Pages 301-309 Reading & Questions; September 21, 2009

GERMANY: Modern World History p. 301-309
Why did the Weimar Republic fail?
A. Disadvantages
1. why was Versailles "humiliating" and "unpopular"?
i. It imposed arms limitations on the Germans.
ii. It asked the Germans to pay reparations to the countries they fought against.
iii. It implied that Germany was the bad guy in the war and to blame.
2. who did people generally believe should run the country?
i. They believed the army and "officer class" were the rightful leaders of Germany.
were the German people justified in the view? why/why not?
ii. The Germans were justified in this view. The Germans believed that the army had been 'stabbed in the back' by the democrats and that the army was not actually defeated, and it was the democrats who had agreed to the Versailles Treaty. The reason the Germans were justified is because they did not at the time know all of the facts, including the fact that it was General Ludendorff who had asked for an armistice while the Kaiser was still in power. They were justified because they were making a judgment based on what they thought they knew, and all the facts were not revealed to them enough for them to make an informed decision.
3. what weaknesses existed in the Weimar parliamentary system?
i. It was based on proportional representation meaning that all political groups would be evenly represented.
ii. There were so many political groups being represented that none could win with a significant majority.
4. why did the political parties have no experience?
i. Before 1919 the Riechstag had not controlled policy, it was the Chancellor. But now, it was the Riechstag that had to make the final decision and in this area there was not enough experience for that to effectively work.
how did the political parties deal with their bitter rivalries?
ii. Some of the parties organized their own armies for self defense (well, the initial reason for forming the armies was for self defense but eventually the purpose for the armies was to overthrow the republic). The creation of these private armies increased the likelihood of civil war, which in turn led to outbreaks of violence.
B. Outbreaks of Violence
1. Sparticists
i. who was behind it? Communists.
ii. how bad was it? Although they occupied every major city in Germany, it was not too bad because the government was able to defeat the communists.
iii. how was it defeated? The government accepted the help of the Freikorps (independent volunteer regiments raised by anti-communist ex-army officers) and the two communist leaders were clubbed to death.
2. Kapp Putsch
i. who was behind it? Right-wing groups who wanted to seize power.
ii. how bad was it? It was bad because the government did not take any action because the generals sympathized with the political right. It took a strike which paralyzed Berlin in order for the government to gain control again.
iii. how was it defeated? The workers of Berlin assisted the Social Democrat government by called a strike which was detrimental to the capital, and Kapp resigned and the government regained control. Kapp was imprisoned.
3. assassinations
i. who was behind it? Ex-Freikorps members.
ii. how bad was it? Very bad. The court let right-wing offenders off the hook and the government was not able to do anything about this. The right-wing party sympathized with the criminals, who had killed people suck as Walter Rathenau (Jewish Foreign Minister) and Gustav Erzberger (leader of armistice delegation). This was detrimental to the republic because the legal/teaching professions, the civil service, and the Riechswehr were anti-Weimar.

4. Beer Hall Putsch
i. who was behind it? Adolf Hitler
iii. how bad was it? Not bad. The police easily broke up Hitler's march and he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and there were no serious effects of this event (for instance Hitler did not succeed in destroying the government in Berlin with the Beer Hall Putsch).
iii. how was it defeated? The police broke up Hitler's march and Hitler was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment (even though he only served 9 months).
5. private armies
i. who was behind it? Nazis and Communists for the most part.
ii. how bad was it? Bad, because there was little the police could do to prevent street fights between any of the private armies, showing that the government could do little to maintain order and had little control of its people, and therefore respect for the government began to rapidly decrease, and people began favoring other forms of government.
iii. how was it defeated? It wasn't defeated, in fact since it COULD NOT be defeated, many people began to turn on their government and would prefer an authoritarian government that would be able to keep the public under control.
C. Economic problems
1. why was Germany facing bankruptcy? The enormous expense of WWI, which lasted longer than expected therefore more money spent than originally planned.
2. what was the problem with the reparations payments? The Germans did not have the money to pay the reparations and having to pay the reparations on top of being almost bankrupt proved to be very difficult for the Germans. The Germans requested to suspend payments until they were able to pay them but France refused, making matters worse.
3. how did France attempt to deal with the reparations issue? The French refused to allow the Germans to suspend the payment of their reparations. In January 1923, French troops occupied the Ruhr (important German industrial area) and tried stealing goods from factories/mines.
E. Nazi popularity
1. how did the Nazis propose to fulfill their promises?
i. They proposed that they were going to ensure that Germany would become a great power again by ridding it of all of the people who caused it to decline, including Marxists, Jesuits, Freemasons, and Jews.
ii. They promised to overthrow the Versailles settlement by bringing all Germans into the Reich.
2. i.What was the SA? It was the Nazi private army.
ii. Why was the SA so popular? It gave all young people who were out of work a small wage and uniform.
3. Where did the fear of communism come from? The fear of communism came from the fact that the Nazis hated them and that the Nazis were financed by industrialists from the early 1920s as an anti-communist force. Therefore, Nazi followers were brainwashed into fearing communism.
4. What were Hitler's political abilities?
i. Tremendous energy
ii. Will-power
iii. He was an amazing public speaker
iv. He used modern communication techniques including rallies, parades, radio, film and was able to speak to a lot of people that way and he was represented well in the media.
5. What kinds of people supported the Nazis? The kind of people who supported the Nazis were those who were unhappy with the condition of Germany at the time and wanted some sort of reform. The people who didn't like the Weimar Republic liked the Nazis and from them, expected a strong, decisive government and a restoration of national pride.