising which could later cause significant problems in the early 1930s. Firstly, the Dawes Plan was an important incline that Germany was about to approach a much needed period of economic stability. After burning all of the old Deutschemark currency and replacing it with a completely new currency known as the Rentenmark, which was the main cause of solving the inflation crisis, and also with the much appreciated investment from America, German unemployment levels briefly fell in 1925.The new Rentenmark currency allowed Germany to continue paying back the hefty reparations which were under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The American investment not only helped Germany to pay reparations to the Allies, which they would not have been able to do, it also developed the infrastructure, for example creating
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.
Hitler was able to help Germany’s economy slowly ascend to its former glory, as did Russia with Lenin and Stalin. Both Russia and Germany started off the age of anxiety with rough economies Germany, because of the Treaty of Versailles, and Russia because of civil war regarding communism and large famines. With a plummeting economy Lenin stepped in
“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.