politcal+developments+andexternal+relations+of+Wiemar+Germany

Jed Gerlach 12/2/09 Mr. Hinze Ib History I

8. Analyze the political developments and external relations of Weimar Germany between 1919 and 1933.

Weimar Germany seemed to be on a slope to failure ever since the beginning of their control in 1919. With all the parties from the left and right wings trying to overthrow The Weimar Republic every chance they had, it was almost impossible to keep a stable government, “In the four years 1919-23 Weimar had six governments”. Not only were there uprisings, but also the economy was one of the worst in human history because of the conclusion of The Treaty of Versailles. Weimar Germany failed because of the multiple revolutionary parties and the terrible relations with most of Europe.

Between 1919 and 1933 many opposing parties challenged Weimar Germany, from both the right and the left. On the extreme left there was the KPD and the SPD (Socialists Parliamentary Democrats). The KPD were the communists, “[they] wanted the revolution to proceed on Marxist lines with the creation of a one-party communist state and the major restructuring of Germany both socially and economically” The KPD had many attempts at revolutionizing Weimar Germany. Their first was the Spartacist Uprising, which was crushed by the Freikorps, like many other revolutionary attempts. The communists brought much fear to the German people because they had reasons to believe that the KPD would start a revolution like the Russians did in 1919. In German October the communists did come very close to taking over Weimar Germany. They actually created a state government, but the German Army brought down the whole operation. The KPD was not the real threat to Weimar Germany. They were just not strong or organized enough to take over Germany.

A bigger threat to Weimar Germany was the extreme right. The extreme right had many parties, the DNVP (German National People’s Party), the Consul Organization, the Freikorps, The Racist Nationalists and even Hitler and the Nazis. The extreme right parties all had many similar beliefs; most were reactionaries, authoritarians and anti-democrats/Marxists. Weimar Germany had many uprisings from the right side. Two earlier ones were The Kapp Putsch and The Munich Beer Hall Putsch. The Kapp Putsch marked the weaknesses of Weimar Germany. The Freikorps simply walked into the Berlin capital building and created their new government, without any resistance. The Weimar Republic government seemed almost supportive of the right side, they barely resisted the Kapp Putsch. They may have resisted The Munich Beer Hall Pustsch, but they sent Hitler to jail for only 10 months for overthrowing the Weimar Republic Government and “Out of the 354 right-wing assassins only 28 were found guilty and punished (but no-one was executed)”.

In the early years Hitler created much stress for the Weimar. Beginning in 1923 Hitler started his rise to power with the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, even though this was a failure many people lost respect for Weimar Germany and gained much respect for Hitler. From this point on, the Nazi party gained much support up until 1932 when he gained power. Many people of Germany switched from Democratic to Hitler due to the hyperinflation. The loss of support affected Weimar Germany greatly. “The Nazi party increased its votes from 810,000 to a staggering 6,409,600” from May of 1928 to September of 1930.

After World War I Germany was hit hard by The Treaty of Versailles, basically causing them to be in a state of chaos with no usable currency. This economic crisis cut out the middle class making only rich and poor. Because of the mass amounts of poor, Europe feared Germany would fall into the soviet’s hands and become a communist state. “The principle victim was the middle class who had saved their money and panned the future. Their savings were entirely wiped out and they were left demoralized and cynical about their future. They had lost faith in the system and would be vulnerable to the appeal of extremists in politics who promised to restore pride, faith and hope”. France pushed Germany hard to get all the reparations paid. During the Ruhr Crisis Germany’s economy was at its worst point with no resources coming from the Ruhr area. The Dawes Plan, giving Germany more time to pay off the reparations, solved this crisis and France pulled out of the Ruhr area. Also, the Locarno Treaty cleared up most of the tension between France and Germany. This was the beginning of a mostly stable five years for the Weimar Republic under the control of Gustav Stresemann.

Gustav Stresemann was the best thing that could have happened to Germany in the mid-1920’s. Stresemann played a major role in curing the external relations with multiple countries. He did this by using the policy of fulfillment. The Dawes plan kept Weimar Germany alive, giving them more time to pay reparations, the new Rentenmark as a currency, and loans from the USA government. France had also pulled out of Ruhr, France and Germany’s relations were beginning to look much better.

After the Dawes Plan there was the Locarno Pact. “The Locarno treaties represented an important diplomatic development. Germany was freed from its isolation by the allies and was again treated as an equal partner. Stresseman had achieved a great deal at Locarno at very little cost”. The Locarno treaty basically cleared up all the tension between France and Germany, causing France to no longer have the need for more allies in Europe. Stresemann made good friends with the Soviets with The Treaty of Berlin, but they were not allies. After all these treaties Germany seemed to be one of the more powerful countries in Europe. They were invited into the League of Nations in 1926. Germany’s reparations were lowered in 1929 to nearly one-fourth of what that to pay.

Stresemann brought Germany out of economical chaos and cleared up most tensions with multiple countries, but Germany’s extreme right did not agree with much that was happening. Hitler and the Nazi began to grow around 1928, when Bruning and Papen were the Chancellors. In the 1928 Reichstag election the Nazis had only 2.6% of the vote, in the 1930 election they had 18.3% of the vote and in the in the 1932 election they won with 37.3% of the vote. The Nazis grew very fast taking over Germany in a matter of four years. One of the reasons for this extraordinary growth was the amount of new voters. The turnout went from 75.6%, in 1928, to 84.1% in 1932. Also, some parties like the DDP, DVP and “other” parties dropped drastically and most voters transferred to the NSDAP.

Hitler and the Nazis took over in the Reichstag election in July 1932 and the Weimar Republic had failed to protect democracy. The Weimar Republic just simply did not have enough popular support, the economy was terrible and there were too many parties that wanted to take over the government. The external relations were also terrible. Germany owed reparations to France and Britain. France bullied Germany into economic chaos. Weimar Germany may have had five stable years, but those could not protect Germany against the rising monster, the Nazis.

Layton, Geoff. Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany. 3rd edition. London. Hodder, 2005. Page 51. .Ibid, page 40. Simkin, John. "Communist Party (KPD)." Spartacus. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. . Layton, page 45. Ibid, page 47. Ibid, page 128. Cannon (et al). 20th Century World History: Course Companion. Oxford, 2005. Page 61. Nobel Lectures, Peace 1926-1950, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972 Layton, page 88. Ibid, page 139. Ibid, page 139, figure 7.3.

Works Cited

Cannon et al. 20th Century World History: Course Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 52-74. Print.

Haberman, Frederick W, ed. “Peace 1926-1950.” Noble Lectures. Elsevier Publishing Company, 1972. Web. 11 Dec. 2009.

- - -, ed. “Peace 1926-1950.” Noble Lectures. Elsevier Publishing Company, 1972. Web. 11 Dec. 2009.

Layton, Geoff. “The Threats to Weimar 1919-23.” Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany. 3rd ed. London: Hodder, 2005. N. pag. Print.

Simkin, John. “Communist Party (KPD).” Spartacus. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .