Was the Weimar Republic Doomed from its beginnings?

1
Was the Weimar Republic Doomed from its
beginnings?
2
The Second Reich

• Hereditary Kaiser (emperor)
• appoint/dismiss ministers at will
• Could dissolve Reichstag at will
• Head of the armed forces
• Especially revered in Prussian culture
• Responsible for Foreign Policy
• Weak Reichstag
• could not remove chancellor or government
  ministers
• Agree or reject laws proposed by Kaiser or his
  government
• Socialist SPD largest Socialist parliamentary
  group in Europe
• Reichsrat
• 26 state state governments
• Control over local affairs
• Could veto Reichstag legislation

3
First World War

• Muddled start to war
• Pre-emptive strike due to Russian Mobilisation
• Wave of nationalistic fervour
• All parties pledge support for the war (including
  SPD)
• Civic Truce
• Socialist conference about war in Switzerland
• Pro-war versus anti-war
• Communists surprised at socialist support for
  armies
• Class war versus nationalism
• SPD expect political concessions from
  establishment in return for support
• Although prepared to wait until victory is
  achieved

4
War of Attrition

• Sclieffen Plan fails in 1914
• Consumer goods sacrificed for Total War
• Black Market profiteers could provide goods (at a
  price)
• Royal Navy Blockade starts immediately
• Food supply problems
• Food riots
• Strikes
• Lawlessness
• Disease
• 1916 Hindenburg and Ludendorff take supreme
  command of war effort
• Above Reichstag, Chancellor and even Kaiser
• Popular move whilst German armed forces are doing
  well
• Conditioned Germans to expect victory through
  sacrifices being made

5
The War Drags On

• German response to Blockade
• Unlimited Submarine Warfare
• Not as effective as blockade
• Brings US into war
• Russian Revolution provides hope to the Germans
• Potentially frees up millions of German soldiers
• Turn down peace overtures from allies
• Confident of victory through their own efforts
• Negotiations with Bolsheviks drawn out
• Had to restart Eastern Front campaign in 1918
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk punitive towards Russia
• Required vast manpower just to garrison newly
  acquired territory

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1918 Clutching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

• Ludendorff Summer Offensive
• New tactics
• Storm-troopers infiltrating enemy lines
• Initially successful, massive advances
• Outskirts of Paris
• Amazed to find allies have significant supplies
  whilst their own rations / conditions were so
  poor
• US
• Allied counter-attacks easily recover German
  gains
• German forces out of emplacements
• Poor Morale
• Exhausted meagre supply chains

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Staring Defeat in the Face!

• German Army in full retreat
• 2 million dead
• 6 million wounded
• Blockade starving civilians and military alike
• Defeatism and collapse of morale
• Turks, Bulgarians, Austro-Hungarians all
  negotiating surrenders
• German High Command realise that defeat is
  imminent!

10
Deflecting Blame!

• September 29th
• Generals suggest a new Civilian Government to
  negotiate an armistice with Allies
• Why?

11
Deflecting Blame!

• Generals suggest a new Civilian Government to
  negotiate an armistice with Allies
• Why?
• They knew that continuing the war was hopeless
• They could avoid some of the blame for losing the
  war
• German High Command was basically running Germany
• They felt that the Allies would be more
  sympathetic negotiating with Civilians rather
  than with Military
• Wilson!

12
Chancellor von Baden

• October 3rd
• New Civilian Government
• Led by Prince Max of Baden
• Full Reichstag Support
• Including liberals and socialists
• First Job
• To negotiate the armistice/surrender!
• Amenable to Wilsons 14 points

