Modern History Assessment

Chris OKeefe
Assess the view that the collapse of the Weimar Republic was primarily due to the
appeal of Hitler and his Nazi Party.
The Weimar Republic was incepted after the fall of the Hollenzollern Dynasty in 1918,
and was, from the outset, a government riddled with weakness and incompetence in a
variety of crucial social, economic and political areas. This social democratic regime was
vulnerable to a range of influences including that of the Nazi Party, which, through its
charismatic and boisterous leader in Adolf Hitler, as well as its appealing foreign and
domestic policies, gained an unprecedented amount of support. However, it was primarily
due to the Weimar Republics own failings that the Nazi Party became appealing, and as a
result of the governments unsalvageable state of affairs, the Republic was finally brought
to its inevitable demise in 1933, with Hitler at the ready to take the reigns.
When the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 by the newly appointed Weimar
representatives, the government was making arguably the most unpopular decision in
Germanys history and as a result lowered itself into terrible political turmoil. The Treaty
was seen by the citizens of the country as a blight on Germanys image as a great and
illustrious nation steeped in a proud military history, and as a consequence of this widely
held view, the Weimar representatives were tagged the November Criminals 1. Much of
the political backlash was due to the fact that the Allies were dictating to Germany the
harsh terms of the war reparations, which was seen as absurd by many citizens that still
held firm the belief that because hardly a shot was fired in Germany itself during the
entirety of the war, that they could not have possibly lost in the way they were being led
to believe. The exorbitant figure of 269 billion gold Marks2 put immeasurable restrictions
on the Weimar Republic in its quest to rebuild the economy from the ground up, after the
First World War virtually left the nation in a state of bankruptcy. It can be categorically
stated that because of the Weimars obvious economic problems and the publics
1
2

Gatske, H. W. (1954) Stresemann and the Rearmament of Germany, Johns Hopkins Press, New York.
Bergmann, C. (1927) The History of Reparations, Mifflin Publishing Company, Boston.

unfavorable view of the government, that even in the early years of the Weimar, it looked
like it was going to come to an inevitable collapse, and at this stage the Nazi Party were
merely a blip on the radar.
While the Weimar was attempting to pick up the pieces from the previous government,
the citizens of Germany demanded immediate economic prosperity, and when their
expectations were not met, their disappointment manifested itself into a terrible
antagonism towards the republic. On top of this, the fact that Germany as a nation had a
rich monarchial tradition that had substantial success under authoritative moulds of
government3 which included the military might of Prussia, made it difficult for German
citizens to accept the democratic Weimar, and its early failings only compounded this
reluctance. The problem which the Weimar Republic faced was one of political culture.
The Republic not only had to struggle with the crises of the post-war period, but had to
fight to assert its very legitimacy. 4 Another of the problems that the Weimar Republic
faced was the constitutional clause that outlined the structure of the Reichstag being that
of proportional representation, which meant that it was mandatory that each and every
political party had a voice in the Reichstag. The problem with this system of democracy
was it made it near impossible to gain a clear majority of seats in parliament and thus the
development of coalitions were crucial if a political party had any intention of gaining
power. Consequently, the formation of coalitions brought intense factionalism which was
characterised by the inability of definitive decision making, as well as often bitter infighting, all of which only reaffirmed the publics dim view of the Weimar. Both the
political culture as well as the structure of the Reichstag can be cited as legitimate
reasons why the Weimar Republic failed, as they added to the dissatisfaction of the public
in regards to how their country was being governed. However, it is important to note that
the Nazi party did not generate these problems and thus it is hard to say the Nazis were
the primary reason for the collapse of the Weimar.
The political and economic problems of the Weimar Republic in its early days caused
spite among the citizens of Germany, but it was the social problems that arose from the
3
4

Carr, W. (1969) A History of Germany 1815-1945, Edward Arnold, London.

Peukert, D. (1987) The Weimar Republic, Clays Ltd, England.

hyper-inflation of 1923-1924, that really caused angst and pushed many desperate people
into lobbying for change. Dr Freida Wunderlich, spoke of the realities during this period,
My weekly salary, as editor of the periodical Soziale Praxis, was just enough to buy one
loaf of bread and a small piece of cheese or some oatmeal.5 Both the Kapp and Beer Hall
Putschs were indicative of the feelings in society at the time, as they were attempts at
forcibly taking over the government due to the frustration of their participants. While
they were not successful, they did highlight the fact that the government was weak in
regards to defending itself from such attacks as they relied heavily on private armies such
as the Freikorps and other miscellaneous defence units to sustain the attempted coups.
The hyper-inflation and its social impact was much of the reason why these Putschs
were staged as the whole society from the working class to the aristocracy were adversely
affected by the worthlessness of the Mark and as a result started to rise up and attempt to
change the state of affairs in Germany. It was not, however, the Nazi party that caused
hyper-inflation and therefore, once again, it cannot be argued that the Nazi Party was not
the primary reason for the collapse of Weimar.
Gustav Stresemann was seemingly the saviour of the Weimar Republic with the period of
economic stability between 1924 and 1929 being termed The Golden Age of Weimar 6.
However, it was nothing more than a deceptive stability. 7 During this period
Stresemann agreed to the Dawes Plan, a system of loans from the United States that
helped Germany pay the reparations outlined in the Treaty of Versailles, and as a result,
expel the French from the Ruhr valley, a situation that was causing the government
immense embarrassment. The Dawes Plan sounded the signal for a period of recovery,
the scope and intensity of which were unparalleled in recent German History. 8 The loans
while, stabilising the economy and improving social conditions to that of pre-war years,
caused Germany to become dependent on the American economy and more vulnerable
to the instabilities of world markets. 9 Therefore, the stability that manifested itself
5

