DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 04. WEIMAR TURMOIL YEARS 1919-1923
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The Weimar Republic faced significant challenges from its inception, including economic turmoil, dissatisfaction with the new government, and political instability highlighted by events like the Spartacist revolt and the Kapp Putsch. The democratic constitution granted voting rights and established a parliamentary system but had weaknesses such as proportional representation that led to fragmented governance. Additionally, Germany struggled with the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the subsequent economic crisis, culminating in hyperinflation that devastated savings and the middle class.
DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 04. WEIMAR TURMOIL YEARS 1919-1923
- 1. DEPTH STUDY WEIMAR REPUBLIC WEIMAR REPUBLIC YEARS OF TURMOIL 1919-1923 04
- 2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE REPUBLIC The new republic faced a host of problems: • Over two and half million Germans had died in the war and four million were wounded. • The army and many other Nationalist groups in German society were unhappy that the Kaiser had been forced to abdicate. Some of these owed a very shaky allegiance to the new republic. • Many were completely hostile and viewed the government with contempt. • Economic problems were serious, including rising prices, unemployment and a continued Allied blockade. • Germany faced the prospect of a harsh treaty that was being negotiated in Paris.
- 3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY POSITIVES OF THE CONSTITUTION - Germany was a genuine democracy. - Elections for parliament and president took place every four years and all Germans over the age of 20 were able to vote. - The power of the Reichstag was clear. The parliament was very different from its powers before the war under the Kaiser. - The Bill of Rights guaranteed every German citizen freedom of speech and religion, and equality under the law.
- 4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY NEGATIVES OF THE CONSTITUTION - Proportional representation system was one of the weaknesses of the Constitution. Each party got the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it received in an election. - This meant there were lots of small parties in Parliament making it difficult to pass laws and led to weak and short-lived governments. - Article 48 gave the president the power to act without parliament’s approval in an emergency. It did not define what an “emergency” was, so the power was overused, which weakened Germans’ confidence in democracy. - This type of government created serious problems for Germany. - It relied on small parties working together – something which
- 5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE SPARTACIST REVOLT • Even before the constitution had been drawn up there was a serious challenge from the left. • Many hoped to see a Russian-style revolution in Germany. • The left-wing Spartacus movement led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg began a revolt in Berlin in January 1919. • They seized building throughout the city. • The government fled the city.
- 6. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE AIMS OF THE SPARTACISTS • The Spartacists were communists. • They wanted power and wealth to be shared equally among the population. • They wanted to achieve this by: • overthrowing the central government • establishing soviets (workers’ and soldiers’ councils) in German towns and cities to replace central government • using violent methods
- 7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE REVOLT • In January 1919, 50,000 workers went on strike and protested in the centre of Berlin. • This demonstration was taken over by the Spartacist leadership. • Newspaper and communication buildings were seized, and the demonstrators armed themselves. • The government, which had moved to Weimar to avoid the violence, employed the Freikorps to put down the rising. • The Freikorps were ex-army soldiers who hated the Communists. Over 100 workers were killed during what became known as ‘Bloody Week’.
- 8. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE DANGER OF THE “RED PLAGUE” • Many feared the “red plague” and the defence minister Gustav Noske used the army and the Freikorps to crush the revolt. • The Freikorps was a volunteer militia made up of ex army men set up to defend the borders of Germany. • It was strongly anti-communist and took brutal steps to restore order with summary executions becoming common place. • Liebknecht and Luxemburg were shot, and the revolt was crushed. • In Bavaria another Communist revolt was defeated with Freikorps help in May.
- 9. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
- 10. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE NEW CONSTITUTION • Despite the Spartacist revolt, the majority of Germans voted for parties in January 1919 that favoured the new democratic republic. • These parties were the SPD, the liberal DDP and the Catholic Centre party. The constituent assembly met at Weimar in February 1919 and Ebert was chosen as president. • The new constitution was very democratic. • Germany was to be a Federal state with the states or Lander retaining considerable control over their own affairs. • The parliament (Reichstag) was to be elected every four years with a system of proportional representation that meant it was impossible for one party to get an overall majority.
- 11. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE REICHSTAG • The Reichstag dealt with issues such as tax, trade, defence and foreign affairs. • As there were a large number of political parties, there were many coalition governments. • FACT!!! During the 14 years of the Weimar Republic, there were 20 separate coalitions. • The longest government lasted two years. • This political chaos caused many to lose faith in the new democratic system.
- 12. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE HEAD OF STATE • The head of state was to be the president who was elected every seven years. • The president was the commander of the armed forces and was designed to a largely figurehead position. • He did have the power to dissolve the Reichstag and to nominate the Chancellor who was to enjoy the support of the Reichstag. • Crucially under Article 48, the president could declare a state of emergency and rule by decree. • He could also veto laws passed by the Reichstag that he did not like.
- 13. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE PARTIES OF THE REPUBLIC • The SPD (Social Democrats) were a moderate socialist party and the largest of the parties committed to the Republic. • It was strongly anti-communist. • The Centre Party (Zentrum) was set up to defend Catholic interests in 1870. It drew support from all classes. • It was present in every Weimar coalition government until 1933. The BVP was its Bavarian ally.
