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The Weimar Constitution (August 1919) (Weaknesses (BANKRUPCY (Reserves of…
The Weimar Constitution (August 1919)
Strengths
More democratic; more people could vote and there was a general election every 4 yrs
Power shared amongst parties (Reichstag/Reichstrat/President/Chancellor)
Censorship lifted; cultural renaissance
Weaknesses
Proportional representation meant coalition governments; wanted different things and made it hard to make decisions
Article 48; Pres could suspend the constitution and rule by decree; gave impression that constitution didn't work
Extremist parties didn't support it and moderate Germans felt it was too weak
BANKRUPCY
Reserves of gold spent in war
TOV took away wealth-earning areas (eg. coalfields in Silesia)
G had to pay reparations; couldn't afford them, led to occupation of Ruhr
G resented Weimar gvmt for not resisting
Because French took stuff from Ruhr where many factories and 80% of German coal and iron were, there was a shortage of stuff; hyperinflation happened as gvmt printed money to pay reparations
Loaf of bread 1 mark in 1919, 100,000 million marks in 1923
Middle classes suffered the most, used to be gvmt's greatest supporters
POLITICAL UNREST: Right Wing
Resented that W.R abandoned army in 1918, hated communists that undermined Kaiser w/ riots/mutinies, feared they would do damage to German traditions
Wanted to reverse Versailles, reinstate Kaiser, boost army
Gained support from military, judiciary & civil rights service
POLITICAL UNREST: Left Wing
KPD; Communist party of Germany
Wanted revolution like in Russia 1917
Thought W.R didn't give enough power to workers
Wanted gvmt by councils of workers/soldiers
Wanted to abolish power in Germany of land-owning classes of armies
MORE POLITICAL UNREST
Violent Unrest
Political parties had their own private armies
Recruited ex-soldiers (bitter, unemployed)
Private armies initially for protection, then caused political activity to become violent
Hugo Hasse, part of Council of People's Representatives, murdered in 1919
Matthais Erzberger, signed TOV, killed in 1921
Between 1919-22, 376 political murders
Right-wing supporters filled judiciary, no right-wing murderers were convicted/excecuted (unfair)
The Spartacist League (Left-wing)
Winter 1918-19, lots of left-wing uprisings, which set up workers' and soldiers' soviet local councils in Germany
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht; organisers of Spartacist League
6th Jan 1919, 100,000 communists demonstrated in Berlin, took over key buildings (newspaper offices, etc)
Ebert knew army loyal to W.R wouldn't be able to put down the revolt; persuaded Riechswehr to work with Friekorps
Friekorps: anti-communist, 250,000 of them, helped W.R crush uprising in eary 1919
Communist supporters arrested/killed, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht arrested on 15 Jan and murdered by Friekorps
The Kapp Putsch (Right-wing)
1950
5000 supporters of Dr. Wolfgang Kapp marched on Berlin to overthrow the Weimar gvmt and bring back the Kaiser
Gvmt fled to Dresden, urged people to go on strike
Workers obliged, did not want Kaiser to return; capital came to a hault
Kapp realised he couldn't govern and fled, then caught in prison and died
Unrest continued, 1923, Munich Putsch (Hitler)
From 1918-23, Germany was unhappy about:
Weimar leaders' decision to admit defeat in 1918; "November Criminals"
1919 TOV; vindictive
Hardship caused by hyperinflation/unemployment
THEREFORE, WEAKNESS SHOWN BY:
Inability to govern on own authority; Reliance on workers' strikes and Friekorps
Government forces killed thousands of people to keep themselves in power
Extremist parties gained strength from 1919-23; still had private armies and events that taught lesson that those with most military power could eventually win