Explain the problems that undermine the Weimar Government in the period from 1919-1923

Samuel Atwood

Year 12, Modern History

Explain the problems that undermine the Weimar Government in the period from 1919-1923.Throughout the period between the end of World War One in 1919 and the year 1923, the Weimar Government was undermined by several problems. The Treaty of Versailles and its conditions were unrealistic and caused Germanys political and economic position to be worsened. Germanys new constitution was also unsuccessful in its implementation and it had the effect of causing further political instability amongst the extremist groups. Additionally, there was opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, causing uprisings and political assassinations which proved that the government had little authority over the country and other political powers. All of these factors contributed to undermining Germans faith in the democracy and the success of the Weimar Government. Although perhaps not quite as obviously as some other factors, the Treaty of Versailles took some part in undermining the Weimar Government. In retaliation and retribution, of sorts, on the allies part, the treaty was heavily skewed against the Germans. It placed upon them unrealistic reparation demands which were impossible for Germany to make and stirred up much political tension and controversy, thus contributing largely to the post-war political and economic hardships that Germany faced. It can indeed be said that the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles was the most agreed upon political issue within Germany at that time. The treaty made many demands, many of which were seen as unfair and unreasonable. By the Germans, it was seen as a Dikat or dictated peace in which they were forced to lose all their colonies, reduce their army and pay back unrealistic reparations for World War One. From this came the dolchstosslegende, or stab in the back legend which was a myth that claimed that socialists, pacifists, Jews and the like had betrayed the German army who were supposedly winning the war. This became a convenient way for Germans to accept defeat and it caused many Germans to be very much discontented when the Treaty was eventually endorsed by the Weimar Government. Consequently, many Germans lost faith in the government and despised them for taking on such an unreasonable dictated peace agreement. The German people were further angered as it seemed to them unfair to accept, as a country, responsibility for the war as they were virtually all unaware of the nature of their involvement in the war. Many were under the impression that it was a defensive war. Shortly into the period following the signing of the treaty, Germany failed to make its second reparations payment, and France thus took the opportunity to occupy the area of the Ruhr. In response, the German government ordered the people of the area the following:

The action of the French government in the Ruhr area[is] a gross violation of international law and of the Treaty of Versailles. As a consequence all orders given to German officials in the course of this action are legally invalid. The German government therefore orders all its officials not to obey the instructions of the occupying forces.

This passive resistance caused the French to retaliate by killing and expelling large numbers of Germans. It also had other undesirable side effects. As the Ruhr was the richest area in resources and workers were no longer producing, Germanys economy further waned and as a result, in 1923, Germany underwent hyperinflation. This combination of events and actions contributed to Germanys political and economical hardships and eroded the support, faith and credibility in and of the Weimar Republic. The constitution was also a contributor to undermining the Weimar Government.Firstly, the change in the parliament to having proportional representation caused several. This had led to smaller and more numerous political parties emerging, and thus creating a harder process to actually form a government and maintain thereafter. Smaller parties were being forced into joining in coalition with other parties, and thus, agreements must be formed between them as well as agreements on particular policies. The effect this had was that the parliament was weak and divided with no strong driving force to rule the struggling country by and many people lost faith in a democratic system. Secondly, there was a large degree of uncertainty as to how much power was invested in the people via the Reichstag and the President. The right feared absolute power being placed in the hands of the parliament and thus, a president was put into place to act as a counter-balance. As a result, there was particular uncertainty and distrust in the constitution from very early on as it was unclear as to who was ruling Germany, the people or the president. This was further heightened by the existence on Article 48 which stated that the in an emergency, the president could invoke it and hold special powers which suspended civil rights and liberties of citizens whilst order was restored. This conflicted directly with articles 1 and 114 which state that Political authority derives from the people and Personal liberty is inviolable. While Article 48 was made in good faith as a way of providing a basis for the government to function during temporary crises, in reality it allowed the president to cast aside the power and say of the parliament which was the vehicle for the people to rule themselves.Thirdly, the Weimar constitution attempted to unite traditional conventions with new and unfamiliar civil liberties. This kept the old judicial, civil service and educational systems as they were, however, as many bureaucrats, judges and professors were right-wing and despised the new reforms of the Weimar Republic, they were able to readily oppose the republic in everyday life. This caused a tension between holding on to the old customs and traditions and what they stood for and trying to introduce new and different policies. As shown in the constitution, the republic was seeking to unite the new and old systems in order to try and please all parties. However, even though many of the main features of the Constitution were rejected the extreme ends of the political spectrum, the Constitution itself was acceptable in its motivation, it was rather the execution and misuse of it that led to it undermining the Weimar Republic.

These factors once again, caused the Weimar Government to be undermined as faith in the new democratic system waned, the parliament was weakened and putschs furthered the political instability.

Also undermining the Weimar government was rebellion from the left-wing.

The Spartacist revolt in January 1919 was a large factor in undermining the Weimar Government. Leading up to it, the extreme left-wing parties had rejected having any form of democratic parliament, and thus sparked a revolution. Being led by extremists and revolutionists, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht who were one part of the USPD (Independent Social Democrats) but broke away to for the Sparticist union, they first attempted to rally support within the parliament. Finding little or no support there, the small number of Spartacists took to the streets in demonstration. This unsettled the current government led by the SPD (Socialist Democratic Party) at the time who turned to the army to restore order.

Also in 1919, there was an uprising in Bavaria by the Communist Workers Council and later in 1920, after the Kapp Putsch had failed, the group called the Red Army rebelled in the Ruhr.

The Kapp Putsch and other right-wing actions similarly contributed to undermining the Weimar Republic. As the Kapp Putsch was an attempt to seize power by the Freikorps from the right wing, it highlighted a lot of weaknesses in the current policy and government who, at the time, were relying on the army (from the right) to put down uprisings from the left. It showed that the current government could not even maintain authority within its own capital, it was unable to counter a challenge to its authority and that it took a general strike for authority to be re-established. This further damaged the credibility of the government and showed that the army and the right wing cared only for their own policies and interests and were thus looking to undermine the Weimar Republic.

Additionally, in the period between 1919 and 1924, 356 politicians were assassinated by nationalistic terrorist groups. These assassinations included Walter Rathenau and Matthias Erzberger because of their role in the new government and treaties. This further disrupted the political status in Germany and increasingly undermined the Weimar Governments efforts to reform Germany. In the period from 1919-1923, the Weimar Government faced many problems and issues which affected its success and undermined it. These included lack of support from the right or left wings and subsequent political tensions, a struggling economy, an ineffective constitution, several putschs, and a range of other political uprisings from both ends of the political spectrum. All of these undermined the Weimar Government by destroying credibility in the government, furthering political and economical instability and hindering the governments powers to move forward. Thus, during its short time, the Weimar Government faced man problems and much opposition, and thus, struggled to succeed in its goal.

- 1 -