13

• I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at,
  after which there shall be no private
  international understandings of any kind but
  diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the
  public view.
• II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas,
  outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in
  war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or
  in part by international action for the
  enforcement of international covenants.
• III. The removal, so far as possible, of all
  economic barriers and the establishment of an
  equality of trade conditions among all the
  nations consenting to the peace and associating
  themselves for its maintenance.
• IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that
  national armaments will be reduced to the lowest
  point consistent with domestic safety.
• V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial
  adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a
  strict observance of the principle that in
  determining all such questions of sovereignty the
  interests of the populations concerned must have
  equal weight with the equitable claims of the
  government whose title is to be determined.
• VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and
  such a settlement of all questions affecting
  Russia as will secure the best and freest
  cooperation of the other nations of the world in
  obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed
  opportunity for the independent determination of
  her own political development and national policy
  and assure her of a sincere welcome into the
  society of free nations under institutions of her
  own choosing and, more than a welcome,
  assistance also of every kind that she may need
  and may herself desire. The treatment accorded
  Russia by her sister nations in the months to
  come will be the acid test of their good will, of
  their comprehension of her needs as distinguished
  from their own interests, and of their
  intelligent and unselfish sympathy.
• VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be
  evacuated and restored, without any attempt to
  limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common
  with all other free nations. No other single act
  will serve as this will serve to restore
  confidence among the nations in the laws which
  they have themselves set and determined for the
  government of their relations with one another.
  Without this healing act the whole structure and
  validity of international law is forever
  impaired.
• VIII. All French territory should be freed and
  the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done
  to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of
  Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of
  the world for nearly fifty years, should be
  righted, in order that peace may once more be
  made secure in the interest of all.
• IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy
  should be effected along clearly recognizable
  lines of nationality.
• X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place
  among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and
  assured, should be accorded the freest
  opportunity to autonomous development.
• XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be
  evacuated occupied territories restored Serbia
  accorded free and secure access to the sea and
  the relations of the several Balkan states to one
  another determined by friendly counsel along
  historically established lines of allegiance and
  nationality and international guarantees of the
  political and economic independence and
  territorial integrity of the several Balkan
  states should be entered into.
• XII. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman
  Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty,
  but the other nationalities which are now under
  Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted
  security of life and an absolutely unmolested
  opportunity of autonomous development, and the
  Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a
  free passage to the ships and commerce of all
  nations under international guarantees.
• XIII. An independent Polish state should be
  erected which should include the territories
  inhabited by indisputably Polish populations,
  which should be assured a free and secure access
  to the sea, and whose political and economic
  independence and territorial integrity should be
  guaranteed by international covenant.
• XIV. A general association of nations must be
  formed under specific covenants for the purpose
  of affording mutual guarantees of political
  independence and territorial integrity to great
  and small states alike.

14
Wilsons 14 Points

• US President Wilson seemed to offer more
  favourable terms with his 14 Points
• Compared to the vindictive French!
• Wilson refused to negotiate with Kaiser or with
  military autocrats
• Belief in Democracy and Democratic Governments
• ButFrance and Britain not keen on handing over
  negotiating rights to this Johnny come lately

15
The Deteriorating SituationThe Kiel Mutiny

• German Navy had been starved of resources
• In port since Battle of Jutland, 1916
• Bored sailors
• Poor morale
• High command order fleet to sea for one final
  desperate bid to unblock blockade
• Sailors refuse to follow orders
• October 28th Mutiny
• Red flags prevalent
• Influence of Russian revolution
• Soldiers hear of sailors mutiny
• German soldiers begin to mutiny, desert,
  surrender
• Discipline collapses across Western Front
• Government realise that defeat is imminent!
• Need to act to forestall a full scale Communist
  Revolution!

16
Speeding up of negotiations

• 5th November
• Wilson agrees to use 14 points
• But adds that Germany liable for all damage
  caused
• Baden government prevaricates
• French and British furious to find US negotiating
  without them
• November 9th
• Allies revise demands
• Rhine to be occupied
• German Fleet to be handed over
• East Africa to be handed over
• All munitions to be handed over
• All Allied POWs to be freed immediately

17
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• Baden Government reeling from new demands
• Communists feel that conditions are ripe for a
  revolution
• Spartacist Revolution
• USPD (Independent Socialists)
• Karl Leibknecht and Rosa Luxembourg
• Support from Lenin
• Bavaria declared a Socialist Republic
• Soviet Republic of Germany declared!
• General Strike announced

18
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• Majority Socialists (SPD) oppose Spartacist
  Revolution
• Afraid of model of October Revolution!
• Would prefer a February Revolution!
• Call for Kaiser to abdicate to remove wind from
  Spartacist demands
• Kaiser dithers cannot make up his mind
• Chancellor Baden decides for him!
• Announces Kaisers abdication
• Establishes a Regency
• Calls for a new Constituent Assembly
• Chancellor resigns and hands power to SPD

19
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• Kaiser livid
• Kept on mumbling that he did not mean to
  abdicate!
• Treason!
• Barely any army left to defend him!
• Order collapsing throughout Germany
• Forces of order anxious of Communist Russian
  Precedent
• Bundled onto a train to Holland and exile

20
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• SPD Friedrich Ebert declared new Chancellor
• A Marriage of convenience
• General Groener
• Commander of German Army
• Contacts Ebert by secret phone to negotiate
  giving him the support of the army
• What demands did he make?

