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The Weimar Republic
- It was fair and democratic
- A Bill of Rights guaranteed every
German citizen freedom of speech and
religion, and equality under the law
- All men and women over 20 could
vote. Britain only allowed women
over 30 to vote.
- There was an elected
president and an elected
Reichstag (parliament).
- The Reichstag made the laws and
appointed the government, which
had to do what the Reichstag
wanted
- A Bill of Rights guaranteed every
German citizen freedom of speech and
religion, and equality under the law
- The Weimar Republic looked like the perfect democracy,
but it had two great weaknesses - proportional
representation and Article 48
- Two flaws that eventually destroyed the
Weimar Republic
- Proportional representation:
instead of voting for an MP,
Weimar Germans voted for a
party. Each party was then
allocated seats in the
Reichstag which were
proportional to the number of
people who had voted for it. It
resulted in dozens of tiny
parties, with no party strong
enough to get a majority, and,
therefore, no government
could get its laws passed in the
Reichstag. This was a major
weakness of the Republic.
- Article 48: this says that in
an emergency, the
president did not need the
agreement of the
Reichstag, but could issue
decrees ( laws not passed
by the majority of the
parliament). The problem
with this is that it did not
say what the emergency
was, and in the end, it
turned out to be a back
door that Hitler used to
take power legally.
- Proportional representation:
instead of voting for an MP,
Weimar Germans voted for a
party. Each party was then
allocated seats in the
Reichstag which were
proportional to the number of
people who had voted for it. It
resulted in dozens of tiny
parties, with no party strong
enough to get a majority, and,
therefore, no government
could get its laws passed in the
Reichstag. This was a major
weakness of the Republic.
- Immediate problems of Weimar Germany 1919-23
- Association with defeat in WW1 which made the
Weimar Republic weak in the eyes of some
citizens - particularly right-wing nationalists
- The Treaty of Versailles - this led
many to label the Socialists in the
government as the NOVEMBER
CRIMINALS and claimed that they
had stabbed Germany in the back
- Political Violence - Many groups objected to
the new democratic government, mostly
extreme left wing communists or extreme
right wing nationalists, who wanted to bring
back the Kaiser or have a strong authorian
leader. 1919 communist group - Spartacists
rose up in Berlin. March 1920, right wing
rebellion - Kapp Putsch. Many political
murders and the Jewish Foreign minister
Walther Rathenau.
- Reperations - £6600 million to be
paid in annual installments.
Germany was already struggling
financially. Paid first installment in
1921, £50 million and many
Germans protested that this was
too much when their country had
to be rebuilt. They did not pay in
1923 - leading to French invasion
of Ruhr, General Strike and
consequent hyperinflation.
- Association with defeat in WW1 which made the
Weimar Republic weak in the eyes of some
citizens - particularly right-wing nationalists
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