Threats To The Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic was condemned when it took power in 1919, establishing a democratic system, whilst taking on social unrest and instability caused by the Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar Republic was faced with threats from both right wing and left wing extremist parties. The right and left used violent methods to challenge the government, and eventually this exacerbated political instability, but it is debatable as to which party posed more of a threat to the Weimar Republic.

It was established that a main threat to the Weimar democracy was from the right-wing. The Treaty caused social unrest throughout Germany causing people to resort to supporting extreme political parties, and many political organizations began constructing new ideals

Kapp, the leader of the Fatherland right-wing party, attended to 12,000 troops alongside General Luttwitz in Berlin. No trouble was caused by government troops, as they did not feel the need to protest against the movement. This demonstrates how right-wing violence was a considerable threat to the Weimar republic as they had widespread support and were able to overthrow the government. Fear played a part in showing the threat of the right-wing. In the prosecution of 705 members in the Kapp Pustch only one was punished. This demonstrates that the judiciary system had some sympathies with the right wing movement. However there were failures for the right, as although they overthrew the Bavarian government this only lasted six days. This demonstrates how unorganized the right was and that their violence methods were not capable of setting up a fixed Pustch, suggesting that the right was just as inefficient as

People saw successes from the Russia revolution, which meant ideas of a communist system became increasingly popular in Germany. This sparked left-wing groups like Spartacist to assemble whose aims were to overthrow the government. On the 6th of January 1919, the first revolt in Germany post war took place. 50,000 armed workers gathered and took over a number of buildings such as newspaper offices in Berlin. Due to the Ebert-Gronener agreement in November 1918, the Freikorps quickly contained this. The Freikorps were made up of demobilized and ex-soldiers, they saw themselves as the protectors of Germany from Russian Bolshevism (communism). They took action and restored order to what was a poorly planned uprising. This proved the threat of the left was serious as it established their violent manners and illustrated their aim to overthrow the republic. Moreover, the Ebert-Gronener agreement was signed to help control the left wing, and this suggests even before their first uprising they were seen as a threat to society, and Ebert sought backup from the army to help restore any future problems they may cause. Various other threats arose from the left, for example in Bavaria in 1919, Levine, who was a communist, proclaimed a Bavarian Soviet Republic which introduced reforms and raised a Red Army, similar to the Red Army of Russia, which were made up of armed socialist workers. They set up a