21
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• A Marriage of convenience
• General Groener
• What demands did he make?
• Ebert must oppose Communism
• Ebert must put down the Spartacist Uprising
• Ebert must leave the structure of the German Army
  alone
• This gives Ebert the ability to assert control
  over Spartacist Revolution (takes time)
• Army a little gung-ho in shooting their
  countrymen with little remorse

22
Bare-Face Outrageous Treason and 2 Republics in
One Day!

• November 9th
• Marriage of Convenience
• Allows Ebert to save Germany from immediate
  revolution
• But
• It allows the conservative army to remain intact
• Allows Ebert to conclude armistice with Allies
• Allies prefer socialist Germany to a Communist
  Germany
• Allies content that with the support of the army
  Ebert can be negotiated with
• November 11th
• Armistice signed at 11am
• Short term versus long term blame!

23
Ebert tries to stabilise Germany
24
Ebert tries to stabilise Germany
25
January 1919 The war is over, but the problems
are not!

• Treaty of Versailles negotiations continuing
• Royal Naval Blockade in place
• Starvation/Hunger
• Influenza epidemic
• General Strike still continuing
• Russian Revolutionaries helping newly created
  German Communist Party (KPD)
• Anarchy and Chaos on Eastern Border
• Separatist governments being declared
• Communist infiltration of some Police forces
• Army barely maintaining discipline
• No money to pay soldiers!
• FreiKorps step in to fill vacuum
• Spartacist revolution being crushed violently
• Thousands killed in Berlin alone
• Bavaria restored
• Summary justice

26
Is the enemy on the left or the Right?

• Treaty of Versailles negotiations continuing
• Royal Naval Blockade in place
• Starvation/Hunger
• Influenza epidemic
• General Strike still continuing
• Russian Revolutionaries helping newly created
  German Communist Party (KPD)
• Anarchy and Chaos on Eastern Border
• Separatist governments being declared
• Communist infiltration of some Police forces
• Army barely maintaining discipline
• No money to pay soldiers!
• FreiKorps step in to fill vacuum
• Spartacist revolution being crushed violently
• Thousands killed in Berlin alone
• Bavaria restored
• Summary justice

27
Constituent Assembly ResultsJanuary 1919
28
New Assembly, New Challenges!

• Chancellor Schiedemann
• Minority government
• SPD 163 out of 421
• A new constitution is written
• In Weimar
• Weimar thought to be the home of the German
  liberal Intelligentsia
• Goethe, Bach, Schiller, Nietzsche
• Text on pages 26/27 of big red book
• Analyse advantages and disadvantages of
  Constitution
• Treaty of Versailles Concluded
• June 1919

29
Treaty of Versailles

• German Negotiating difficulties
• Change of Government
• Coalition government
• Compromises, disassociations, vascillations
• German army melting away
• Peoples priorities elsewhere in 1919
• Arrogant Prussian officer class negotiating
• Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau
• Treaty of Vienna Parallels?
• Germans expecting to be treated similar to France
  in 1815
• Magnanimous Kings and emperors maintaining a
  balance

30
The Council of Four

• Wilson
• Idealistic, Naïve
• Clemenceau
• Old tiger, vindictive, pessimist
• Orlando
• Wanted rewarding for helping Allies
• Withdraws from negotiations!
• Lloyd-George
• Imperial strategist, Compromiser
• Many minor delegates attended
• But Germany not invited to any of the
  negotiations
• Merely summoned in June 1919 to sign the finished
  document

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Treaty Provisions

• 440 articles including
• Territorial Losses
• Creation of new buffer states between Germany and
  Russia!
• Plebiscites encouraged
• Sop to Wilson
• Austria specifically prevented from holding a
  plebiscite!
• Punitive actions to reduce Germany to a minor
  power
• Army 100,000, 6 ships, no tanks or aircraft
• Reparations
• Ominously to be decided!
• Blank Cheque J M Keynes
• War Guilt Clause

34
Article 231

• The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and
  Germany accepts theresponsibility of Germany and
  her allies for causing all the loss and damage
  towhich the Allied and Associated Governments
  and their nationals have beensubjected as a
  consequence of the war imposed upon them by the
  aggression ofGermany and her allies.

