© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 21 The Weimar Republic and its Reasons for Failure

© Boardworks Ltd 20031 of 21

The Weimar Republic and its Reasons for

Failure


What was the Weimar Republic?

The Weimar Republic was set up after the Kaiser had been overthrown in 1918.

In January 1919, an elected parliament (the Reichstag) met for the first time in the city of Weimar, hence the name for the new republic. It was led by the leader of the Socialists (the largest party in parliament), Friedrich Ebert, who became president of the new German republic.


The Weimar Republic lasted from 1919 until the Nazis gained control in 1933. The first five years of the republic were the worst with riots, strikes, shootings and attempts to overthrow the government.

There were several reasons for the unrest, including the fact that people were worried that Communists would take the ‘revolution’ a stage further and take away people’s property. They also felt that the Socialists had ‘stabbed them in the back’ by signing the Treaty of Versailles.


Putsches and murders

The early years of the Weimar Republic saw many putsches (sudden revolutionary uprisings) in Germany. The Free Corps were often involved. These were anti-communist volunteer groups formed by demobilized servicemen. The unemployed and those angry at Germany’s defeat in World War I were particularly attracted. Industrialists who feared the rise of Communism often gave money to the Free Corps.

Read the putsches on the next slide. Write a summary of the events.

Explain why these putsches did not succeed in overthrowing the government.


The Kapp Putsch

On 13 March 1920, rebels led by Wolfgang Kapp marched into Berlin. The rebels had the support of the Free Corps, the Berlin police and some of the army, but not the workers. The government fled. Kapp hated the government for signing the Treaty of Versailles. He wanted to make the German army stronger and regain land lost to Poland.

The workers supported President Ebert and the government, and so organized a general strike. Within a day Berlin was paralysed as there were no trains or buses, water, gas or coal. Government officials refused to provide Kapp with money. Kapp gave in after 100 hours and fled to Sweden.


On 21 March 1920, the workers in the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s richest industrial area, stayed out on strike and formed a Communist ‘Red Army’ 50,000 strong.

The Ruhr Rising

Hard fighting involving government troops was needed before order was restored. Over 2,000 workers were shot.


The murder of Walther Rathenau

On 24 June 1922, Germany’s Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau was killed by a group called ‘Organization Consul’, with an automatic pistol and a hand grenade.

Rathenau was a popular minister and a million people marched through Berlin in mourning the day after his killing.

Organization Consul’s aim was to eliminate (kill) all politicians who had accepted the Versailles Treaty.

Rathenau’s murderers were captured and sentenced to an average of four years in prison.

Why do you think Rathenau’s murderers got such short prison sentences?


Crisis in the Ruhr

In 1919, Germany’s debt was 144,000 million marks. Reparations made matters worse, and by December 1922 the national debt had reached 469,000 million marks. The government asked the Allies for permission to suspend reparation payments, but the Allies refused.

By the end of 1922, the Reparations Commission declared that Germany had failed to deliver promised coal and timber to the Allies. In response, French engineers were sent in to the Ruhr on 11 January 1923 to secure coal production. They were backed up by 60,000 French and Belgium soldiers.


Wilhelm Cuno, who led the centre-right government from November 1922, encouraged the workers of the Ruhr to offer ‘passive resistance’. Cuno also ordered the immediate suspension of reparations payments.

In response, the French and Belgium soldiers arrested mine owners and took over the mines and railways.


The effects of passive resistance

The amount of coal delivered to France and Belgium was considerably reduced.

The German government had to pay millions of marks in compensation to miners who had lost their income.

The government started to issue more banknotes.

By August 1923 there were 663 billion marks in circulation, which led to hyperinflation. There were not enough gold reserves to back up the amount of marks in circulation. This meant that the currency was worthless.

Do you think the policy of passive resistance worked? How else could the government have handled the situation?


Hyperinflation

Hyperinflation happens when the amount of the money in the economy increases, pulling prices up, and the spiral of printing money and price rise goes out of control.

Bread Prices in Germany:

1918 – 0.63 marks

January 1923 – 250 marks

September 1923 – 1,5000,000,000 marks

November 1923 – 201,000,000,000 marks

The currency collapse had a hugely damaging effect on many groups of society. It made savings, pensions, government loans, mortgages and many salaries worthless.