Dr Freida Wunderlich, Personal Memoirs. Cited in Bry, G. (1960) Wages in Germany, 1871-1945,
Princeton University Press, Princeton.
6
Broszat, M. (1987) Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany, Leamington Spa, Poland.
7
Op. Cit. Peukert, D.
8
Stopler, G. (1967) The German Economy, 1870 to the Present, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Berlin.
9
Link, W. (1970) Die Amerikanische Stabilisierungspolitik in Deutschland 1921-32, Cambridge University
Press, Germany.

through the Dawes plan was simply a faade, and the realities of the plan were felt
significantly when the Wall Street stock market crashed in 1929. Other than the
deceptiveness of the economy at this time, Stresemann himself in an address to the
Executive Committee of the German Peoples Party in 1928 stated that we are in the
midst of a parliamentary crisis that is already more than a crisis of conscious. This crisis
has two roots: one the caricature that has become of the parliamentary system in
Germany, Secondly the completely false position of parliament in relation to its
responsibility to the nation. This is evidence to the fact that the golden age was indeed
a farce, due to the figurehead of the resurgence, admitting himself, that the Reichstag and
its politicians were purely incompetent and nonsensical 10. While the years from 1924
to 1928 were a period of relative stability in Germany, it cannot be seen as a time of
unequivocal success, as there were large problems of significant note, such as the
farcicality of the Reichstag, as well as the fact that the Weimar government had laid the
seeds for the upcoming economic ruin. These problems had little to nothing to do with
Hitler and his Nazi Party.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the collapse of the German economy, and the
Depression that hit as a result, unofficially marked the end of the Weimar government.
The soaring unemployment rate as well as the poor living and working conditions that
much of the population had to endure, caused people to look to the government to release
them from their misery. When the Weimar provided no answers to their pleas, the citizens
of Germany turned away from the government, and the Nazi party, with its nationalistic
ideology, promised an appealing alternative to what was occurring. The Nazis were the
beneficiaries of Weimars failure more than they were its cause. 11 While all the fanfare
of the Nazi party persuaded many people to join their cause, the fact that prior to the
elections of the summer of 1932 Half the German people declared themselves against
the present state, but did not say what sort of state they would accept 12 meant that the
Nazi party couldnt have been all that appealing anyway, let alone be the primary reason
for the collapse of the Weimar Republic.
10

Jarman, T. (1961) The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany, Signet Books, New York.
Kershaw, I. (1990) Weimar: Why Did Democracy Fail?, Saint Martins Press Inc. New York.
12
Dr Kulz Reich Minister of the Interior on the 1932 summer elections.
11

After the Nazi Party received 43.9%13 of the vote in the March 1933 elections, Hitler was
named Chancellor of Germany and the Weimar Republic was brought to its official end.
The statement that The Weimar Republic was born with a hole in its heart is one of the
most fitting quotes for this thesis, in that the problems that were seen in the infancy of the
republic were of such repute that it has led many historians to argue that the Weimar was
doomed from the very beginning. While this may not be the case, the continuance of
significant difficulties throughout the republics reign, ensured that its collapse came
sooner rather than later, however, it is very difficult to argue that the Nazi Party played a
significant role in its collapse, and thus impossible to say that its appeal was the primary
reason for the Weimar Republics demise.

Reference List

13

Gatske, H. W. (1954) Stresemann and the Rearmament of Germany, Johns

Hopkins Press, New York.

Nicholls, A. (1968) Weimar and the Rise of Hitler, Macmillan Publishing, New York.

Bergmann, C. (1927) The History of Reparations, Mifflin Publishing Company,

Boston.

Carr, W. (1969) A History of Germany 1815-1945, Edward Arnold, London.

Peukert, D. (1987) The Weimar Republic, Clays Ltd, England.

Bry, G. (1960) Wages in Germany, 1871-1945, Princeton University Press,

Princeton.

Broszat, M. (1987) Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany, Leamington Spa,
Poland.

Stopler, G. (1967) The German Economy, 1870 to the Present, Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, Berlin.

Link, W. (1970) Die Amerikanische Stabilisierungspolitik in Deutschland 192132, Cambridge University Press, Germany.

Jarman, T. (1961) The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany, Signet Books, New York.

Kershaw, I. (1990) Weimar: Why Did Democracy Fail?, Saint Martins Press Inc.
New York.

Nicholls, A. (1968) Weimar and the Rise of Hitler, Macmillan Publishing, New
York.

Carsten, F. (1967) The Rise of Fascism, Batsford Publishing, London.

Dehio, L. (1959) Germany and World Politics in the Twentieth Century, Chatto
and Windus, Detroit.

Tipton, F. (2003) A History of Modern Germany Since 1815, Continuum, London.