New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1992. Print.
New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1992. Print.
The Republic saw minimal allegiance or support from nationalist groups who viewed the new government with contempt. Germany had no tradition of democracy, and its people yearned for a dictatorial government and a strong leader. This was dismissed by the new democratic system. Discontent continued to heighten in face of the outcomes of the war that had seen the loss of two and a half million German soldiers, four million wounded German soldiers, increasing prices and unemployment,... ... middle of paper ... ...r, and began to plot against him. He persuaded Hindenberg to appoint Hitler as chancellor as the government was made up of mostly Von Papen supporters.
Friedrich Ebert was a polarizing figure in German history. As a major party leader in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and future president of the first German Republic, Ebert was a major influence in shaping politics in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As president of the Weimar Republic, Ebert presided over the incredibly difficult years following World War I. Many of his opponents, and opponents of the Weimar Republic and Constitution, decried the government and its leaders for acquiescing to the harsh and unfair demands of the Versailles Treaty. Although convicted of being a traitor to Germany, the opposite is actually true.
Indeed the early stages of reunification did not answer the people’s dreams of a democratic society free of debt and suppression. Contrary to Chancellor Brandt’s claim that “what belongs together would now grow toge... ... middle of paper ... ...rose after unification proved that reunification did not answer the short-term dream of a unified identity of the Germans, but created many areas of debate and division, as shown by the increased racial violence. Although East and West German citizens dreamt that the reunification process would bring about peace, economic stability and a renewed sense of nationalism, this was not the case. Reunification to a limited extent answered their dreams, of freedom and the official end of communism, but also brought on obstacles and difficulties that were not identified by the people before hand such as high unemployment rates as a result of the reunification. These factors came unexpectedly to create division and instability which had to be worked through by politicians, business men, families and workers of Germany during and after the reunification of Germany.
Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany when World War I began, was moving his empire toward expansive imperialism and militarism. The political, social, and cultural structure of Germany before World War I was relatively new, but almost instantly powerful and potent. The political structure of Germany, bred of Germany’s attempt at solid unification, was rapidly becoming outdated in the face of labor and the precarious balance of power in Europe, and would soon be put under by World War I. The Bundesrat, like the contemporary House of Lords in the British parliament, was manipulated by the landowning class. The Reichstag, created to balance the weight of the Bundesrat, was extremely limited: it could in no way interfere with individual states’ armies, being limited to legislation in the areas of foreign and naval affairs, as well as other relative trivialities like customs and mail (Gilbert and Large, 71).
The principles of Wilson were not viewed as they should in Europe, the American president suffered because he did not promise one thing that everyone was expecting: immediate peace. Lenin’s view, on the other hand, was widely accepted at the time. Both Wilson and Lenin were internationalists and radical democrats of the time. The diplomatic challenge was the social and economic challenge directed to the old Europe by two sides: the radical liberalism by Wilson and the radical social democracy by Lenin. After the treaty of Brest- Litovsk revealed the subordinate position of the Bolshevik regime toward Germany, the situation changed.
However, it was unimpacted by the Treaty of Versailles. In fact, the Great Depression originated in the United States, which did not even sign the Treaty of Versailles. It may not be clear why the Great Depression, which began in and most impacted the United States, caused Germany, and not more negat... ... middle of paper ... ...reaty, caused one of the most important parts of the war. Furthermore, the conditions that allowed for a fascist ruler to take control in Germany would have been in place if the treaty had not been signed, or had been less harsh on Germany. It is important to understand the causes of WWII because the war was a dominating part of the late 1930’s and 1940’s, and because the war laid the groundwork for the cold war.
This was because Schleicher’s ‘policy of diagonal’ only attracted Strasser, for which he was ousted from the Nazi party. This was Hitler’s main opponent in the quest for leadership of the nazi party. The Weimar Republic's demise and Hitler’s rise to power are very inter-linked. This can be shown by the static enrolment for the Nazi party when Stresseman brought Germany into the era of the ‘golden years’. It could be said that opposition to democracy rose and fell in harmony with movements in prosperity.’ Hitler exploited this with his political astuteness of knowing what and when to promise things in the ‘new’ Germany.