Weimar Republic: Encyclopedia II - Weimar Republic - Reasons for the Weimar Republic's failure

Weimar Republic - Reasons for the Weimar Republic's failure

The Weimar Republic's catastrophic collapse is the subject of continued debate. Although Hitler became Reichskanzler legally through mechanisms set forth in the constitution and the NSDAP gained a relative majority of the seats in Parliament in two 1932 elections, he was appointed chancellor at a time when support for the NSDAP was not considered sufficient to gain power. Scholars have expressed divided opinions on the reasons and historical analysis this was complicated by the Cold War, when historians often attempted to justify ideologies. One speculation involves how the NSDAP might have fared in the 1933 elections if Hitler didn't have the political and logistical advantages of being chancellor.

No single reason can explain the rise of Nazism. The most commonly asserted causes might be grouped into three categories.

Weimar Republic - Economic problems

The Weimar Republic had some of the most serious economic problems ever experienced by any western democracy in history. Rampant hyperinflation, massive unemployment and a large drop in living standards were primary factors. In 1923-29 there was a short period of economic recovery, but the Great Depression of the 1930s led to a worldwide recession. Germany was particularly affected because it depended heavily on American loans. In 1932, about 5 million Germans were unemployed. Many blamed the Weimar Republic. This was made apparent when political parties wanting to disband the Republic altogether on both right and left made any democratic majority in Parliament impossible.

The Weimar Republic was severely affected by the Wall Street crash in 1929. This crash led to Germany being made to repay the debts owed to the U.S. As the Weimar Republic was very fragile in all of its existence, the crash proved to be devastating, and played a major role in the overtaking of the NSDAP's

The Versailles treaty was considered by most Germans to be a punishing and degrading document because it forced them to surrender resource-rich areas and pay massive amounts of compensation. These punitive reparations caused consternation and resentment, although the actual economic damage resulting from the Treaty of Versailles is difficult to determine. While the official reparations were considerable, Germany ended up paying only fraction of them. However, the reparations did damage Germany's economy by discouraging market loans, which forced the Weimar government to finance its deficit by printing more money, causing rampant hyperinflation.

Most historians agree that many industrial leaders identified the Weimar Republic with labour unions and with the Social Democrats, who had established the Versailles concessions of 1918/1919. Although some did see Hitler as a means to abolish the latter, the Republic was already unstable before any industry leaders were supporting Hitler. Even those who supported Hitler's appointment often did not want Nazism in its entirety and considered Hitler a temporary solution in their efforts to abolish the Republic. Industry support alone cannot explain Hitler's enthusiastic support by large segments of the population, including many workers who had turned away from the left.

Weimar Republic - Institutional problems

It is widely agreed that the 1919 constitution had several weaknesses, making the eventual establishment of a dictatorship likely but it is unknown whether a different constitution could have prevented the Third Reich. However, the 1949 West German constitution (the Grundgesetz) is generally viewed as a strong response to these flaws.

• The institution of the Reichspräsident was frequently considered as an Ersatzkaiser ("substitute emperor"), an attempt to replace the Kaiser (who resigned and fled in 1918) with a similarly strong institution meant to diminish party politics. Article 48 of the constitution gave the President power to "take all necessary steps" if "public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered". Although this was intended as an emergency clause, it was often used before 1933 to issue decrees without the support of Parliament (see above) and also made Gleichschaltung easier. For example, the Reichstag Fire Decree was issued on the basis of Article 48.

• The use of almost pure proportional representation meant any party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag. This led to many small parties, some extremist, building political bases within the system (after the war only parties with 5% or more of the total vote would be allowed to enter the Bundestag). Yet, it has to be noted that the Reichstag of the monarchy was fractioned to a similar degree although being elected by majority vote under a first-past-the-post system.

• The Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor. This "Motion of No Confidence" led to many chancellors in quick succession, adding to the Republic's instability (see Chancellor of Germany for a list). As a result, the 1949 Grundgesetz stipulates that a chancellor may only be voted down by Parliament if a successor is elected at the same time (see Constructive Ve of No Confidence).

• The constitution provided that in the event of the president's death or resignation, the Reichskanzler would assume that office (and crucially possess its powers) pending election of a new president. This allowed Hitler to easily unite the offices of Reichskanzler and Reichspräsident after Hindenburg's death in 1934. However, by this time the dictatorship was already firmly installed and this clause alone cannot be blamed for Nazism.

Weimar Republic - Individual roles

Some historians prefer to consider individuals and the decisions they made. This brings up the problematic question of what alternatives were available at the time and leads to speculation and hypothesis.

Brüning's economic policy from 1930-1933 has been the subject of much debate. It caused many Germans to identify the Republic with cuts in social spending and extremely liberal economics. Whether there were alternatives to this policy during Great Depression is an open question.

Paul von Hindenburg became Reichspräsident in 1925. He represented the older authoritarian 1871 Empire, and it is hard to label him as a democrat in support of the 1919 Republic. During his later years (at well over 80 years old), he was senile, but no Nazi. A president with solid democratic beliefs may not have allowed Parliament to be circumvented with the use of Article 48 decrees and might have avoided signing the Reichstag Fire Decree. Hindenburg waited one and a half days before he appointed Hitler as Reichskanzler on January 30, 1933, which indicates some hesitance. Some claim Nazism would have lost much public support if Hitler had not been named chancellor.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Reasons for the Weimar Republic's failure", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki