The Weimar Republic 1918 - 1930

1
The Weimar Republic 1918 - 1930
The Reichstag in session 1930
2
1918 Defeat and Revolution

• By mid 1918, it was clear Germany would lose the
  war.
• The entrance of America into the conflict ensured
  fresh allied troops and supplies while the
  British naval blockades and bad harvests in 1917
  and 1918 meant that food supplies were critically
  low in Germany. As a result, malnutrition was
  widespread.
• By August 1918, all land taken during the German
  Spring Offensive had been lost and German
  territory itself was now under threat.

3
Defeat and Revolution

• Confident that peace would be based on Wilsons
  Fourteen Points, moves were made in Germany to
  give the Reichstag parliament greater powers.
• It was hoped this would extract more favourable
  peace terms from the allies, as they themselves
  had well-developed democracies.

President Woodrow Wilson (USA)
4
Defeat and Revolution

• The new government led by Chancellor Prince Max
  of Baden approached the allies for a ceasefire.

• As news of the impending armistice spread,
  sailors in Wilhelmshaven refused to follow an
  order to sail into the English Channel. They were
  quickly followed by sailors in Kiel who also
  mutinied (above).

5
Defeat and Revolution

• Workers and soldiers soviets were set up in many
  towns and cities and demanded an end to the war.
• A key stumbling block was the continued presence
  of the Kaiser the allies would negotiate only
  with a new government.
• On the 9th November the Kaiser fled and Germany
  was proclaimed a republic. Friedrich Ebert (SDP)
  was appointed as Chancellor and Philipp
  Scheidemann (SDP) his deputy in a provisional
  government.

6
An Early Threat to the Weimar Republic

• The Spartacist Rising January 1919
• Left-wing extremists staged an uprising in Berlin
  ahead of the elections for the new National
  Assembly.
• They wanted more equal power and wealth for the
  working classes and believed that the new
  government would primarily benefit the middle
  classes.
• Middle-class newspaper premises were occupied
  and the end of the Ebert-Scheidemann government
  was proclaimed.

7

• Ebert called out the Army and Freikorps
  (ex-soldiers) units to deal with the Spartacists
  (KPD) who continued to hold out after 3 days.
• Hundreds were killed and Spartacist leaders Karl
  Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemberg were shot by
  Freikorps officers while under arrest.
• This led to lasting hostility between the SDP and
  the Communists which would make co-operation
  against Nazism much more problematic in future
  years.

8
Main Political Parties in Weimar Germany 1918-1933

• KPD (Communist)
• Against the Republic, wanted Communist state
  instead.

• NSDAP (Nazi)
• Extreme nationalism and racism
• Wide appeal after 1929

• Z (Centre Party)
• Catholic working and middle class

• DNVP (German National Peoples Party)
• Junker landowners, urban lower middle class

• Social Democratic Party (SDP)
• Working and lower middle class
• Received most votes until 1932

• DVP (German Peoples Party)
• Upper middle class, employers
• Led by Stresemann

9
The New Constitution

• Four days after the murder of the Spartacist
  leaders, elections were held for a National
  Assembly.
• 76 of the votes went to parties such as the
  SDP, DDP and the Centre party who clearly
  supported a new democratic Republic.
• Ebert now became President and Scheidemann
  Chancellor.
• In February the new assembly met in Weimar, away
  from the disturbances in Berlin and began to draw
  up a new constitution for Germany.

10
The Weimar Republic intrinsic political
weaknesses?

• Universal adult suffrage
• All votes cast were given appropriately weighted
  representation in the Reichstag so it was a very
  democratic system
• PR resulted in frequently changing coalitions as
  no one party was able to secure a 50 majority
• Post war Germany had a particularly high number
  of political parties representing very narrow
  sectional interests e.g. religion, regions,
  social class

• Proportional Representation
• A voting system in which political parties gain
  representation in parliament according to the
  proportion of votes they receive

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• Powers of the President
• Elected directly by the people for 7 years
• An Ersatz Kaiser with the power to appoint and
  dismiss Chancellors
• Under Article 48 the president could also
  override the Reichstag to pass laws

• Under Article 48 the elected President could rule
  in times of crisis, ensuring a swift response to
  a crisis e.g Eberts response to threats to the
  Republic 1919-1925
• In the wrong hands Article 48 could threaten
  democracy e.g. Chancellors could be appointed
  regardless of how much support they had in the
  Reichstag

12
The Birth of the Weimar Republic a bad start?

• The shock of sudden defeat following years of
  wartime propaganda led some to develop a rabid
  hatred of the culprits allegedly responsible for
  it i.e. Jews and Bolsheviks. This Stab in
  the Back myth particularly struck a chord with
  the right wing.
• Widespread hunger and the influenza pandemic
  provided the backdrop to rioting, strikes,
  political instability and violence.
• Peacetime Germany saw the return of many
  traumatised soldiers. There were also huge
  numbers who would never return. Many desperate
  people clung to an unrealistic set of
  expectations of what this new Republic could
  achieve in the short term.
• The Republic would forever be tainted by the
  signing of the peace settlement at Versailles in
  July 1919.

