Berenice Ings – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919-63
The establishment and the development of the
Weimar Republic 1919 - January 1933
Consequences of the first word war
Political consequences
• Abdication of kaiser Wilhelm - 9th November 1918
• Council of the people’s representatives - temporary government
• leader = Fredrick Elbert - leader of the largest party, the social democrats
• Signed armistice
• Sailors mutinied, unrest amongst workers - established soviets
• Avoided revolution - support of army and industrialists
• negotiated central working associated agreement with trade unions - 8
hours per day
• Left wing divided, KDP + social democrats
• Election - January 1919
• SDP, catholic centre party and German Democratic Party coalition
• Drew up new constitution and peace talks with allies
• viewed with suspicion - change
• ‘Stab-in-the-back theory’
Social consequences
• Wealth gap increased
• Restrictions placed on workers earnings during war
• Wages suffered - inflation
• Shortages worse - British naval blockade tightened
• Divisions between urban and rural - accused of hoarding food
• Women -> work = damaged traditional family values
• Death of soldiers - 600,000 widows + 2 million children
Economic consequences
• War pensions - 1/3 of government budget
• National income to 1/3 of 1913
• Industrial production to 2/3 of pre-war level
• government bankrupt - worsened by treaty: took lands, reparations
• Germans invested in war bonds, eroded by inflation
The impact of the Treaty of Versailles
• Came as a shock but had to accept, threatened with invasion
• As a result lost:
1. 10% of land
2. 12.5% of population
1
, Berenice Ings – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919-63
3. 16% of coal
4. 48% of iron
Military losses
• Army reduced to 100,000, navy to 15,000
• Forbidden to have tanks, aircraft, submarines + poison gas - number of
ships restricted
• Rhineland = demilitarised, occupied by allied troops for 15 years
Reparations
• Reparations commission 1921 - £6,000 million in instalments
• Forced to accept the war guilt clause 231 - resentment amongst Germans,
lost public support
How serious were the challenges to the Weimar Republic
1919-23?
The nature of the constitution
Advantages Disadvantages
- democratic - M+W 20+ - army wanted kaiser
- chancellor needed majority - presidential power undermine system -
article 48 = emergency decree 1923-4 +
1930-3
- strong president - proportional representation =
instability, no majority, coalitions - 20
different cabinets from February 1919 to
January 1933
- proportional representation – fair - judges and civil servants were too
system, everyone represented liberal
2
The establishment and the development of the
Weimar Republic 1919 - January 1933
Consequences of the first word war
Political consequences
• Abdication of kaiser Wilhelm - 9th November 1918
• Council of the people’s representatives - temporary government
• leader = Fredrick Elbert - leader of the largest party, the social democrats
• Signed armistice
• Sailors mutinied, unrest amongst workers - established soviets
• Avoided revolution - support of army and industrialists
• negotiated central working associated agreement with trade unions - 8
hours per day
• Left wing divided, KDP + social democrats
• Election - January 1919
• SDP, catholic centre party and German Democratic Party coalition
• Drew up new constitution and peace talks with allies
• viewed with suspicion - change
• ‘Stab-in-the-back theory’
Social consequences
• Wealth gap increased
• Restrictions placed on workers earnings during war
• Wages suffered - inflation
• Shortages worse - British naval blockade tightened
• Divisions between urban and rural - accused of hoarding food
• Women -> work = damaged traditional family values
• Death of soldiers - 600,000 widows + 2 million children
Economic consequences
• War pensions - 1/3 of government budget
• National income to 1/3 of 1913
• Industrial production to 2/3 of pre-war level
• government bankrupt - worsened by treaty: took lands, reparations
• Germans invested in war bonds, eroded by inflation
The impact of the Treaty of Versailles
• Came as a shock but had to accept, threatened with invasion
• As a result lost:
1. 10% of land
2. 12.5% of population
1
, Berenice Ings – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919-63
3. 16% of coal
4. 48% of iron
Military losses
• Army reduced to 100,000, navy to 15,000
• Forbidden to have tanks, aircraft, submarines + poison gas - number of
ships restricted
• Rhineland = demilitarised, occupied by allied troops for 15 years
Reparations
• Reparations commission 1921 - £6,000 million in instalments
• Forced to accept the war guilt clause 231 - resentment amongst Germans,
lost public support
How serious were the challenges to the Weimar Republic
1919-23?
The nature of the constitution
Advantages Disadvantages
- democratic - M+W 20+ - army wanted kaiser
- chancellor needed majority - presidential power undermine system -
article 48 = emergency decree 1923-4 +
1930-3
- strong president - proportional representation =
instability, no majority, coalitions - 20
different cabinets from February 1919 to
January 1933
- proportional representation – fair - judges and civil servants were too
system, everyone represented liberal
2
