The Weimar Republic, 1918-1933

(Williamson, Ch. 9-10)

Key Terms

Ch. 9

1) Friedrich Ebert

2) Freikorps

3) The Weimar Coalition

4) Versailles Peace Treaty

5) The Rhur Crisis (1923) and the Great Inflation

6) Beer Hall Putsch

Ch. 10

1) Gustav Stresemann

2) The Dawes Plan

3) “Weimar Culture”

4) Hindenberg Election

5) Locarno Treaties

Introduction

On September 29, 1918, General Ludendorff told the German government that it needed to enter into negotiations for an armistice. Although he would later claim the exact opposite and help create the myth of the "stab in the back," on that day he said the war was lost. By doing so, he set in motion a series of events that led to the collapse of the German Empire. On October 28, the Reichstag passed a series of acts that paved the way for true parliamentary government. Kaiser William II at first balked, but a popular uprising that began with the revolt of sailors and workers at the shipyards ultimately forced him to abdicate on November 9 and a republic was proclaimed. Two days later an armistice was signed, bringing an end to World War I. While the work of creating a new government and constitution remained to be done, a revolution in Germany had begun, one that would bring fundamental social, political, and cultural change. For the first time in its history, Germany was on its way to becoming a democratic, constitutional state with broad civil liberties and means for political and cultural participation.

And yet at the same time, this revolution and the state and society that would emerge from it bore heavy burdens from the past. The First World War and the Versailles Peace Treaty greatly weakened Germany's economy and position in world affairs, thus putting the new republic at an enormous disadvantage. More than that, an entire generation of young men had been wiped out, while those who did return from the front had great difficulties reintegrating into civilian society. While opposition to the old monarchical government was widespread, political parties with competing visions for the new Germany (Map) quickly found themselves engaged in an increasingly partisan struggle that threatened the stability of the new republic. Moreover, groups on the far right and left of the political spectrum rejected the new republic and its constitution altogether, and made it their mission to subvert it, even if that meant working within it institutions and according to its laws. Finally, to defend their achievements, those who made the revolution and constructed what would become known as the Weimar Republic had to make a variety of concessions with institutions and groups whose loyalty to the new Germany was tenuous at best. In short, the Weimar Republic was built on extremely shaky social and political foundations that would continue to haunt it for much of its fifteen-year history and lead some historians to claim that its ultimate demise was inevitable.

Despite its problems it inherited at its birth, the Weimar Republic (called such because that was where the constitution was drafted; the government remained in Berlin afterwards) did succeed in overcoming a number of challenges between 1919 and 1923 that came close to destroying it in its cradle. Its constitution, despite some very important problems, was among the most liberal in the world, while its institutions seemed, at least for a time, to accommodate competing political parties and ideologies. And however unstable it may have seemed in its early years, the new social and political context of the Weimar Republic helped unleash the creative energies of artists and intellectuals, who together created one of the most innovative, dynamic, if still tension-fraught and paradoxical cultural epochs in German history. Indeed, between 1923 and 1929 (see Chapter 10) it appeared as if the Weimar project might succeed, as the economy rebounded and political life stabilized.

Our job over the next two days is to explore this period in German history, paying particular attention to how it began, what problems and internal contradictions it faced in terms of its politics, economy, and culture, what potential for success it harbored, and why, ultimately, it collapsed. As always, try to avoid getting caught up in the details (and there are many) of Williamson’s narrative in chapters 9 and 10. Instead, concentrate on larger issues and questions about the nature of Weimar politics and society and its ultimate collapse.

Questions

· Do you consider what happened in Germany in late 1918 and early 1919 a revolution? A partial revolution? Or not a revolution at all? Why?

· What political problems did the Weimar Republic face from the very beginning? ("stab in the back," Ebert-Groener Pact, Versailles Peace Treaty, etc.) What political baggage, if you will, from the past burdened the Weimar Republic? (Think of the Sonderweg thesis here)

· What threats from within challenged the stability of the Weimar Republic throughout its brief history?

· How would you describe the German economy after World War I? What challenges did it face? Think in terms of both short-term problems (inflation, reparations) and long-term structural issues. How did economic problems shape social and political developments in the period?

· How were Weimar politics structured? What were the defining institutions, parties, and coalitions and how did they work together? Was the state itself weaker or stronger than the monarchical government it displaced?

· How would you characterize Weimar culture and society? In what respects was it quintessentially “modern”? In what ways did it retain elements of a pre-modern, conservative past?

· THE BIG ONE: Was the Weimar Republic, given all of the problems and weaknesses it had to contend with, inevitably doomed, as the historian Hans Mommsen suggests (see p.185)? Or did it have the potential for success, only to be overcome by an economic and political crisis beyond its control?