E-Period Weimar Germany by Jason Leong

Fear of the Communists gaining power in government

jleong9 — 2024-04-16 17:27:31 UTC

The bureaucracy of the Weimar Republic frequently went after communists and leftists while allowing right-wing seditionists to escape with light punishments. Judges in Weimar were often sympathetic to the right-wing parties and issued them light sentences, emboldening and legitimizing their attempts to overthrow the government. This allowed right-wing parties such as the Nazis to survive and infiltrate the democratic system.

Article 48

2024-04-16 17:40:06 UTC

Article 48 granted limitless powers to the Chancellor of the Reich in the event of a "national emergency" with no limits or even a definition of a "national emergency". The person who got to declare "national emergency" also stood to gain massive power from declaring such an emergency, creating a conflict of interest.

Frequent Coups From Both Left and Right like the Freikorps march on Berlin and Nazi rebellion in Munich

2024-04-16 17:40:34 UTC

The frequent coups led to a lot of political chaos. The democracy seemed unstable as a result, and many people were unhappy with it. This allowed Hitler to have a problem that he could promise to fix to gain support and rise to power.

War Reparations

2024-04-16 17:41:54 UTC

After the war, Germany was in a large amount of debt and they struggled to pay back the war reparations. Furthermore, this large amount of war reparations caused political disagreements over whether or not Germany should pay them.

Proportional representation

2024-04-16 17:43:15 UTC

The Reichstag ( the German Parliament) used a format of proportional representation which meant that everyone had a certain number of seat in the government proportional to the amount of votes they had. This meant that many radical political parties were able to gain a small amount of seats in the reichstag. Whilst their votes may not have had as much weight due to the small amount of seats, the reichstag seat gave them a larger say in political legistlation and allowed for them to have a platform for spreading their ideas. They would also have access to center members of other political parties to form alliances. This allowed for a small party like the nazis to grow their influence and eventually take over.

The Treaty of Versailles

2024-04-16 17:43:30 UTC

It caused distrust of the Weimar republic and the democratic leaders, especially of the SDP who wanted to repay the debts included in the Treaty of Versailles.

Hyperinflation

2024-04-16 17:43:42 UTC

Germany is struggling to pay reparation, Frances invades ruhr valley, German government tells them to protest against the French, so they print a lot of money which caused the inflation.

There was no true leader with the same goals

2024-04-16 17:44:07 UTC

In the Weimar Democracy, the elected presidents each had different political goals and leanings. For example, Hindenburg was more right leaning, and he would have different goals than a president that was more left leaning. This could destabilize the government as Germans who don't agree with the current president wouldn't want to support the Weimar democracy and instead support another government that had their goals in mind.

The Treaty of Versailles hurt Germany's pride.

2024-04-16 17:44:36 UTC

The reparations from the Treaty of Versailles made the people of Germany feel inferior to the other nations. While The Social democrats wanted to pay the reparations, the Nazi and DNVP wanted to send a message of dominance and Pride to the other countries. This helped rally the people to follow the Nazi Party.

Great Depression

2024-04-16 17:44:39 UTC

Because the German people struggled economically they had no choice but to support the Nazi, causing the fall of Weimar Germany and rise of the Nazis.

Stab-in-the-Back

2024-04-16 17:46:26 UTC

A lot of people believed that the cause of Germany losing the war was due to Jewish interference; that the army had been stabbed in the back. This led to civil unrest and division between parties, leading to the collapse of the Weimar republic.

Proportional voting

2024-04-16 17:46:32 UTC

While the proportional voting was implemented to make as many Germans as happy as possible, it instead caused political unrest. There was no singular party who could gain majority as it resulted in many small parties getting minimal seats.

Paramilitary groups on both left and right used to intimidate opponents

2024-04-16 17:46:38 UTC

It destablized the democracy by causing chaos and breeding distrust. It also allowed the Nazis to remove any political opponents and rise to power.

Slow Government

ttsepel26 — 2024-04-16 17:47:22 UTC

The Weimar Democracy struggled with a slow legislative process. This was due to the Proportional Representation system. This made it more challenging to pass bills and implement policis, and also made it difficult to address urgent issues promptly resulting in the development of Article 48.

extreme polarization between right-wing groups and left leaning parties who both wanted to overthrow the government.

2024-04-16 17:47:42 UTC

The communists and the far-right parties both did not trust the government and they both wanted to overthrow it. There was no foundation of trust in democracy and neither party believed in it.

SPD used Freikorps to suppress communist revolutions attempting to overthrow moderate left government

2024-04-16 17:49:38 UTC

This led to division in the left. Thus, there was not a unified front against the NSDAP as the the left was divided. This destabilized the left, making it easier for the Nazis to gain power.

Communists

2024-04-16 17:51:11 UTC

Many political groups despised the Communist parties and therefore banded together in order to ensure communists would not gain power. This led to many right wing parties like the Nazis getting away with light punishments, while the left wing parties were inhibited and punished more severely. This combined hatred for communists allowed the Nazis to take control and led to the Weimar republic's fall.