The Weimar Republic
and its Reasons for
Failure
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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.
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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.
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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 anticommunist 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.
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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.
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The Ruhr Rising
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.
Hard fighting involving government troops was needed
before order was restored. Over 2,000 workers were
shot.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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!
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Stabilization of the currency
In August 1923, a new government was formed, led by
Gustav Stresemann. Measures were immediately taken to
stabilize the economy:
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Unemployment during the Weimar Republic
Percentage of the Labour Force Unemployed
35
30
25
20
% of labour force
15
10
5
19
33
19
31
19
29
19
27
19
25
19
23
19
21
0
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?
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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.
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Seats won in Reichstag elections
Number of Seats
300
250
Social Democrats
Catholic Centre
Nationalists
6 Minor Parties
Communists
Nazis
200
150
100
50
0
1928
1930
Jul-32
Nov-32
Mar-33
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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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.
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