Favourable circumstances Flashcards
A weak Weimar government
Fragmented and ineffective government due to its system of proportional representation.
-The Reichstag- based on a system of proportional representation- number of seats in the Reichstag won by political parties depended on the percentage of votes won in the elections.
-although democratic and fair system- meant that many competing political parties- difficult for any party to gain a majority in an election.
-Hence it resulted in the need to form a coalition government that was made up of several parties with diverse aims.
-Very often, the different parties in the Reichstag could not agree on many issues and hence the government took long time to make decisions.
-This fragmentation and disunity in the Reichstag affected the effectiveness of the government in solving problems and improving the lives of the people.
-This made the Germans lose confidence in the government and made them more willing to support extremists parties like the Nazis.
Thus, the proportional representation system resulted in an ineffective and fragmented government, which created favourable circumstances for Hitler to rise to power.
Instability of coalition governments
The coalition government kept breaking up due to disagreements, leading to frequent changes in the government.
-For example, there were altogether 20 different coalition governments during the entire existence of the Weimar leadership.
-The frequent changes made it difficult to put in place long-term plans to develop the country and led to a lack of political continuity.
-This affected the effectiveness of the Weimar government in solving problems and improving the lives of the Germans, thus affecting its credibility.
Thus the disunity and the instability of the coalition governments made many germans lose faith in them and more willing to support extremist parties like Nazis, leading to the rise of Nazis.
Due to Article 48 of the Weimar constitution
Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the President to dissolve the parliament for six months in ‘times of emergency’ and suspend civil liberties.
-As the constitution did not clearly define what constituted an emergency, this created a loophole that allowed opportunists like Hitler to exploit. For example, he seized power legally after the Reichstag Fire in 1933, helping him to gain greater political influence and paving his rise to power.
Thus Article 48 of the constitution and the emergency powers associated with it allowed Hitler to use it to his advantage and consolidate his power.
Lack of mass support
Right-wing and Left-wing extensions made many attempts to overthrow the Weimar government in the early 1920s such as the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Putsch leading to political instability.
-The Weimar government struggled to put down these revolts and often had to rely on the Freikorps to do it, thus making it look weak and incompetent in the eyes of the people.
-The civil service, military and wealthy businessmen did not support the Weimar government too.
-This lack of mass support undermined the authority and credibility of the Weimar government, further weakening and led many Germans to lose faith in it.
Thus the Weimar government did not enjoy mass support and this contributed to its weakness and created favourable circumstances for opponents like the Nazis to capitalise on to gain power.
Hyperinflation
After World War 1, the German economy- weak & widespread poverty.
-The need to pay hefty war reparations further drained the depleted treasury- government resorted to printing more money to keep up with the payment.
-Germany failed to pay the reparations in 1923- France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr region to seize its coal.
-The Weimar government told the German miners to go on a sit-down strike and respond to the crisis by printing more money.
-value of the German currency fell drastically- Prices spiralled out of control and led to hyperinflation.
-The hyperinflation brought immense poverty, hardship and suffering to the people.
-The poor were hit hard but the wealthy and middle-class Germans were worse hit as their savings were virtually wiped out.
-The hyperinflation exposed the weakness of the government- lost support of the middle class and lower middle class.
Hence the hyperinflation created favourable circumstances for the rise of opposition parties as it swayed support of some Germans in favour of other parties like the Nazis.
Impact of the Great Depression
The Great Depression- started with Wall Street Crash in the USA, affected trade worldwide- severe economic crisis in Germany because it relied heavily on US loans and investments.
-The USA suddenly recalled all loans given to Germany, causing many German businesses and factories to close.
-About 6million Germans lost their jobs and suffered poverty and hardships.
-The economic crisis created a political crisis, as the Weimar government failed to solve the economic crisis and lift the Germans out of poverty.
-The economic crisis made many Germans desperate and they lost faith in the Weimar government, thus making them more willing to support extremist parties such as Nazi Party, which seemed to offer more effective ways of solving Germany’s problems.
-The Nazi Party grabbed the golden opportunity to criticise the government for the economic woes and suffering and promised to give the people jobs and hope.
-This swayed many Germans into supporting Hitler and the Nazi Party won its large percentage of votes at the height of the Great Depression.
Thus the impact of the Great Depression created favourable circumstances for Hitler’s rise to power because it further exposed the weaknesses of the Weimar government in solving the economic crisis and made the people lose confidence in it. This is turn made them turn to parties like the Nazi Party.
