However, with widespread political unrest and a crippling economic crisis, was the constitution simply lucky to have survived her infancy years? It is widely believed that the foundations of the Weimar Republic were perilous to the strength of the new government. When the armistice was signed in 1918, the Germany people were shocked and disgraced as they had been led to believe by propaganda that they were winning the war. Ebert had become a hated and disrespected political figure. Not only did the people of Germany feel betrayed by a man of their own country but consequently, had no faith in the new democratic system.
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. As Germany had to pay reparations, they were told to issue a blank cheque which allies would cash when it suited them; the figure that was demanded was well
The Weimar Republic had signed the Treaty of Versailles, 1919, which increased their unpopularity. The Germans hated the Treaty because they saw it as accepting the blame for causing the First World War and admitting defeat. Also, the Treaty came with very harsh including paying reparations of £660 million to Britain and France. The people of Germany did not understand why the government signed this questioned whether they wanted the best for Germany. The hatred for the Weimar Republic kept on growing and this led to the Kapp Putsch, 1920.
There were a number of factors throughout the period 1919-1934 which were responsible for the downfall of the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic's inability to deal with the increasingly dominant economic and social issues in Germany caused discontent throughout the country and consequently caused the German citizens to doubt the Republic. The actions of Hitler and the Nazi party were also a significant contributing factor to the destruction of the Weimar Republic, as as they gained support through their use of legality, propaganda and violence support for the Weimar Republic decreased. However the Weimar Republic's inability to deal with the problems of Germany was a more significant factor than the rise of the Nazis, as their failures were the main reason behind why the Nazis were able to gain power, demonstrating the Weimar Republic was mainly responsible for its own destruction. The failure of the Weimar Republic to fix the increasingly pressing problems of Germany consequently contributed massively to their downfall, as it demonstrated their weakness.
The Treaty of Versailles, though had it’s fair share of unfairness towards Germany, can’t be justified. Though in war, nothing is ever fair or justified, as defeated nations will have to obey the winning nations no matter what. The Treaty of Versailles was an agreement that the “ Big Three” had come up with, Woodrow Wilson from America, Lloyd George from Britain and Clemenceau from France all had different ideas on what the Treaty was to be like and how harshly Germany should be punished. Even though that was the case, the Treaty was designed to cripple Germany in the end, reason being so that it could not start another war. Many of Wilson’s peaceful Fourteen Points weren’t accomplished, but he had faith in the League of Nations to sort things out later.
The eventual collapse of the weimar Republic was brought upon by many factors and even though there is much disagreement among historians about the eventuall trigger, there is a general consencous on the factors leading to the downfall of German democracy. One of the views carried by historians is the Determinist view which basically states that the conditions under which the Republic was created far too extreme and the structure of the republic was serverely weakened, so much so that its downfall was inevitable. The other view was the Alternate view which while acknowledging the structual weaknesses of the Republic, states that the republic had the ability and reselience to recover, but instead lacked sufficient political leadership and a lack of determination to see through their troubles. One of the triggers of the collapse of the weiman republic was article 48 of the German constitution, which granted the president with emergency powers which allowed him to assume full control of the country. This trigger is held highly among determinist historians as one of the reasons the republic was doomed to fail from the start.
The treaty of Versailles greatly humiliated Germany forcing it to accept soul responsibility for the war. Another fault in this treaty was that it did not work as intended. The idea that Germany could ever afford to pay the reparations to full amount was ludicrous as it was already suffering from the defeat of war. These reparations caused runaway inflation throughout Germany. But perhaps the biggest problem of all was that those who created it themselves did not enforce
3) Account for the successes and failures of democracy in Germany in the period 1918/1933 The Weimer Republic was doomed to failure from the outset. The quote from historian and journalist Sefton Delmar “Germany democracy was born with a hole in its heart”, has immense accuracy when post-war Germany is evaluated. The creation of a completely new and foreign form of government aggravated Germany’s post war position. Struggling with political, economic and social strife by the end of WWI, did not allow for a powerful government to be formed. The crucial weakness of the Weimer republic lay not in the strength of its enemies but in the striking absence of its friends.
The war ending treaties were worked out in haste by countries with opposing goals and failed to satisfy even the victors. This treaty was supposed to end the disagreements and WWI. Ironically it only stirred up more tension and arguments. The countries that lost World War I--Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey--were especially dissatisfied with the Peace of Paris. They were stripped of territory, arms and were required to make reparations (payments for war damages).
The 1930s were a difficult time for most Americans. Faced with colossal economic hardships—unprecedented in American history—many Americans turned inward to focus on the worsening situation at home. The United States became increasingly insensitive to the obliteration of fellow democracies at the hands of brutal fascist leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. The U.S. was determined to stay out of war at all costs—even if its allies were in trouble; Americans believed that they were immune from Europe’s problems as long as they refused to get involved. However, as the “free” countries fell, one by one, to the Nazi war machine, Americans began to realize the folly of their foolish optimism and clamored for increasing involvement in foreign affairs.