10 Things You Need to Know about Weimar Germany... but were too afraid to ask
1) So... What is the Weimar Republic?
The Weimar Republic is the name given to the people who ran Germany from the end of the First World War (1918) to the rise of the Nazis (1933). They were a democracy (people get to decide who runs the country), which was new as Germany had been a dictatorship (one person runs the country). The Weimar Republic was set up in the hope that the winners of World War One: Britain, France and America (all democracies) would be nice to them. They were wrong.
2) How did Weimar Work?
As mentioned, the Weimar Republic was a democracy (people vote and decide who runs the country). They used a system called proportional representation. This means that every vote is counted up and the percentage of votes you get is the same percentage of seats you get in Parliament (Reichstag). This sounds great, but it meant that lots of parties could get seats because they got votes. The Weimar Republic was run by a guy called the President and he was supported by the Chancellor. They both had to work together to agree on the laws. Except of course when the President decided to use Article 48 of the Weimar constitution, which allowed him to pass laws as long as he had the approval of.... himself!
3) Everyone loved Weimar, right?
No. Weimar was generally pretty unpopular and had a lot of problems. 1st Problem? The German economy was screwed after the First World War. People were hungry and had no jobs and they blamed the people in charge. 2nd Problem? German people had been told they were winning the war. Then the Weimar Republic surrendered. Most German people blamed them for losing the war. 3rd Problem? The Treaty of Versailles, the treaty that ended the First World War completed trashed Germany – they lost land, money and power. The German people had it and blamed those who signed it – the Weimar Republic
4) Left and Right. What the Hell?
The Left Wing and the Right Wing hated Weimar. Who are the left wing and the right wing? They’re people with certain political beliefs. The left wing believe that everyone and everything should be equal (Communist). The right wing believe that Germany is superior to everyone else and should be the most powerful county in the world (Fascist). The left hated Weimar since they thought they had stopped a communist take over. The right hated Weimar since they thought they had sold Germany out during the First World War and betrayed them with the Treaty of Versailles. Both sides made several attempts to get rid of Weimar.
5) Hyperinflation. Huh?
In the years after 1918, Germany was in trouble. Lots of people were unemployed. Germany had lost lots of land which had industry in; which gave people jobs and made Germany money. This would have been less of a problem, had the Treaty of Versailles not said that Germany had to pay the Allies £6.6 Billion. Which was a lot. Weimar tried to pay this, until they couldn’t afford too. So they decided to just print off more money. Which soon became worthless, since it was just paper and wasn’t based on anything with real value. And so prices in Germany jumped up, with a simple loaf of bread costing millions of marks and the German economy collapsed.
6) Gustav Stresemann, I’ve heard of him right?
Stresemann was one of (if not the only) heros of Weimar. He became Chancellor in 1923 and helped solved the problem of hyperinflation by introducing a new currency. His big achievements though came as Germany’s Foreign Minister between 1924 and 1929. He made lots of different agreements with the countries of Europe, like the Dawes and Young Plans, the Locarno Treaties and helped Germany gain entry to the League of Nations. All this meant Germany was being accepted by the countries of Europe and everything was going well. Yay!
7) Dawes and Young Plan – They sound important.
Yes. Yes they are. The Dawes and Young Plans were the results of Stresemann’s negotiations with Britain, France and America on reparations. The Basic idea behind both plans was that Germany would be given more time to pay back the reparations and be able to pay what they could afford, also, America would loan a lot of the money to Germany to help them pay back Britain and France. This obviously helped Germany, since it meant that they didn’t have to destroy their economy to pay it back!
8) Where did it all go wrong?
In October 1929 the Wall Street Crash happened in America. This cause the American economy to go into recession (like the credit crunch we’ve had recently) and so America became short on money. America then wanted to get their money back starting with Germany and the loans they had given them. Overnight, the German economy collapsed again as quite simply, they had no money!
9) A cunning Plan
So. The economy is collapsing. 6 – 7 million people are unemployed. It’s a bit like hyperinflation all over again. Except Weimar has learnt from their mistake, so they don’t go around printing money. Good job Weimar! However, Weimar don’t actually do anything. They reckon that things will sort themselves out soon and American loans will come back and the economy will get fixed. Bad job Weimar! This lack of action causes millions of voters to get fed up of Weimar, and look for alternatives. Like the Nazis.
10) So. How much do I need to know?
Maybe all of this.Maybe none. Weimar is 1 of 4 Key topics on your Germany paper. You may find that all of question 1 is on Weimar, or it is a choice for question 2 or 3, so you don’t have to do it. The main thing is that you shouldn’t be scared of the Weimar Republic!