Wilson believed the treaty of Versailles should punish Germany but not so harshly that it would someday recover and seek revenge. However Wilson’s main aims were portrayed> through his fourteen points. But perhaps his main goal for post war Europe was to strengthen democracy in Germany so the citizens would not let its leaders cause another war. France suffered enormous damage in WW1. When the war ended the general population of France wanted revenge on Germany.
This could have acted as a powerbase for the Kapp Putsch and the eventual rise of the Nazis. The humiliation was also a main factor in weakening prospects for democracy for two reasons it led to stab in the back myth and a national inferiority complex. The stab in the back myth was perpetuated by the far right and the leading army generals. The stab in the back myth was that Germany was not losing ww1 and that the democratic politicians “stabbed Germany in the back” by surrendering to the entente. This allowed the far right to exploit the Germans hate of the treaty of Versailles and connect the treaty to democracy, so the people wouldn’t blame the loss of ww1 on the army but the democratic politician’s.
They are many factors on why did Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. World War one, treaty of Versailles, fear of communist and the great depression are the main reason on Hitler became Chancellor. The Germans sighted the treaty of Versailles 1919 after losing Great War, although they believed they treaty was harsh they had no choice either sign it or the country getting invaded. The Germans called the treaty Diktat as it was being forced on them and the Germans had no choice but to sign it. One thing the Germans were not happy in the treaty of Versailles is the War Guilt Clause, take blame for the war.
“Assess the view that the collapse of the Weimar Republic was primarily due to the appeal of Hitler and his Nazi party” The Weimar Republic government was riddled with weakness and incompetence in a variety of crucial social, economic and political areas. This caused the influence of the Nazi Party, which through its charismatic and nationalistic leader, Adolf Hitler, it gained a large amount of support. However it was due to the Weimar Republic’s own failings that the Nazi Party became appealing and as a result the Weimar Republic was brought to its inevitable demise in 1933 with Hitler ready to take the reigns. When the Treaty of the Versailles was signed in 1919, the government was making a very unpopular decision amongst the citizens, as it a result lead to the downfall of the Weimar Republic. The Treaty caused humiliation and shock amongst the citizens of the country, much of the political backlash was due to the fact that the Allies were dictating to Germany the harsh terms of the war reparations, which was seen as absurd by many citizens as they did not feel as if they were responsible for starting the war nor did they feel as though they had lost.
The elite undermined Weimar as a result of their traditional values and hatred of democracy. In addition, Hitler’s radical new approach to politics utilised the weaknesses in Weimar – he was charismatic and through propaganda convinced the public that he could be their saviour. During the years 1918-28 the Nazis had little impact on the political scene – apart from the failed Beer Hall Putsch, which did earn them admiration from some nationalists. However, during these years, some sections of the public were becoming increasingly disillusioned with Weimar. This was due to events like the devastating 1923 hyperinflation, and of course the Treaty of Versailles, which had tainted Weimar’s reputation from its inception.
What Evans means by this is that the desperation of the people led them to polarising their votes and seeing radical leaders like Hitler as a solution to the mess that Germany had become. Hitler took advantage of this, and from there was able to play a huge role in the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The economic strain that Germany was placed under was also a major impact of the Depression on the collapse of the Republic. Firstly, the Depression had the obvious impact of the debt rising and the banking crises however, there were a number other impacts. Germany relied heavily on international trade for resources; almost one third of their resources came from overseas.
Not only did this increase the tension and suspicion between the two countries, but it also caused problems at home, and contributed greatly to the undermining of Bulow’s chancellorship, forcing him to step down in the summer of 1909. This further increased the instability of the government in the Reichstag. Source 1 also makes reference to the Kaisers “reckless quest for colonies”, which highlights the aggressive natures of weltpolitik and economical imperial expansion. However, the expansion of the German empire during this period was actually bloodless, and
Thankfully Citizens will finally have some light in this dark storm that was brought by the great depression when president Roosevelt and his administration came to office. Even with President Roosevelt in office, president Hoover still ridiculed his approached in restoring the economy with the new deal. President Hoover believed that the New Deal created by president Roosevelt was ridiculous and a complete waste of time. Thankfully President Roosevelt continued on his quest to restore the economy regardless of Hoover’s opinion. Unlike the administration of President Hoover, the Administration of President Roosevelt believed that the great depression could only be defeated through hands
The Nazis felt like this political group was trying to undermine their “people’s community”. Hitler made it very clear that he did not want the communists in his people community when he and the Nazi party realised their 25 point programme of 1920.However the Nazis also portrayed the socialist and any other party of which had taken part in coalition governments during the Weimar republic as they collaborated with communism and Jewish democracy. Hitler wanted to introduce the policy of volksgeminschaft in this case because if he could eliminate the communists and the other parties who were associated as collaborating with them, the Nazis could then get their votes as they had a high amount of supporters, which would mean them having the majority and coming into power. Anybody who the Nazis believed that represented a threat to the racial purity of which Hitler wanted would come under the socialism categories. This included, Jews, gypsies and those who were seen as mentally or physically unfit.
He wanted to cripple Germany so France would never feel threatened again. Adolf Hitler promised that if he became the leader of Germany then he would abolish the Treaty of Versailles, not just because it was unfair but because it was a constant reminder to them that they were defeated in the First World War. In 1933, Hitler broke one of the Terms of the Treaty by increasing Germany’s armed forces. By doing this reduced unemployment and helped to protect Germany from future attacks. Hitler got away with this because Britain had sympathy for Germany and in 1935 signed a naval agreement with them.