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Early Weimar Republic (issues including hyperinflation and Proportional…
Early Weimar Republic (issues including hyperinflation and Proportional Representation)
The many weaknesses of the Weimar Republic paved the way for Hitler's rule.
The democratic system relied on all the parties agreeing, which they never did, so nothing really got done.
The President could pass laws without the approval of the Government. He had the power to declare a ‘state of emergency’ and use Article 48 to pass emergency laws. This gave him the power to suspend democracy.
It had many enemies.
The Reichstag was full of Communists and Nazis who hated the Weimar Republic.
Conservative groups such as
the army, civil service and judiciary wanted the Kaiser back.
Beginnings of the Nazi Party and its rise to power
In 1918 the Nazi Party was a small, insignificant fringe party
with limited support.
After WW1 Hitler was giving the job of spying and reporting on groups who might pose as a threat to the new German government. He visited a Nazi Party meeting, ended up joining, and eventually leading the party. Right from the start he had strong views on the future of Germany.
Hitler believed in a greater Germany. He wanted to take land to the east of Germany (e.g. in Poland). This would provide living space or lebensraum for the German people.
Hitler hated democracy. He was not willing to wait for the Nazi party to get elected. He would gain power through force..
In late 1923, Hitler thought the time was right to try to take power as the economy, due to hyperinflation, was in crisis. 1923 was a tough year for the Weimar Republic. In November 1923 Hitler tried to take over Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria.
Kahr and Lossow have no intention of joining the Putsch. They escaped and alerted the army and police. Hitler had not prepared for a fight. He thought the army would march with him because he had Ludendorff.
Hitler marched through Munich with 3000 SA men. The march was met by a police barricade. Shots were fired and 16 Nazis were killed. Hitler and Ludendorff were arrested a few days later for treason
Hitler burst into a political meeting being held in a Munich beer hall. He used a gun to force Gustav von Kahr (the leader of the Bavarian government) and von Lossow (the local army commander) to join the uprising. Hitler also had the support of General Ludendorff, a popular WW1 army general.
Hyperinflation
This led to money becoming worthless and hyperinflation and some Germans even resorted to carrying wheelbarrows of cash around. The Weimar economy was in crisis.
In 1929, Germany agreed the Young Plan which reduced reparation payments by 2/3rds and
gave them longer to pay back reparations.
By 1923 the Weimar Government could not afford to pay back the reparations (payments) as agreed
by the Treaty of Versailles.
France and Belgium didn’t believe the Germans and sent 60,000 troops
into the Ruhr Valley area of Germany to take goods by force.
The German government told workers in the Ruhr to go on strike and passively resist the French and Belgians. However, the German Government still needed to pay the strikers so started to print money.
Germany was in crisis after hyperinflation and the Munich Putsch in 1923. However, the country recovered strongly between 1923 and 1929. This time became known as the ‘Golden Years’ of the Weimar Republic. The work of Gustav Stresemann got Germany back on its feet.
Agreed the Dawes Plan with the USA. This meant the USA would loan Germany money to help them recover. Germany did not have to pay back more in reparations than they could afford.
Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations in 1926. This meant Germany was
recovering as a world power.
He ended the resistance in the Ruhr Valley and introduced a new currency called the Rentenmark which solved the problem of hyperinflation.
Left-wing groups felt the changes after World War I did not go far enough. They wanted Germany to become a communist country. In 1919 the Spartacists tried to take power. The rebellion was easily crushed by a group of ex-soldiers called the Freikorps.
Right-wing groups wanted one strong leader of Germany. They wanted the Kaiser back. The Freikorps launched their own uprising in 1920 which was called the Kapp Putsch. This failed because the workers of Berlin went on strike.