13
French soldiers wait outside the Palace of
Versailles for the signing of the Treaty
14
The Treaty of Versailles
This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty
years Ferdinand Foch, French Marshal
15
Terms of the Treaty

• Alsace Lorraine to be returned to France and
  territories in the East to become part of Poland.
• Loss of foreign colonies.
• Saar coalfields under the control of France and
  Danzig to become a free city supervised by the
  League of Nations.
• Demilitarisation of the Rhineland.
• Article 231 war guilt Article 232
  6.6 billion reparations to be paid.
• Anschluss (union) between Germany and Austria
  forbidden.
• Army to be only 100 000 strong, no Air Force or
  submarines allowed.

16
Dancing in the streets of Paris after the signing
of the Treaty of Versailles 28th June 1919
17
The Kapp Putsch March 1920

• Freikorps units under the leadership of Wolfgang
  Kapp forced Eberts government to flee Berlin.

• In desperation and lacking support from the army,
  the Weimar government persuaded the trade unions
  to lead a general strike to paralyse the city.
  Kapp was forced to surrender but punishments were
  slight due to government concerns about
  alienating the right wing.

18
The Red Rising

• Two days after the Kapp Putsch, Communists led an
  uprising of 50 000 in the Ruhr

• This time the army cooperated and the
  disturbances were more easily suppressed.

19

• The early 1920s were also blighted by political
  assassinations.
• Amongst the hundreds of victims of right-wing
  extremists was Walter Rathenau, Germanys Foreign
  Minister. He was a popular and charismatic
  figure, and his state funeral in 1922 was a
  national trauma.

20
Hyperinflation

• In August 1914, the war was expected to be short.
  The Kaiser financed it through government
  borrowing, not by savings and taxation and also
  by simply printing more money.
• Between 1914 and 1919 prices in Germany had
  already doubled.
• Under the Treaty of Versailles Germany was
  expected to make huge reparations payments and
  yet it had to forfeit the income from important
  industrial areas such as the Saar coalfields.
• Critics of Versailles such as the economist JM
  Keynes were convinced that the amount set was
  both unrealistic and punitive.

21

• In 1922 Germany claimed it was unable to meet the
  second reparations instalment.

Jan 1923 France occupies the Ruhr to seize coal
Germans react with Passive Resistance

• More economic disruption
• Increased welfare payments needed for strikers

• Rapid printing of money
• Collapse of confidence in the mark

Hyperinflation and economic crisis
22
The Impact of Hyperinflation

• Choosing to print more money to pay striking
  workers and compensate industrialists rather than
  raising taxes had a disastrous effect.
• A loaf of bread that cost 0.63 marks in 1918 cost
  201 000 000 000 marks by November 1923.

Marks per US dollar 1920-3
23
Pearl Buck, an American writer was in Germany in
1923 "The cities were still there, the houses
not yet bombed and in ruins, but the victims were
millions of people. They had lost their fortunes,
their savings they were dazed and
inflation-shocked and did not understand how it
had happened to them and who the foe was who had
defeated them. Yet they had lost their
self-assurance, their feeling that they
themselves could be the masters of their own
lives if only they worked hard enough and lost,
too, were the old values of morals, of ethics, of
decency."
Wallpapering with marks July 1923
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Why did the German government not act to halt the
inflation?

• The French had sent their army into the Ruhr to
  enforce their demands for reparations, and the
  Germans were militarily powerless to resist.
• Great German industrialists such as Krupp,
  Farben and Stinnes condoned the inflation. A
  cheaper Mark, they reasoned, would make German
  goods cheap and easy to export, and they needed
  the export earnings to buy raw materials abroad.
  Inflation kept everyone working.
• The German leaders felt that the collapse of the
  mark was proving how impossible it was for
  Germany to pay the reparations which were
  demanded. Stabilization of the mark would have
  spoiled this proof.

25
Hyperinflation Winners and Losers

• Small tradesmen, craftsmen and shopkeepers were
  shielded from the worst effects of the crisis.
• Some of the working class had unions to fight on
  their behalf for wage rises.
• Larger businessmen found their debts were wiped
  out and they could exploit bankruptcies.
• Those that suffered the most were those on fixed
  incomes e.g. pensioners, disabled war veterans.
• White collar workers e.g. teachers, civil
  servants struggled as salaries were difficult to
  negotiate. Although this group had been
  supportive of Weimar in 1919, after 1923 many
  voted for extremist parties.

26
The Golden Years 1924 -29
Gustav Stresemann, the German Foreign Minister,
addresses the League of Nations in September 1926
27

• Formed the German peoples Party (DVP) in 1918.
• Chancellor from August - November 1923 and
  resolved the hyperinflation crisis
• Following this he became Foreign Minister until
  his sudden death in 1929
• Initially a supporter of military force, but
  later became convinced of the need to support the
  Republic and find peaceful solutions to Germanys
  problems.