35
German Impact of Treaty 1 Cabinet Crisis

• Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau
• Disgusted at lack of German participation
• Allowed just 15 days to make observations on
  document
• Disgusted that Blockade continued throughout
• Horrified at vindictiveness of treaty
• Illegally published a draft copy
• German Public as horrified as he was
• Chancellor Scheidemann
• Considers resuming the war
• Army High Command point out that Germany has
  effectively no military capability to defend
  itself
• Although Hindenburg considers a Heroic defeat!
• Chancellor resigns rather than sign such a savage
  document

36
Musical Chairs

• President Ebert tried to resign as President
• Bauer takes over from Scheidemann
• Reluctantly agrees to Treaty Provisions
• 237 to 138 in Reichstag
• Foreign Minister Muller signs on 28th June
• The SPD would forever be tarnished for having had
  to sign the Dictated Peace Treaty

37
German Impact of Treaty 2 Soldiers Revolt

• Prussian Military Tradition undermined by Treaty
• Officer corps horrified by savage cuts
• Freikorps units were no longer in legal limbo
  they were now illegal
• Frustrated army unable to turn on victorious
  Allies
• Turn on Weimar Government instead!
• Luttwitz Berlin Army Commander
• Erhardt German Marine Commander
• Kapp Prussian Civil Servant/Leader of the
  Fatherland Party

38
The Kapp Putsch

• The Plan
• March on Berlin
• Expel Socialist government
• Place Pliant Kapp as civilian figurehead of a new
  military government
• An Open Secret?
• Plotters asked Seeckt, Ludendorff and other
  generals for their support
• No support received
• But no hostility either
• Nobody reported the plotters
• Plotters assumed that German soldiers would not
  fire on German soldiers!

39
The Trigger

• February 1920
• Forced Demobilisation of army
• A requirement of the Treaty of Versailles
• 12,000 Freikorps ordered to disband
• Commander Luttwitz refuses

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Who will defend the Republic?

• Chancellor Bauer asks General Seeckt to restore
  order
• General refuses
• Troops do not fire on troops when Reichswehr
  fires on Reichswehr all comradeship within the
  officer corps has vanished!
• Wait and See policy (See who wins?)
• Most Soldiers remain neutral
• But government forced to flee Berlin
• To Dresden and then to Stuttgart
• Nationalist Von Kahr takes advantage to regain
  control of Bavaria from Communists
• Would become a centre of right wing tolerance

42
Who will defend the Republic?

• The Left comes to the rescue
• General Strike ordered by Trade Unionists with
  support of most working classes and even
  Communists
• 80,000 communists take control of Ruhr
• Refuses to cooperate with the new Kapp Government
• Kapp Ineffectiveness
• 4 days of rule were pretty ineffective
• Could not announce victory to newspapers as they
  could not even find a working typewriter
• Banks refused to issue loans or currency on
  behalf of the unrecognised government
• Strike paralysed business and industry

43
Who will defend the Republic?

• Dilemma for Government
• What to do with the German Army?
• It had demonstrated that it could not be relied
  on in times of crisis to defend the Republic from
  attacks from the Right
• However, it was still needed to defend the
  Republic from threats from the left!
• Eg 80,000 Communists in the Ruhr
• They would not lay down arms after the fall of
  the Kapp Government
• Army more than happy to shoot left wing rebels!

44
June 1920 Elections
45
June 1920 Elections

• Disaster for the SPD
• The writers of the Weimar constitution were
  punished by its own provisions
• Associated with Treaty of Versailles, Hunger,
  Defeat, Instability, Poor economic conditions,
  etc etc
• SPD withdrew into opposition
• The future of the Weimar Government passed to
  weak coalition governments who were at best
  hostile to the Weimar constitution

46
The Bill arrives

• April 1921
• Germany to pay 6.6 billion for damage caused
  during First World War
• 6 interest over 50 years of repayment plan
• To be paid in Gold Marks
• 7 of annual German Income
• Centrist Chancellor Fehrenbach resigns in horror!

