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The rise of the Weimar Republic
The rise of the Weimar Republic
Successes and failures of the weimar
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Paul Von Hindenburg was a renowned military and political leader for Germany; he is most notable for being a distinguished Field Marshal for the Imperial German Army during WWI, and being the second president of the Weimar republic. His military hero status was essential for his ability to garner support from the German public. His monarchistic views were highly influential in shaping the government while he was reigning as president, and as a result of his seat of presidency, he was a major determining factor in the eventual fate of the republic.
Born 1847, as Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg in Prussia to an aristocrat father; Robert von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, and his wife; Luise Schwickart, Hindenburg grew up a proud aristocrat, although shameful of his mother's non-aristocratic background. His upbringing as an aristocrat played a vital role in his political views, and grew up to become a staunch monarchist and conservative. It was these views which would dominate Hindenburg's agenda during his tenure as president of the Weimar Republic.
As is common in aristocracy; Hindenburg was involved in the military from a young age, joining the cadets at age 11. Hindenburg is renowned for his long and successful career in the military, and earned a status as a war hero among the German people. Prior to WWI, Hindenburg gained a reputation for himself by fighting in the Austro-Prussian war and the Franco-Prussian war. He was decorated for bravery in battle, and was chosen to represent his regiment for a variety of prestigious events; such as at the palace of Versailles in 1871 when the German Empire was proclaimed, and as an honour guard for Emperor William I's military funeral in 1888. He was...
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... resulted in a “presidential government”, where the president ended up having nearly ultimate power over the government. With the power out of the parliament and into the presidency, the democratic Weimar republic was seeing the end of its existence. With the fall of Hermann Muller's government in March of 1930, and Hindenburg's subsequent appointing of Heinrich Bruning's as chancellor, the Weimar republic was now heavily focused on presidential power of parliamentary.
During Bruning's stint as chancellor, he lacked the support of the Reichstag, and so instead relied on the power of article 48, passing emergency bills on his own and Hindenburg's powers. Bruning had to dissolve parliament, which resulted in considerable gains to the extremist right and left wings for seats in the Reichstag; an example being Hitler's Nazi party increased its seats from 12 to 107.
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel born November 15 1891 in Heidenheim, Germany was one of the greatest military generals Germany has ever seen possibly one of the greatest of the entire 19th century. He would later go on to command huge Nazi military campaigns across the globe with the rank of field marshall. Ever since he was a young boy Rommel was fascinated by how things worked and their efficiency this later proved useful when it came to military strategies and techniques he used during his service . By the age of fourteen Rommel had already built a hang glider with his peers, he also managed to take a part and put back together a brand new motorcycle. His plans for the future were to become an engineer considering his interest in mechanics and technology but took a change of course when he accepted his fathers wishes to join the military. At the age of 18 he joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a Fähnrich, this was the start of his legendary military legacy. Two years later he completed officer school he graduated as a second lieutenant. When chaos in the north eastern hemisphere broke out with the Assassination of the archduke Fran Ferdinan. Germany along with most of the European countries entered the war because of their military alliances with one another in August 1914, which would later become the first world war ever fought in history. This is where Rommel found his reputation in battle as his battalion fought they lost a quarter their officers. Rommel was constantly moving to the front to lead the fight. In a battle with the french Rommel fired a shot downing two french men he quickly reloaded his weapon and went to take...
As Ian Kershaw explains, the Weimar Republic was failing: "the survival chances of Weimar democracy might be regarded as fairly poor by the end of 1929, very low by the end of 1930, remote by the middle of 1931 and as good as zero by Spring 1932." In a period of Depression and when unity and firm government was essential, Müller's Grand Coalition broke up in March 1930. Logically, there were several political alternatives other than Hitler and the Nazis.
The period after World War One was very politically unstable. Many different kinds of governments, such as fascism and communism, were coming up all over Europe. One country that especially faced this political fluctuation was Germany. After the war, Germany was forced into a democracy known as the Weimar Republic, but this government soon collapsed and Hitler’s fascism took over. There were various factors that contributed to the fall of the Weimar Republic, but three major ones were the lack of popular support for the government, the lack of efficiency and internal organization, and the competition of other, more conservative parties such as the Nazis.
