Weimar Germany (1918-23) - Early Threats to the Republic

• It had to accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

• The weaknesses of its Constitution.

• Leftwing revolts like the Spartacist Uprising, Berlin and Bavaria Revolts.

• Rightwing revolts like the Kapp Putsch and Munich Putsch.

• The French occupation of the Ruhr.

• Hyperinflation

Germany had to:

• accept war guilt for WW1
• pay £6.6 million in reparations (mainly to France)
• give up large amounts of its territory
• agree to the disarmament of its armed forces
• forbidden from uniting with Austria
• give up all of its overseas colonies

• They were enraged when they saw the extremely harsh terms of the treaty
• They were not allowed to negotiate over the terms
• They felt the terms were humiliating and extremely unfair
• They felt they should not have to accept sole responsibility for the war
• Many Germans started calling for revenge in order to reverse the effects of the treaty
• Many Germans attacked the new Weimar democratic government for signing the treaty
• Many labelled the politicians who signed the treaty "November Criminals" who had "stabbed the army in the back"
• The treaty undermined the new democratic government, which led to the rise of the Nazi party and the Second World War

Spartacist Uprising (1919)

Causes:

• led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, the Spartacist League wanted a Communist Revolution in Germany
• the league renamed itself the German Communist Party
• 5th January 1919: the Spartacists seized government buildings and organised a general strike.

Consequences:

• the army quickly crushed the uprising and its leaders were shot
• Ebert did a great deal with the army. In return for them crushing the Spartacist Uprising, he promised not to create a new army

The Berlin and Bavaria Communist Revolts (1919)

• The new Weimar government faced further uprisings by Communists

• March 1919 - the Communists organised strikes in Berlin

• They were crushed by the Freikorps

• April 1919 - the German provinance of Bavaria declared itself an independent Communist Republic but again was crushed by the Freikorps

The Kapp Putsch (1920)

• The Treaty of Versailles had restricted Germany's army to 100,000 men and many of the demobilised soldiers joined the Freikorps

• The Allies demanded that Ebert disband the Freikorps

• Wolfgang Kapp, leader of the Freikorps, marched into Berlin to seize power

• Ebert called upon the workers of Berlin to support the Weimar government

• The workers organised general strikes and the Kapp Putsch failed

Munich Putsch (1923)

• Hitler and the Nazi party tried to seize power in the city of Munich to spark the overthrow of the Weimar government

• As the Nazis marched into the city centre, armed police and soldiers fired upon them in support of the Weimar government

• Hitler and other Nazi leaders were arrested and imprisoned

• Hitler used his trial to gain maximum publicity and portray himself as a national hero

• Whilst in prison he wrote his book 'Mein Kampf' which outlined his ideas

• He decided to seize power legally - by fighting and winning elections - rather than by trying another Putsch

The Occupation of the Ruhr:

• 1922 - the German government announced it could no longer pay reparations

• The French invaded the Ruhr industrial region to get reparations by force

• The French took control of the Ruhr's factories, steelworks, mines and railways

• The Weimar government could not defend itself because the Treaty of Versailles had limited the size of its armed forces

• The French shot 132 Germans and expelled 150,000 Germans from the region for refusing to obey the orders of the French military

• As a result of the occuptation of the Ruhr and the resistance against it, industrial production in Germany ground to a halt

Hyperinflation (1923)

• To pay the reparations, Germany started printing money, but the more money it printed, the more worthless it became
• Prices rose which led to the demand for wages to rise, which led to more money being printed, which led to prices rising more
• The prices of goods always rose faster than wages
• Workers were seen carrying their wages home in wheelbarrows
• The rises in prices meant that incomes were too small to live on
• People struggled to buy food, clothes and heat their homes
• People with savings in banks now found that their savings were worthless
• People on fixed incomes, like pensioners, suffered the most
• Only people who had debts or had taken out loans benefited
• Hyperinflation increased the unpopularity of the Weimar government

• The Weimar Constitution made Germany a democracy
• The President was to be elected by the people every 7 years
• The Chancellor had to have the support of a majority of the Reichstag
• All men and women over the age of 20 could vote for members of the Reichstag
• The voting system was based on proportional representation
• It made Germany a Federal Republic where each state had its own government
• It guranteed personal freedoms (e.g. freedom of speech and freedom of religion)

Weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution:

• The President had the power to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor
• Under Article 48, the President could suspend democracy and effectively become a dictator
• Proportional representation meant that no party ever had an overall majority in the Reichstag. This led to a series of weak coalition governments
• Proportional representation gave a voice in the Reichstag to small extremist parties like the Nazi Party