The Weimar Republic
Guillermo Lopez
Created on May 1, 2022
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The Weimar Republic
Origins and Orientations
The Weimar Republic was Germany’s first attempt at parliamentary democracy. Born in 1918 of military defeat and domestic revolution, it was riddled with compromises and burdened with difficulties. After turbulent beginnings, from 1924 to 1928 there was a period of at least apparent stabilization; yet between 1929 and 1933, concerted attacks on democracy in the context of mounting economic difficulties culminated in the collapse of the regime and the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Germany’s Chancellor.
The German war effort had clearly collapsed, the authority of the regime was rapidly crumbling, the threat of strikes and civil war on the streets loomed ever larger.
The Incomplete Revolution of November 1918
Negotiations took place between the Social Democrats and the USPD leaders, and a compromise caretaker government was agreed. The temporary government would agree an armistice, lead peace negotiations. There were fears among members of the Army High Command, to whom they had traditionally owed obedience, but also of the possibility of a Soviet-style Bolshevik revolution in Germany. Groener offered Ebert the support of the Army in maintaining law and order and suppressing revolutionary uprisings; Ebert accepted. It illustrated the limited nature of the revolution. Perhaps more importantly, it also laid the foundations for the repeated repression of radical movements in the following months and years.
Max von Baden felt that Friedrich Ebert might yet be able to maintain a modicum of control over the situation and avert the threat of radical social revolution headed by the far Left. It was clear that Ebert and the Social Democrats would have to move fast to assert control over a situation of strikes, uprisings, mass demonstrations and the breakdown of governmental authority across a Germany which was still at war.
The Incomplete Revolution of November 1918
In January 1919 the split between moderate Social Democrats on the one hand, and radical socialists and communists on the other, became an unbridgeable chasm. A largely spontaneous uprising in Berlin, belatedly came under the control of the Spartacist leaders. The SPD overreacted to the demonstrations, requesting the support of the Army and Free Corps (Freikorps) units to suppress the revolt by force. This they did with a vengeance.
The Incomplete Revolution of November 1918
The fledgling Republic was subjected not only to a hammering from abroad, but also to onslaughts from a variety of quarters at home. Faced with repeated strikes, demonstrations and political violence, the SPD sadly misjudged the situation and, instead of responding to the causes of distress, sought to use force to suppress the symptoms of unrest.
Political Unrest and Economic Chaos
In the end the situation was brought under control by the Stresemann government of August–November 1923. The policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr was terminated, easing the burden on the German economy and defusing international tension, while a currency reform introduced the Rentenmark and laid the foundations both of a more stable currency and of a reconsideration of the reparations question in the following year.
While the roots of German inflation lay in the earlier financing of war by bonds and loans rather than taxation increases, its explosive growth was fuelled by, among other factors, the printing of paper money for the payment of reparations, and for the financing of heavy social expenditure. This sent the value of money totally out of control. In the course of the spring and summer of 1923 the German Mark progressively became worthless.
Political Unrest and Economic Chaos
From 1921 to the summer of 1923 governmental policies served to exacerbate Germany’s political and economic difficulties. The government of 1921–2 pursued a policy of fulfilment which, by attempting to fulfil Germany’s reparations obligation, served to demonstrate that the German economy was in fact too weak to pay reparations as envisaged.