- 14. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE PARTIES OF THE REPUBLIC cont. • The DDP (German Democratic Party) was a middle-class Liberal party. It lost support rapidly after 1920. In 1919 it received 19% of the vote. By 1932 this was down to 1%. • The DVP (German People’s Party) had reservations about the new Republic and at heart they were Monarchists. • They were supported by the middle-classes. • The outstanding political figure of the Weimar Republic, Gustav Stresemann, was the leader of this party. • Its highest point of support was in 1920 when it received 14% of the vote. • By 1932 this was down to 2%.
- 15. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE OPPOSITION OF THE LEFT • The USPD (Independent Socialist Party) had broken from the SPD in 1917 because they did not support Germany’s continued participation in WWI. • It declined rapidly after 1920 with the rise of the Communist party. • The KPD (Communist Party) was formed from the Spartacus Union that had led a revolt against the Weimar government in January 1919. • It was very closely allied to Moscow, and it refused to co- operate, in any way, with the parties that supported Weimar. • They were hostile to the SPD. This refusal to support Democratic parties went as far as allying with the Nazis (sworn enemies) in Reichstag votes. This was in order to
- 16. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE OPPOSITION OF THE RIGHT • The DNVP (German National People’s Party) was set up in 1918. • It was composed of supporters of the old Monarchy. It had strong rural support especially in Protestant areas. They were Hitler’s coalition partners when he came to power in 1933. • The NSDAP (National Socialist German Worker’s Party) was founded in Munich in 1919. At first it favoured the violent overthrow of the Weimar Republic. • But after the failed Putsch of 1923 it adopted a legal approach to achieving power. The onset of the Great Depression and the economic chaos of the 1930s greatly aided its rise. It came to national prominence in 1930 when it won 18% of the vote and by 1932 it was the largest party in
- 17. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES • The news of the treaty came as a complete shock to the new government and to the German people. • All sections of German opinion denounced the treaty. • It was known as the Diktat as Germany had been forced to sign the treaty. On the day it was signed, Germany’s Protestant churches declared a day of national mourning. • Germans were outraged at the loss of her colonies and her territory and population to France, Belgium and Poland. • She also resented the limitations placed on the size of her army and navy, the ban on an air force and
- 18. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES cont. • Germany felt that the principle of self- determination had been ignored in the case of the Germans of Austria and the Sudetenland. • Germany believed that the War Guilt Clause and the reparations payments were unjust. • One effect of the Treaty was an immediate lack of confidence in the politicians that had signed it. • This was reflected in the poor performance of the parties that supported the republic in the elections of 1920.
- 19. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE KAPP PUTSCH • Right wing dissatisfaction with the new government was worsened when the government moved to disband Freikorps units. • A nationalist politician, Wolfgang Kapp led a revolt in Berlin backed by the Freikorps and the military commander of Berlin. • The regular army refused to crush the revolt and the government fled to Stuttgart. • Its call for a general strike was carried out by the trade unions in the city and the putsch collapsed. • At the same time a communist revolt was crushed in the Ruhr, the industrial heartland of Germany, with over a thousand dead.
- 20. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE KAPP PUTSCH cont. • Right wing assassinations were to plague the early years of the new republic with leading politicians such as Matthias Erzberger and Walther Rathenau assassinated. • Many of the murderers were treated with great leniency by the courts but the murders did have the effect of strengthening support for the institutions of the republic.
- 21. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY GERMAN’S DEFAULT • In 1921 the Allied Reparations Commission presented the government with a bill for reparations of £6.6 Billion. • The Germans could not pay the amount owed and over the Christmas and New Year, 1922-3, they defaulted on their payments. • In November 1922 Germany defaulted on its reparations’ payment as scheduled. The first reparations payment had taken all she could afford to pay. • The French believed Germany could make the repayment but were choosing not to, however the German government argued they could not afford to pay.
- 22. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF THE RUHR • In response, France and Belgium sent troops into Germany’s main industrial area, the Ruhr Valley. • Their aim was to confiscate industrial goods as reparations payments as they didn’t believe Germany was unable to pay the second instalment. • They occupied coal mines, railways, steel works and factories – all things that were important to Germany’s economy. • 70,000 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr. • They intended to use the produce of Germany’s industrial heartland as payment in kind for reparations.
- 23. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY PASSIVE RESISTANCE • The German government ordered workers to follow a policy of ‘passive resistance’ – refusing to work or co-operate with the foreign troops and in return the government continued to pay their wages. • The French responded firmly – in the Krupp steel works, workers refusing to take orders were shot at. Other people were expelled from the Ruhr region altogether. • 132 workers were killed and approximately 150,000 expelled from the area.
- 24. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE OCCUPATION • The economic effects of the occupation were catastrophic. • The loss of production in the Ruhr caused a fall in production elsewhere and unemployment rose from 2% to 23%. • Prices rose out of control as tax revenues collapsed and the government financed its activities through the printing of money. • By November prices were a billion times their pre-war levels.
- 25. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY HYPERINFLATION • The rise in prices hit the middle classes and those on fixed income very hard. • Many who had saved money found that their saving were worthless.