Germany's Change to a Parliamentary Republic in 1919
Between 1918 and 1919, there were many dramatic changes in Germany.
This led to Germany turning from being a semi-absolutist monarchy,
into a
Parliamentary republic. A chain of events starting with the defeat of
war triggered two revolutions.
In spring 1918 there was one last chance of winning the war before the
Americans joined the Allies. This was known as the Ludendorff
offensive, it was carried out on the Western Front. Unfortunately it
failed, due to the new system of elastic behaviour; where the Allies
armies would retreat allowing the German soldiers to advance, and then
the Allies would surprise them with an attack surrounding the Germans.
The Americans had also arrived on the Western Front.
By September 1918, the Allies continued counter attacks, leading to
the German defence line being breached. This was a humiliating tragedy
for the German armies. Much of the Army had disintegrated due to the
blockade back in Germany that was starving soldier's families. The
Germany Army High Command knew that defeat was close; they had to get
an armistice.
The High Command, desperately sought after an Armistice after the
failure of the Ludendorff Offensive, as they were extremely worried
that the deserting troops would turn to a Russian-style communist
revolution. Also the fact that Germany still had an undefeated Army
would give them better terms in any treaty. The Generals approached
the U.S.A., knowing that they suffered the least out of the War, along
with Woodrow Wilson's fourteen points; they felt Germany would suffer
the least by approaching the Americans.
...
... middle of paper ...
... dictatorship that the German public were
used to.
Article 48 was also a danger to the continuance of the Weimar
republic. This article stated that if an event was to happen that the
President would deem to endanger public safety or order, they could
take measures and not have to go through the Reichstag. This was
dangerous as if the wrong person got in power they could become a
dictator, as Hitler did.
The prospects for survival of the new government were not great. They
faced many major problems that were not their fault; being born out of
defeat, and the 'stab in the back' theory. However, mistakes were made
the Ebert and Groener Pact was dangerous as the army did go against
the government as soon as a right wing uprising occurred, as well as
this the constitution harmed the survival of democracy in Germany.
The German Weimar Republic was an attempt to make Germany a more democratic state. While this was a very good idea in theory, the Weimar Republic was ineffective due to the instability that came with it. Several factors contributed to the instability of Germany’s Weimar Republic, such as the new political ideals brought forward and the government’s hunger for war. To begin, one of the factors that contributed to the instability of the Weimar republic was the presence of new political ideals. Marie Juchacz unintentionally highlighted that reason in her speech to the National Assembly.
The first major reason that the Weimar republic failed was that it was extremely inefficient and did not have clear goals set within the government. All the different ideas coming from the parties in the republic, created a situation where the people of Germany were getting very unclear, vague messages. This problem can be seen in the struggle between the German Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Troeltsch, a theologian and leader of the German Democratic Party said, “The development will not stop at democracy, and a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ will assume the form of terrorist domination by a minority” (Doc 1). This statement is only somewhat reliable because Troeltsch was a politician, and he would benefit from over exaggerating what would happen if the opposing party were to gain control.
...ced to retreat or be cut off from their supplies. The German High Command, at this point, knew that they could no longer continue to fight and needed to surrender or face annihilation.
A new constitution was adopted in August 1919 by the Weimar republic, and brought with it many positive aspects such as a representative parliament, where the people of Germany had a say in their political system. They had the ability to directly elect their president giving them the choice of the best person to run the country. Another advantage of the constitution was the introduction of the Bill of Rights giving them the guarantee of free speech, legal equality and the right to have minimu...
It was at this meeting that the first steps were taken to build and construct the 'stab-in-the-back' theory. In this way the military command were taking the primary steps in releasing themselves from responsibility for the direction and outcome of the war. It was on October 28, 1918, the 1871 constitution was finally amended to make the Reich a parliamentary democracy, which had been rejected for half a century. The Chancellor was hereafter responsible to
...of Carsten and similar historians writing at the time is that the far-left were not as politically strong as first thought so consequently there was a lack of any serious opposition to the established order and in turn they were allowed had more independence and self-determination in implementing Germany’s first republic. So the social basis for a constitutional government in Germany was a lot more widespread than formerly thought. Furthermore, the apprehensiveness of the social democrats can be interpreted in terms of distrusting the unstructured mass movements that existed in the pressing post-war years, and placing their trust in the old elites. However, works such as Feldman’s, ‘The great disorder. The German inflation 1914 – 1924’ argue that the perspective representative potential of soldiers and workers unions and councils were in fact decisively contentious
The general public of Germany had never had any say in political matters; they allowed the Kaiser to make all the decisions regarding themselves and their once-prosperous country. The groups controlling Germany began to change during October and November 1918. More power began to fall into the hands of the people as they realised the blame for their involvement in the war was the Kaiser’s. People such as the armed soldiers, sailors and workers started protesting and going on strike. This was a far cry from before the war, when Germany was wealthy, proud and ambitious. So for a brief period, it seemed that a revolution would take place, with the people of Germany wanting a social and political revolution.