Though Hindenburg’s actions were certainly crucial to Hitler’s rise to power, his foolishness was often compared to von Papen’s. This is illustrated by Papen’s quote :”With two months we will have pushed Hitler so far in the corner
By the time Adolf Hitler was elected as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the consolidation of power was not having the desired effect. Hitler immediately called another election, and using his newly acquired power, his first step was to ban all newspapers and political meetings, particularly those of the Communists (KPD). He also dissolved the Prussian parliament, which effectively gave Hermann Goring complete control of 60% of Germany's police force. The police support of the Nazi Party was the backing for a violent terror campaign against other political parties, again particularly against the KPD.
In January of 1933, Adolf Hitler was sworn in as chancellor of Germany. At the time Hitler assumed power, the German government was suffering due to the Great Depression caused by World War 1. Hitler, a man who had spent the entirety of his political career denouncing and attempting to destroy the German Republic, was now the leader of said Republic. Hitler was widely supported by his Nazi party. Hitler was very vocal in letting his displeasures be known and his people believed his repeated promises to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles and enlarge the army. All of his promises were made in order to bring back Germany's former glory. However, almost immediately upon becoming the Chancellor of Germany, Hitler began taking legal actions against Germany's Jewish population.
The Nazi Party, and its leader Adolf Hitler, were an unchallenged political group. Following the final deal in January of 1933, Hitler secured the position of chancellorship. From there, he continued working, in order to ensure that the NSDAP would not be challenged politically. Firstly, he used the Reichstag fire to enact the Decree for the Protection of People and State. This took away any civil liberties from the people of Germany, and gave legal basis for the Nazi party to imprison and silence any opposition. This was a key step to ensure the establishment of a totalitarian regime, as it greatly increased the power of the Nazi’s and greatly diminished the power of any opposition, both at the federal and state level. Following this, the Enabling Act was passed in parliament, which gave Hitler the ability to pass laws without the Reichstag. Through
Otto von Bismarck was born on April 1st 1815, in Schonhausen, Northwest of Berlin in the district of Magdeburg. His father was an upper class, land owning Prussian more commonly known as a Junker. (World Book, 1999, p. 381) (German News, 1998, p.1)(Passant, 1966, p.45)(Godesky, 1997, p.1)(Compton's Encyclopedia, 1999, p.1) During his early education Otto von Bismarck studied law at the universities of Berlin and Gottingen.
After the First World War Germany recognised her first ever democratic government, the Weimar republic lasted from 1918 – 1933 an astonishingly long time given its turbulent start. The November revolution saw the election of soldier and worker councils similar to that of the Russian revolution in 1917, it spread across Germany like wildfire and in turn split the country before a democracy could even be instated nevertheless on November 9th 1918 the German republic was established. From then on The Weimar Republic was set on unstable and insecure path and this is why it is one of Germanys most important historical periods; it was Germanys earliest form of non-imperial government and rule and its collapse in 1933 paved the way for the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. For these reasons there have been endless works published on the Weimar republic and the outpouring of literature post world war two focuses on the collapse of the Weimar republic and how the Nazi party came to power. However, to understand why the debate surrounding the Golden Era in the Weimar Republic is an interesting one and lacking in historical works, it is key to examine the historiography of the Weimar republic as a whole. Furthermore, to understand why historians focus on other periods in the Weimar’s history in particular the consequences of the treaty of Versailles and the consequences of the Wall Street crash in 1928 which led to its collapse.
“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.
The Weakness of the Weimar Republic and Hitler's Rise to Power The question directly relates to the idea that the political power of a country can be taken over by ambitious people in different ways. From our knowledge we know there is three ways this can be done…by take over by force, also known as a 'coup d'etat', in a more democratic and just way or by a political deal. In the 1920's and the 1930's Hitler led a right wing political party and was seen by many as a dictator. He wanted to overthrow and control the German government and he tried all three of these ways in an attempt to do so, some methods were more successful than others.
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.
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. Severe economic problems arose in Germany essentially due to the punitive provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
The causes of the failure of the Weimar government are multi-faceted. However, I assert that the Weimar government's inability to keep the people's confidence in their capabilities, which eventually rendered them obsolete, was fundamentally due to the threats from within rather than the external hazards. Through exploring the flaws in the constitution and the threats to the WG's authority from the outside, it will be proven that what brought the WR down were its intrinsic vulnerabilities , and that the external threats were only catalysts of their downfall; without the presence of the internal weaknesses in the first place, the external perils would not have been able to threaten the rule of the government.
The Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic was created in Germany in 1918 as a result of widespread socialist unrest. A liberal constitution was drawn up in 1919. There was extensive instability in Germany around this time. The Weimar government had trouble pleasing right and left wing parties because, at this time, Germany was very polarised politically. Hitler dissolved the republic in 1933.