The Treaty of Versailles left the Germans feeling guilty, humiliated, and resentful. The German people have a strong sense of national pride and now they were humiliated, they were in ruins. The treaty destroyed their military and made them pay war reparation therefore causing inflation and loss of jobs. Many Germans were bitterly disappointed by the treaty and this disappointment sparked the lasting bitterness that would
Was the Weimar Republic Fatally Flawed? To understand the above question posed we must consider what caused the new republic to be declared, and also what foundations remained intact for the eventual collapse of this cotemporary government. Before discussing the Weimar Republic we must go back to the end of World War one to understand what brought about this new Republic. Towards the end of World War one, the morale within the army and in Germany collapsed. A series of small defeats prompted strikes throughout Germany.
The manifesto offered free speech, the right to form political parties and it created a “democratic” elected house of parliament – called a Duma. Despite the fact the Tsar promised all of these things for the people, after he had crushed the revolution he actually did very little to promote what he had promised. This is because he issued the Fundamental Laws, meaning the Tsar's ministers could not be appointed by the Duma, therefore denying the Duma a lot of what had been originally suggested. Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished, this further undermined democratic elements in government which showed that Nicholas II was untrustworthy and didn’t keep his promises. The Tsar’s ability to make false promises to the people was a reason for him being able to survive the revolution of 1905 but not of 1907 as people knew by then that he was untrustworthy.
Gareth Parker. A Written Report Of A Discussion On The Rise Of Hitler and the Nazi Party 1918-1933. Identify and comment upon the key weaknesses of the Weimar system of government. The Weimar Republic was born in a time of great turmoil and struggle, encountering many problems throughout its sixteen year history. Possibly the greatest vulnerability was 'the weakness within' - the constitution gave the President, the states and the military too much control, whilst proportional voting meant that the Reichstag was separated and weak.
This is supported because during this period there were limited reforms which had any dramatic change on the political establishment. The political establishment also included the slightly democratic parliament, which disguised the authoritarian constitution which Germany was ruled by, however the authoritarian power is shown by the ability which the Kaiser had to dissolve the Reichstag. The statement can be supported because during this period there was little movement away from the autocratic regime and towards either a more democratic or socialist political establishment. It could therefore be argued that the authoritarian establishment was maintained and that reforms
Article III of the US Constitution establishes the judiciary branch - the Supreme Court. Although the US Constitution includes democratic principles such as checks and balances and the separation of powers to ensure the equal balance of power amongst the government branches, the legislative branch was designed to be most powerful. The organization and qualifications of Congress also contribute to the democratic shortcomings of the US Constitution. One of the biggest of these government decisions is electing the president, for which the system of the electoral college is in place. The US Constitution did not abolish slavery, and an interesting guarantee regarding slavery was included in Article IV of the Constitution.
He also instated Constitutional reforms for instance strengthening the power of the Reichstag by letting them take control of the defence budgets. However, though they had been given this power the Kaiser still had ultimate control and was able to dissolve those reforms and the Reichstag whenever he so pleased. These reforms were not especially ground breaking but they did allow the Reichstag to be happy so they don’t cause any problems. On the other hand, Bismarck used the stick which was by passing Anti- Socialist Laws, forbidding socialist meetings, fundraising, and the banning of distribution of printed materials. Also the expansion of police power meant that they could arrest any socialist who seemed even remotely suspicious.
With Germany in both political and economic turmoil, the introduction of a democracy could not have come at a worse time. In the years that the Weimar Republic was in power there was separation in between classes due to the humiliating Treaty of Versailles, political revolution, economic tragedy, consequences of rushed constitution, cultural expression, the great depression, and in between a frenzy of politics. The Weimar Republic was quite inevitably doomed from the start. When the Weimar Republic formed in the aftermath of World War 1, Germany was suffering with the burden of defeat, and now to add to their trouble a Treaty imposed by their enemies that the newly formed Weimar Republic accepts, would effectively strip the German people and nation of all dignity. One thing that the German people did not cope well with was the loss of the war.
This Governmental style has been used in the recent year in the form of Thatcher, Blair and Brown all of who practised this in some degree to get what they wanted. The idea of an elective dictatorship is derived from the fact that the UK Governments can do as they so well please until their next election. The main problem with the elected dictatorship of government is that the power will be concentrating into just one body of parliament allowing the majority party to do as they wish for their term. Also though as John Griffiths said the constitution is what happens in the country leading to the Governmental party doing whatever they had wished. An elective dictatorship would also have the power to overrule the entire parliament as they tend to have the majority resulting in extreme left or right views, such as the right to buy schemes under the Tory governments.
There may be elections and parties but they are mostly limited by one and the range of candidates is very low. Examples for authoritarian regimes are North Korea, Iran, Burma, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe. But in the UK we use the representative democracy which is also known as Indirect democracy because people elect representatives who make the decisions for us what means the citizen rule indirect. The Government is given authority to direct people and to achieve their goals. Authority is power in a positive way because the Government has the right to tell others what to do but they can’t force anyone.