“On 2 August 1934, President Hindenburg died. Within an hour of his death Hitler announced that the offices of chancellor and president were to be combined and that he was the new head of state. Hitler’s adolescent dream of becoming Fuhrer of the German people had been realized” President Hindenburg’s death marked the official end of the Weimar Republic, a democratic ‘experiment’ that had lasted since 1918. The causes of the dissolution of the Republic are wide ranging and numerous, as was explained in the articles of both Richard Bessel, and John McKenzie. The two author’s agree on the sequence of events which led to the dissolution of the Republic, however, they disagree on what exactly caused the transition from Weimar to the Third Reich. The author’s disagreement stem from a differing view of the fundamental cause, political structure versus political leadership.
Following the German surrender in November 1918, the Empire experienced a brief, but significant civil revolution. The German Revolution lasted from the end of the war until August 1919. During that time, a national assembly was held in the city of Weimar where a new constitution was drafted. A new federal republic (known as the Weimar Republic) was born and a semi-presidential representative democracy overthrew the monarchy of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The new government faced immediately faced a multitude of issues including political instability, reestablishing and maintaining international post-war relations, and severe economic turmoil – most notably the period of hyperinflation which occurred in the early 1920s.
The Weimar constitution was forced into creation by the German desire to sign an armistace with the Allied forces after significant defeats on the Western front. Not only were the Allies demanding a democratic governing style in Germany, but there was also a strong desire to move away from the autocratic state that had existed under the Kaiser. Although the new constitution outwardly appeared to be democratic, there were several internal factors that severely undermined the democratic integrity of the new constitution, and made it almost indistinguishable from its autocratic predecessor.
Exploring the Reasons Behind Public's Discontent with the Weimar Government There were a number of reasons why the German people were unhappy with the Weimar government. One of the main reasons for this was the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The result of this was that Germany has to take the war guilt, Germany had to pay reparations of 6,600 million marks to the allies in particular France, Germany lost its colonies, it lost its air force & tanks, and its soldiers were restricted to 100,000. The Ruhr was demilitarised. Also they lost their colonies and its land was cut up such as the Polish Corridor and Alsace Lorraine.
The Treaty of Versailles, which put an end to World War I, caused a number of positive and negative outcomes in Germany. Germany was in need of a democratic government in order to meet the harsh provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Established by members from the Social Democrat Party in 1919, the Weimar Republic became the central power in Germany for the following years. The republic was found in the city of Weimar and was a replacement, so to say, for the imperial government that had previously stood as the central authority. Even though the Weimar Republic managed to lead Germany for 15 years, it experienced devastating drawbacks such as hyperinflation, lack of support from the public, and the constant efforts from different groups to overthrow the government; because of these factors, different political groups sought a resolution, such as overthrowing the government and pushing for a strong leader.
German people were unused to a democracy and blamed the government “November criminals”, for signing the Treaty of Versailles. From the very beginning, the new Weimar government faced opposition from both sides of the political spectrum. The Left wing Spartacist group, lead by Liebknecht and Luxemburg, looked up to the new Soviet councils in Russia, wanted to place Germany into a similar system.
The growth of the European super powers during the 19th century consisted of the great powers vying for territorial attainments, developing their international influence, and ensuring positive domestic attitudes of their diplomatic actions. Attempting to cement their hegemony of international politics, the Prussian Empire sought to create an ethnically and politically unified German state to rebuff the prominence granted to Austria at the Congress of Vienna. Through the machinations of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and his determination to unite the German lands through “blood and iron”, Germany quickly rose to become the epicenter of European politics and forever changed the geopolitical landscape of Europe. In examining the unification of Germany and its implications for the international system, this paper will explore the prehistory of the unification, significant diplomatic successes and failures during the bolstering of Germany’s power, and the change in the power structure of Germany that ultimately changed the military landscape of the international system and became the precursor for World War I.
Germany, a country rich in culture and heritage, yet plagued by the fallout of World War I and World War II, has progressed to become the centerpiece of the European Union and the world’s third richest economy. The first German Empire dates back to the Roman Empire starting in the 8th century AD. During the Middle Ages the German Empire fended off many attacks against their soil from the Hungarians and the Slavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes.