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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
2. WHY DID THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC FAIL?
2.1. It began with serious disadvantages
2.2. Outbreaks of violence
2.3. Economic Problems
2.4. The alternative – Hitler and the Nazis
2.5. What made the Nazis so popular?
2.6. Hitler becomes Chancellor (January 1933)
3. WHAT DID NATIONAL SOCIALISM STAND FOR?
4. HITLER CONSOLIDATES HIS POWER
5. HOW WAS HITLER ABLE TO STAY IN POWER?
5.1. The Enabling Law, 23 March 1933
5.2. Gleichschaltung
5.3. Hitler’s policies were popular with many sections of the German people
6. NAZISM AND FASCISM
7. HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS HITLER IN DOMESTIC AFFAIRS?
7.1. Successful?
7.2. Only superficially successful?
7.3. The Hitler myth
7.4. A weak dictator?
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LANGUAGE
Germany 1918-45: the Weimar Republic and Hitler
Chapter – 14
Table of Contents
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
- As Germany moved towards defeat in 1918, public opinion turned against the government.
- In October 1918, Kaiser appointed Prince Max of Baden as Chancellor in a desperate bid to retain power.
- Prince Max favored a more democratic government with more power for parliament.
- It was too late: in November, revolution broke out, the Kaiser fled to Holland and abdicated, and Prince Max resigned.
- Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democrat Party (SPD), became head of the government.
- In January 1919, Germany held its first completely democratic election, with the Social Democrats emerging as the largest party.
- Ebert became the first president of the Weimar Republic.
- The new government wasn’t universally popular: the communists attempted to seize power in the Spartacist Rising(January 1919), and in 1920, right-wing enemies occupied Berlin in the Kapp Putsch.
- The government survived these threats and others, including Hitler’s Munich Beer-Hall Putsch (1923).
- By 1919, the Weimar Constitution was agreed upon, with the National Assembly meeting in Weimar due to unrest in Berlin.
- The Weimar Constitution, called the most perfect democratic constitution on paper, lasted until 1933, when it was destroyed by Hitler.
- The Weimar Republic passed through three phases:
- 1919-1923: A period of instability and crisis, struggling for survival.
- 1923-1929: A period of stability, with Gustav Stresemann leading and the Dawes Plan of 1924 providing huge loans from the USA, leading to an industrial boom.
- October 1929 – January 1933: Instability due to the world economic crisis beginning with the Wall Street Crash in 1929, leading to 6.5 million unemployed in Germany.
- The government was unable to cope with the economic crisis, and by the end of 1932, the Weimar Republic seemed on the brink of collapse.
- Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (NSDAP) carried out a large propaganda campaign, blaming the government for Germany’s problems and offering Nazi solutions.
- In January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor.
- Soon after, Hitler dismantled democracy, ending the Weimar Republic.
- From January 1933 until April 1945, Hitler was the dictator of Germany.
- Only defeat in WWII and Hitler’s death on 30 April 1945 freed Germany from Nazi tyranny.
WHY DID THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC FAIL?
It began with serious disadvantages
- Germany had accepted the humiliating and unpopular Versailles Treaty, which included arms limitations, reparations, and the war-guilt clause, making it associated with defeat and dishonour.
- German nationalists could never forgive the government for accepting the Treaty.
- There was a traditional lack of respect for democratic government and a great admiration for the army and the ‘officer class’ as the rightful leaders of Germany.
- In 1919, many Germans believed that the army had not been defeated but had been betrayed by the democrats, who had agreed to the Versailles Treaty.
- The ‘stab in the back’ legend was promoted by enemies of the republic, despite General Ludendorff being the one to request the armistice while the Kaiser was still in power.
- The Weimar constitution introduced a parliamentary system based on proportional representation, leading to fragmented political representation.
- In 1928, the Reichstag had at least eight groups, with the Social Democrats having the largest share (153 seats), followed by the German National Party (DNVP) with 73, the Catholic Centre Party (Zentrum) with 62, the German Communist Party (KPD) with 54, and the German People’s Party (DVP) with 45.
- The National Socialists had only 12 seats in the Reichstag.
- This fragmentation led to coalition governments, with the Social Democrats relying on left-wing liberals and the Catholic Centre Party, but no party could carry out its program effectively.
- The political parties had little experience with a democratic parliamentary system, as before 1919, the Reichstag did not control policy and the Chancellor had final authority.
- Under the Weimar constitution, the Chancellor was responsible to the Reichstag, which had the final say, but the Reichstag often failed to give clear leadership.
- Disagreements among parties, especially the communists and nationalists, who did not support democracy, hindered progress.
- The communists’ refusal to cooperate with the SPD made a strong left-wing government impossible.
- Bitter disagreements led some parties to form private armies for self-defense, increasing the threat of civil war.
- These weaknesses contributed to more violence and attempts to overthrow the republic.
Outbreaks of violence
- In January 1919, the communists attempted to seize power in the Spartacist Rising, inspired by the Russian Revolution and led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
- The communists occupied almost every major city in Germany, and in Berlin, President Ebert was besieged in the Chancellery.
- The government defeated the communists with the help of the Freikorps, volunteer regiments raised by anti-communist ex-army officers.
- The reliance on private forces to defeat the communists was a sign of the government’s weakness.
- Liebknecht and Luxemburg were clubbed to death by Freikorps members without a fair trial.
- In March 1920, the Kapp Putsch occurred when right-wing groups attempted to seize power after the government tried to disband the Freikorps private armies.
- The Freikorps declared Dr Wolfgang Kapp as Chancellor and occupied Berlin, forcing the cabinet to flee to Dresden.
- The German army (Reichswehr) did not intervene due to sympathy with the political right.
- The workers of Berlin supported the government by calling a general strike, leading to the resignation of Kapp.
- The government regained control but was too weak to punish those involved, with only Kapp imprisoned and the Freikorps disbanded after two months.
- Many Freikorps members remained hostile to the republic and later joined Hitler’s private armies.
- A series of political assassinations took place, primarily by ex-Freikorps members.
- Victims included Walter Rathenau, the Jewish Foreign Minister, and Gustav Erzberger, the leader of the armistice delegation.
- Right-wing parties opposed strong measures against these terrorist acts, and courts let right-wing offenders off lightly.
- The government was unable to intervene effectively, and many key professions, including the Reichswehr, were anti-Weimar.
- In November 1923, Hitler’s Beer-Hall Putsch occurred in Bavaria, during public frustration with the French occupation of the Ruhr and the fall of the mark.
- Hitler, with General Ludendorff, aimed to take control of the Bavarian state government in Munich and lead a national revolution against the government in Berlin.
- The Beer-Hall Putsch failed, and Hitler was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, serving only nine months due to sympathy from Bavarian authorities.
- From 1924 to 1929, violence decreased as the republic became more stable, but with the rise in unemployment in the early 1930s, private armies expanded.
- Street fights occurred between Nazis and communists, with rival armies breaking up meetings and the police unable to prevent it.
- The government’s inability to maintain law and order led to a decline in respect for it, with more people favoring a return to strong, authoritarian government.