 starter activity
Ebert was the Weimar Republic’s first President. He was in power from 191923. He was a tailor’s son and trained originally to be a saddler. With this lack of
political expertise he was a very worried man. What was on his mind in the
summer of 1919? Use the pictures to help you.
What was the Weimar
constitution?
 Aims
Understand the key elements of Weimar
constitution
Evaluate its strengths & weaknesses
Assess the challenge to the government from
the right
Main features of
new Weimar
Constitution
approved by the
National
Assembly, July
1919
 Your task

Create a table similar to the one below and list the
advantages and disadvantages with this constitution.
Your table should be about ½ side of A4
Advantages
Disadvantages
Advantages




All Germans had equal rights, including the right
to vote
Proportional representation made sure parties
had the same percentage of seats in parliament
as they did in the election
Provided a strong leader to keep control over
the country in an emergency
Each state had its own assembly to represent
local interests
Disadvantages




It was too radical an experiment given the
volatile nature of German society after the war
PR encouraged lots of small parties so no one
party ever had enough seats to form a majority
government
The president could use Article 48 to become a
dictator
Local states could resist the authority of central
government
Kapp Putsch, March 1920




Wolfgang Kapp (1868-1922). Journalist &
founder of Fatherland Party. Elected to
Reichstag as monarchist in 1919.
Following failure of Kapp Putsch, fled to
Sweden in 1922 where he died awaiting
trial
Take notes on the
following:
Causes
Aims
Outcome



Causes: resentment of Tr of Versailles, esp.
limits on size of army & Freikorps; Weimar
Constitution – gave prominence to extremist
parties
Aims: replace Weimar govt. with new national
government headed by Kapp
Outcome: workers rallied to Weimar govt and
declared a general strike
 Extension task

How similar / different was the Spartacist
Uprising (1919) to the Kapp Putsch (1920)?
Spartacists defending govt.
newspaper offices
Army & Freikorps defending Berlin




SIMILARITIES
Led by charismatic,
political extremists
Disliked govt & aimed to
overthrow it
Centred on Berlin




DIFFERENCES
Spartacists were antiWar, Kapp Putsch
supported the army
Kapp was a monarchist,
Spartacists wanted a
Communist revolution
Kapp enjoyed support
of Freikorps