Gustav Stresemann (1878 - 1929)
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Stresemanns Achievements

• September 1923 Passive Resistance called off.
• November 1923 The new Rentenmark issued and
  secured on a mortgage of all land and industry.
• 1924 Dawes Plan reduced the total reparations
  bill, spread out the repayments and provided an
  allied loan of 800 million marks to help Germany
  meet the installments.
• 1925 Locarno Pact saw Germany voluntarily accept
  her Western borders as set at Versailles,
  including the demilitarisation of the Rhineland.
• 1926 Germany admitted to the League of Nations.
• 1929 Young Plan set a time limit for reparations
  and reduced the overall amount.

29
Criticisms of Stresemann

• Calling off Passive Resistance was seen by many
  as Germany again surrendering to the allies.
  Hitler and other right-wing extremists
  capitalised on this during the Beer Hall Putsch
  in Munich 1923.
• Many Germans felt Stresemann was more of a
  European peace broker than a German minister and
  it brought him domestic unpopularity.
• Snyder has argued that the Dawes Plan actually
  promoted a cycle harmful for international
  finance. Close links between the German,
  British, French and American economies meant that
  serious problems in one country would impact
  unavoidably in the others.

30
However, Stresemann was far-sighted and
calculating, ensuring that although Germanys
Western borders were finalised under Locarno.
31
.her Eastern borders could still be revised.
Stresemann refused to sign mutual guarantees with
Poland and Czechoslovakia over this issue
32

• By the late 1920s Germany was no longer an
  outcast but a key player on the European stage
  once again.

When we came back from Locarno the English
ambassador made a speech The world will never
forget that it was Germany who took the
initiative towards peace in Europe. Gustav
Stresemann October 1925
33
Recovery in Germany 1924-29

• During the late 1920s, the Weimar government
  invested heavily in public housing, schools,
  parks and other facilities.
• A more comprehensive unemployment insurance
  scheme was introduced and wages, particularly in
  the public sector, increased.
• By 1927 German industrial production had
  recovered to pre-war levels.
• The late 1920s saw a rise in car ownership and a
  growth of the cinema industry, both indicators of
  a more prosperous society.

34

• Artistic movements such as the Bauhaus and
  expressionism were developed as artists like Klee
  and Kandinsky experimented with modern abstract
  art

The Bauhaus School, Dessau
Verdichtung, 1929
35

• However, economic recovery between 1924-9 was
  patchy
• Farmers faced a world-wide agricultural
  depression and were unable to modernise
  production. In 1929, agricultural production was
  only 74 that of pre-war levels.
• Although wages did increase in industry they did
  not go far above the cost of living.
• Those without union representation still
  experienced economic difficulties e.g. civil
  servants.
• The balance of trade was in the red i.e. in debt.
• There were still 1.9 million unemployed in early
  1929.
• German government finances from 1925 were
  continuallly run in deficit.

36
October 1929

• On October 3rd 1929 Stresemann died suddenly of a
  stroke. This would inevitably leave a political
  vacuum.
• The president at the time, Hindenburg, (elected
  in 1924 following Eberts unexpected death) had
  been one of the highest ranking army generals
  during the war and was keen for a return to more
  autocratic rule.

Paul von Hindenburg
37
October 1929

• In October 1929, the US stock market suddenly
  collapsed. On Black Tuesday (29th October) more
  money was lost in one day alone than the US
  government had spent during the whole of the
  first world war.

38

• Banks closed and businesses collapsed in America.
• However, American dominance of the world economy
  meant that a worldwide depression soon followed.

Wall Street New York Oct 1929
39
Fall in demand
The Cycle of Economic Depression
Less money available
Less goods sold
Workers left unemployed
40
Effect of the American Depression on Germany
41
German politics in the early 1930s

• A 5 party coalition struggled on under Chancellor
  Muller.
• However, the SDP members demanded higher levels
  of unemployment benefit, while the DVP wanted
  lower taxes and lower benefits. Agreement could
  not be reached.

42
The legislative process therefore was paralysed.
Muller asked Hindenburg to pass new laws by
decree instead. Hindenburg refused.
Frustrated, Muller resigned. Hindenberg replaced
him in March 1930 with Bruning, leader of the ZP,
the second largest party in the Reichstag.
Bruning, keen to avoid inflation, wanted lower
welfare benefits and increases in taxes was
supported by Hindenberg who passed these
increasingly unpopular measures by decree.
Bruning
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September 1930 Reichstag elections

• The Reichstag challenged the presidential use of
  Article 48 in July 1930 when Hindenburg used it
  to put Brunings new budget through.
• In the resulting deadlock, Bruning asked
  Hindenburg to dissolve the current Reichstag and
  call another election.
• However, instead of resulting in a more workable
  coalition of centre-right, pro-democratic
  parties, the real beneficiaries of the election
  were to be the extremist parties of both the left
  and right.
• The KPD increased their share of the vote to
  13.1 while the Nazi Party with 18.3 of the vote
  was now the second largest party in the
  Reichstag. Democratic parliamentary government
  was now going to find it even more difficult to
  function.

44
The Dead Parliament by John Heartfield

• Produced in October 1930 by a German communist,
  the caption below stated
• Its whats left from 1848! This is what the
  Reichstag will look like when it opens in October
  1930.