The logistics of hyperinflation

“Berlin, August 11, 1922 – One of the comedy-tragedy episodes of the visit … was the payment by the German government of their railway expenses … This was done in 20-mark notes, and it required seven office boys with huge waste-paper baskets full of these notes to carry the full sum from the office down to the railway station.”

from Lord D’Abernon’s diary.

In 1923, paper money was worth so little that children built play forts with bricks of currency!


Stabilization of the currency

September 1923 – reparations were resumed and the French agreed to study the problem of the German economy.

November 1923 – the Rentenmark was established to replace the old mark. Printing of this new currency was strictly limited. In the same month, 700,000 state employees were sacked in order to reduce the state budget.

In August 1923, a new government was formed, led by Gustav Stresemann. Measures were immediately taken to stabilize the economy:

At the end of November, Stresemann’s government collapsed and was replaced by one led by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party. Stresemann continued to serve as foreign minister until 1929.


The Stresemann years (1924–29)

Gustav Stresemann was chancellor in 1923 and foreign minister 1924–29. The weaknesses of the Weimar Republic continued during this period, but due to Stresemann’s diplomacy, Germany’s situation improved.

In 1924, Stresemann became Germany’s foreign minister. His first success was to draw up the Dawes Plan in agreement with Britain, France and the USA. This allowed Germany to pay what it could actually afford in reparations.

As Germany was paying reparations again, foreign business became more willing to invest money to help build up the German economy. Over the next five years, Germany was lent 25,000 million gold marks. This allowed the building of new factories, houses and machinery. It also meant there were more jobs available.


Stresemann’s foreign policy

Stresemann’s key aims were for better relations with France and a revision of the Versailles Treaty.

On 1 December 1925, the Locarno Treaties were signed with France. These guaranteed the Franco-German and Belgium-German borders, and agreed not to use force to alter them in the future.

Stresemann also managed to gain a guarantee from France that they would not attack Germany in the event of a war with Poland in which Germany was not the aggressor.


These talks that Stresemann undertook with the Allies built confidence between the two sides. This meant that despite not leaving the Rhine on 10 January 1925, as agreed at the Treaty of Versailles, Allied troops did start to leave towards the end of the year. It also meant that on 8 September 1926, Germany was admitted to the League of Nations.

Relations continued to improve, and in January 1927 the Inter-Allied Military Commission, which oversaw German disarmament, was removed.


Germany and the Great Depression

Just before his death in 1929, Stresemann said: “The economic position is only flourishing on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term credits are called in, a large section of our economy will collapse…” What did he mean?

Germany had been lent a lot of money to help rebuild the economy. Normally lenders were happy to renew loans when they were due.

However, in October 1929, the Wall Street Crash occurred as the value of shares sold on the Wall Street Stock Exchange collapsed. US bankers and businesses started recalling their loans. The result was economic disaster for Germany. Companies went bankrupt over night, workers were sacked and poverty gripped the nation again.


Unemployment during the Weimar Republic

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% of labour force

Percentage of the Labour Force Unemployed

What does this graph tell you about the state of Germany by the 1930s?

Why do you think Hitler’s promise of work was calculated to get him votes?


The government

Governments during the Weimar Republic rarely lasted a year. There were seven key parties and several smaller parties. Votes were usually scattered amongst them, with no one party getting a true majority.

This meant that the government was run by coalitions (two parties agreeing to work together in order to hold a majority). Unfortunately, the parties rarely agreed with each other for long, and so new elections had to be called to try and secure a better representation.


Seats won in Reichstag electionsN

umbe

r of

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In what ways does this graph illustrate the problems of government under the Weimar Republic?Explain the large increase in Nazi representation in the Reichstag between 1928 and 1930.Why did the Communist Party also increase their seats?

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1928 1930 Jul-32 Nov-32 Mar-33

Social Democrats

Catholic Centre

Nationalists

6 Minor Parties

Communists

Nazis


Failure of the Weimar Republic

Germany was used to strong leadership and had been a powerful nation.

Using the knowledge you have gained from this presentation, explain why the Weimar Republic was doomed to failure. Include the following headings in your report:

Economy

Employment

Political Parties

Treaty of Versailles.

Documents

© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 21 The Weimar Republic and its Reasons for Failure