47
Wirth picks up the poisoned Chalice

• New coalition formed
• Zentrum, SPD and DDP
• Appoints DDP Rathenau as foreign minister
• Highly talented Jewish DDP politician
• Wirth attempts a complicated tactic
• Fulfillment policy
• Attempt to honour repayments in order to show
  that Germany is incapable of repaying such a huge
  bill
• Sow seeds of hyperinflation
• Government did not fully try to control spending
• Subtlety lost on Allies
• France not concerned at any suffering on part of
  Germans
• Britain needed to repay loans taken from US
• Subtlety lost on German public
• Blamed everything on Treaty of Versailles or on
  Weimar governments attempting to honour Treaty of
  Versailles

48
Upper Silesia Plebiscite

• Requirement of Treaty of Versailles
• Allowing locals to determine national identity
• Join Germany or Poland
• 717,122 votes to join Germany
• 483,514 votes to join Poland
• Clear majority and yet Poles claimed cheating and
  started an insurrection
• British troops sent to region to stop the
  fighting
• League of Nations compromise
• Germany to receive 2/3rds of area
• But Poland got the industrial 1/3 with most of
  the coal mines
• German fulfillment policy in tatters
• Why bother working with Treaty of Versailles
  institutions if they are only going to work
  against Germany no matter what!
• Serious credibility blow for Wirth government

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Treaty of Rapallo, 1922

• First political success for Weimar Government
• Negotiated by Rathenau
• Designed to outflank France
• Pariah Treaty
• The enemy of my enemy is my friend
• USSR and Germany agreed
• No reparations demands on each other
• Close economic ties
• Normalise diplomatic ties
• Secret military clauses
• Germans to be able to train in USSR
• USSR to receive German technical assistance in
  weapons production
• Diplomatically useful but domestically dangerous
• Confirmed to nationalists that Weimar was
  secretly sympathetic to communist form of
  government ( Jewish connection)
• Rathenau assassinated in June 1922 by right wing
  terror group

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The enemy is on the Right
52
The enemy is on the Right

• Why might many Germans disagree with Wirths
  plea?
• Look at page 41
• Were Germans justified in being more concerned at
  a left wing threat than the more subtle right
  wing institutional threat!

53
Gathering Economic Crisis

• Currency markets concerned at impact of
  reparations on German government finances
• German mark begins to slide
• 103,208,000,000 Marks
• Total budget for1922
• 187,531,000,000 Marks
• Amount of reparations required by Allies in 1922
  (in gold marks)
• France unwilling to bend
• Annoyed at Treaty of Rapallo
• Unconcerned at German difficulties
• Wirth resigns November 1922

54
Free Fall

• Cuno business government takes over
• Minority Government
• French invasion of Ruhr to secure payments in
  kind
• Policy of non-cooperation initiated
• Hyperinflation kicks in as richest area of
  Germany now under foreign control and not
  producing anything anyway!

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Was there an alternative to Hyperinflation?

• Yes,
• But it would involve
• Cutting expenditure
• Raising taxes
• These would have cut the deficit and reduce the
  amount of money in the economy and hence
  inflation.
• So, why didnt the government choose this option?
• Why did it choose to print money instead?

57
Was there an alternative to Hyperinflation?

• So, why didnt the government choose this option?
• It would have hurt industrial output and put many
  businesses into bankruptcy
• Unemployment would have risen
• Very unpopular in the immediate term!
• Hyperinflation would be unpopular but only once
  the effects were felt
• Tax increases and budget cuts would be felt
  immediately
• Perhaps a different government would be in place
  when the consequences were felt?

