challenges/threats/problems to weimar

Question 1

Political opposition + extremism: political spectrum dangerously polarised, relied on alliances w army + conservative elites to survive

Answer 1

• Spartacist Uprising, Jan 1919 (left-wing): led by Rosa Luxemburg + Karl Liebknect; aimed to establish Soviet-style state; crushed by Freikorps (volunteer paramilitary units)
• Kapp Putsch, March 1920 (right-wing): led by Wolfgang Kapp + Freikorps; temporary occupation of Berlin; failed due to general strike by workers
• early 1920s: assassinations: >350 political murders; e.g. Walter Rathenau (1922, Jewish foreign minister), judiciary lenient toward right-wing perpetrators (shows bias against Republic itself, Hitler only 9 months in comfy cell for treason 1923)
  => shows how fragile democracy was, put down BUT revealed key institutions e.g. army + judiciary not loyal to Weimar values
• Munich Beer Hall Putsch 1923: Hitler + Nazis attempt coup; easily suppressed; led to Hitler’s prison sentence but allowed publicity; later extremist growth: Nazis 2.6% of share of vote in Reichstag elections in 1928 -> 18.3% in 1930 -> 37% in 1932 => 1932, 50% of voters backed anti-dem parties, made parliamentary dem unworkable
  => high-level threat; extremism directly challenges legitimacy + survival BUT most uprisings failed; support for democracy recovered in the mid-20s (Golden Years); the danger was their growth after 1929.

Question 2

Structural weaknesses

Answer 2

• proportional rep: 20 coalition govs between 1919-33; instability + short-termism; minority fringe parties e.g. Nazis, Communists gained seats easily
• PR meant many small parties gained seats inc. extremists like Nazis (won 12 seats in 1928 w/ only 2.6% of vote), coalition govs were unstable => long-term policy made difficult + enabled radical parties to become influential
• Article 48: emergency power allowed pres to bypass Reichstag, meant as backup but overused (esp under Hindenburg post-1930), undermining democracy => shows dem could be legally suspended => allowed for creeping shift into authoritarianism
• leadership flaws: Ebert (1919-25) relief on conservative army to suppress left-wing, alienating workers; Burning (1930-32) harsh deflationary policy during Depression, made things worse; Hindenburg (1932-34) preferred authoritarian solutions, appointed Papen and Scheicher (unelected, backroom politicians with no public support) ultimately appointed Hitler -> structural decay
  => weakened, enabled own destructions; leadership = reactive, not visionary, chancellors failed to address social/economic divisions; fragile political structure, easily overwhelmed in crises

Question 3

Economic problems

Answer 3

• ToV 1919: £6.6bn reparations = economic strain = resentment + instability; burden was blamed for crippling post-war recovery esp as Allies refused to reduce amount in early 1920s, payments strained W budget + fed ‘sta in the back’ myth; contributing to loss of legitimacy for new democracy
• Hyperinflation 1923: triggered by passive resistance to French-Belgian Ruhr occupation when Germany failed to keep up w/ reparations, gov printed money to pay striking workers = mark collapses; price of bread: 1 mark 1919 -> 200bn Nov 1923; middle class savings wiped out, pensions worthless = long-term distrust in gov + pushed to extremism; damage lingered despite stabilisation by Stresemann through Rentenmark + Dawes Plan
• Golden Years 1924-29: economic recovery through Dawes Plan 1924: US loans (800 mil marks) + restructured preparations; Young Plan 1929 further reduced annual payments + extended time frame
• Great Depression 1929-33: wall street crash = US calls in loans = sudden collapse of German econ; unemployment soars to 6.1mil by 1932; welfare system overwhelmed; Bruning responded w/ deflationary policies e..g cutting public spending, wages + benefits, worsening crisis -> eroded faith bc kep ruling by Article 48; working class turns to extremism who promised jobs, order + national survival
  => crippled democratic centre, fuelled support for anti-dem parties, loss of faith, cascade effect - magnified other threats like political opposition