Political Instability And Extremism, 1919-1924 Flashcards
Why did the fragmentation (wide array) of political parties become a problem during the Weimar Republic?
. Governments had to command majority support in Reichstag
. Due to PR, no one party could form a government alone so all government became coalitions
Who were the moderate parties of the Weimar Republic?
. Centre party
. DVP
. DDP
. SPD
Why did the moderate political parties feel a greater responsibility to form stable coalitions during the Weimar Republic early years?
German society became even more divided as parties were fragmented, causing many parties to be dedicated to overthrowing the Republic, causing political instability
Why was it difficult to form stable coalitions?
. Germany faced problems that needed tough decisions to be made, causing strains between parties which had to be good to form coalitions
- June 1919, Scheidemann cabinet resigned as it couldn’t agree on TOV signing
. In times of social, economic and political crisis, society became more polarised to far left/right
- these more extreme parties weren’t willing to join coalitions, meaning the task of forming a majority in the Reichstag was even harder
How did the June 1920 Reichstag elections prove how hard it was for parties to get a majority?
USPD - 83 seats
SPD - 103
DDP - 39
Centre - 64
DVP - 65
DNVP - 71
KPD - 4
What are the two stories that can be said about the first 4 years of the Weimar Republic?
Story of unstable governments and shifting coalitions
Story of the changing fortunes of the SPD
How had the fortunes of the SPD changed in the first 4 years of the Weimar Republic?
1918-19: they had taken the lead in establishing the Republic and trying to form stable governments
Post June 1920 elections: ceased to take a leading role in any coalition government due to internal divisions and sometimes weren’t part of the ruling coalition at all
How many coalitions between February 1919 and November 1923?
No less than 10
What was the problem with coalition governments changing so frequently?
Continuity of policies was impossible to achieve, causing confidence to be lost in the whole democratic process of the Weimar Republic, allowing extremist anti-democratic parties to capitalise on this loss of confidence and gain popularity
How did proportional representation cause political instability?
Whilst the new system intended to reduce political conflicts, it in fact resulted in many different parties gaining a small amount of seats in the Reichstag. This meant that no one party had overall an overall majority, and parties joined together to rule in coalitions.
When did the SPD first internally split and why?
1914, as it held a unanimous vote in favour of war credits due to its support to the policy of Burgfriedenspolitik. A growing minority within the SPD, including Hugo Haase, wasn’t willing to support this policy
What was the policy of Burgfriedenspolitik?
‘ castle peace policy’ - was a political truce between the German Empire’s parliamentary parties during World War I. They agreed not to criticise the government’s handling of the war, to keep their disagreements out of public view and to postpone elections until after the end of the war.
Given the outrage of WW1 and the idea of a stab in the back theory, it was obvious that the SPD supporting this policy caused a split
How did the SPD split?
centrists - under Karl Kautsky forming the Independent Social Democratic Party
left - under Rosa Luxemburg
Liebknecht - forming the Spartacus League, which in December 1918 became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
What did Friedrich Ebert try to do with the SPD?
Preserve the unity of the party, dating back since 1875, by bringing the factions of the left and right together
Why did political violence from the right and left increase?
Paramilitary squads were set up to guard political meetings and march through the streets, beating up opposition
Street violence became normal in many cities
When was the first Spartacist Uprising in Berlin and who led it?
5th January 1919
Led by Rosa Luxemburg (left) and Karl Liebknecht (KPD) - communist uprising
What was the aim of the first Spartacist uprising and what was all that really happened?
Aim: to overthrow Ebert’s government and set up a communist regime
What happened: simply liberal newspaper offices and some public buildings occupied, not much of a threat
What was the original intention of the Spartacist uprising?
It was a demonstration against the government dismissal of the socialist Berlin police chief that got out of hand, not meant to be an uprising, hence why the revolt was poorly prepared
What were the problems with the Spartacist uprising?
. Poorly prepared
. Berlin was surrounded by an agrarian region that was conservative and had very little sympathy for the communist rebels
. The little support for the Spartacists in Munich and Hamburg wasn’t coordinated with
. Spartacists didn’t secure the majority of the work if class in Berlin, in whose name they claimed to be acting
Why did the new Freikorps have to be used for the Spartacist uprising?
Ebert had relied on the army to put down the revolt but Groener found very few reliable military units on command, so the Freikorps had to be used
When did the Spartacist uprising end and what were the consequences for the Spartacus league?
13th Jan 1919 - rising crushed after brutal street fighting
. Prisoners such as Luxemburg and Liebknecht excecuted
What did the defeat of the Spartacist uprising allow the government to do?
Hold elections for the constituent assembly later in January
How did the Spartacist uprising deepen leftist divisions for many years after?
Due to the brutality of the suppression and Ebert’s reliance on the Freikorps and the German army
How did the workers who had played a key role in overthrowing the Kaiser in November 1918 feel about the Spartacist uprising?
. Disillusioned (disappointed) in this new revolution - made communists look weak
. Frustrated that the Weimar Republic were too readily compliant with the right
More serious leftist feeling grew , communists wanted to look strong again