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Free Fall
59
Free Fall
60
Restoring Economic Order

• Streseman came to power August 1923
• How did he go about restoring order
• Use page 49 Hite and Hinton
• Use page 30 Collier

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Restoring Economic Order

• Stresemanns Fulfillment policy?
• Hjalmar Schacht appointed to Reichsbank
• Hans Luther the new Finance minister
• New currency created
• Rentenmark
• 1 Rentenmark 1,000,000,000,000 Reichsmarks
• Supply of new currency strictly limited
• 3,200,000,000 in total
• Backed by bonds
• Cut government expenditure
• Redundancies for 700,000 government workers
• Called off Passive resistance in Ruhr and repaid
  some reparations
• Allow France to withdraw from Ruhr
• A commission set up to look at reparations
  payments
• Dawes Plan

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Threats to Stresemann

• Economic Threats
• Difficulties and sacrifices required to stabilise
  new currency
• Regional Threats
• Saxony and Thuringia
• Communists had cooperated with Socialists to take
  control of these states
• Bavaria
• Concerned at the Communist takeover of
  neighbouring States, The Right wing Kahr requests
  German Army declare loyalty to him before to
  Berlin

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Horses for courses?

• Stresemann showed his nationalist leanings in his
  treatment of the two regional threats
• Saxony and Thuringia
• Germany army sent to overthrow the
  communist/socialist governments
• SPD horrified and withdrew support from
  Stresemann coalition
• Bavaria
• He does not sack von Lossow (army commander) or
  overthrow Kahr
• Kahr and Lossow or thankful to the conservative
  Stresemann (will be useful shortly)

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The Munich Putsch

• Adolf Hitlers attempt to take power in Munich
  and march to Berlin to replace the Weimar
  government.
• Why did it take place in Bavaria?
• Why did this take place in November 1923?

66
The Munich Putsch

• Why Bavaria?
• Very Conservative Catholic Region
• Hostile to Weimar Cosmopolitan attitudes
• Resentful at being on periphery of power base
• Deeply hostile to anti-religious sentiments of
  Communism
• Von Kahrs Right Wing Government
• Took power in 1920 Putsch
• Replaced Communist Government
• Violent overthrow culturally acceptable?
• was deeply hostile to communists and socialists
• Allowed Right wing groups to thrive
• Persecuted Left wing groups

67
The Munich Putsch

• Why November 1923?
• Inspired by Mussolinis March on Rome, 1922
• Clock is ticking
• National Socialists thrive on discontent
• Stresemanns economic reforms are already kicking
  in
• Stability returning to Germany
• Stresemann getting the credit
• Misread Stresemanns leniency to Kahr
• Thought it was a sign of weakness rather than
  strength
• Misread Kahr and Lossow
• Thought they were allies
• They were conservative monarchists who were
  deeply uneasy about some of the socialist aspects
  of National-Socialism (see page 52)

68
A comedy of errors?

• Poorly organised
• Lack of coordination
• Did not have necessary arms
• Poor communications systems
• Relied on Blackmail
• They required the support of Kahr and Lossow to
  allow a march on Berlin to have any chance of
  success
• Errors
• Ludendorffs Traditional value system
• German officers couldnt lie!
• Allowed Kahr and Lossow to reassure their wives!
• Indecisive
• Hitler had a nervous collapse when he found out
  kahr had gone
• Ludendorff had to decide to march to city centre
• Army remains loyal to right wing Kahr
• Why shouldnt they? More Nationalist less
  Socialist than Nazis
• Cowardice
• Hitler does a runner when the man next to him is
  shot
• Ju-Jitsu lady disarms frantic Hitler

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Why did the Weimar Republic Survive 1919 1923?

• Did the Weimar Government stand a chance?
• Which of the following posed the greatest threat
  to Democracy taking root in Germany
• Place them in an order of greatest threat to
  democracy
• Limited Nature of the 1918 German Revolution
• The Weimar Constitution
• The Treaty of Versailles
• Right Wing Extremism
• Left Wing Extremism
• The Economic Crisis
• Attitudes of the German elite
• Attitudes of ordinary Germans

70
Why did the Weimar Republic Survive 1919 1923?

• Limited Nature of German Revolution
• The Weimar Constitution
• The Treaty of Versailles
• Right Wing Extremism
• Left Wing Extremism
• The Economic Crisis
• Attitudes of the German elite
• Attitudes of ordinary Germans
• Compare your list to your neighbours
• Do you need to rewrite your list?
• Can you agree on a common list?

71
Why did the Weimar Republic Survive 1919 1923?

• Page 57 Hite and Hinton
• Read events 1 to 12
• With a partner decide whether you agree with a)
  or with b) or with neither!

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1924 1929 The Golden Age of Weimar?

• What evidence can you find that life got better
  for the majority of Germans between these years?

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