Weimar_Republic

Assess the view that the collapse of Weimer Republic was primarily due to the appeal of Hitler and the Nazi party The Weimar Republic began after the fall of the Hollenzollern Dynasty in 1918, initially it was seen as a democracy of hope yet slowly the government became weak and unstable. The government showed weakness in a variety of crucial areas including social, economic and political aspects. The left wing politics of the Nationalist Social party were deemed stable and an ideal for many Germans who were not satisfied with the Weimer Government, the Nazi Party, which was lead by Adolf Hitler held the appeals of the public and the policy both foreign and domestic which enticed the German population. The support base for the Nazi party grew and this ultimately leads to the collapse of Weimer. The appeal of Hitler and the Nazi Party as well as the instability of the Weimer government can both be credited with the ultimate collapse of Weimer. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) by the Weimer governments new representatives that lead many of the German military and public outraged as the blame of WW1 had been placed on the German monarchy under the Kaiser. The Versailles treaty was seen as adding insult to injury after losing the war and now having sole blame placed upon them. The treaty of Versailles has “universally described as overly harsh against the Germans”₁ this statement is a widely accepted evaluation of the treaty and its effects on the German public. The Weimer government found it hard to convince German citizens that the Treaty was fair as they believed that the Allies were dictating to them the repayments from the war. The constant demand of finances from the allies sent the German economy into a state of bankruptcy, and thus the German citizen were overwhelmed by tax and inflation. These events saw the support of the public toward Weimer fall as budgets were stretched and many lived off rations for a long period of time. The Nazi party appealed to the suffering Germans as Hitler and his followers as they produced policy that would satisfy the needs of all Germans. The treaty of Versailles was one of the downfalls of the German republic as the Nazi party offered greater support to the suffering Germans. The attempts of Weimer trying to rebuild Germany after the collapse of the Kaiser, the German citizens were desperate for economic stability and when their demands were not met their support of the Weimer government dwindled and they held outrage toward the leaders. “In 1923 there were many strikes, fuelling a fear of Communism amongst the middle classes. They in turn looked, on an increasing level, to the right wing for support. This plays into the hands of political groups such as the Nazi party”₂ the poor economic management of the Weimer government lead to a growing support of the Nazi’s. This lead to the Weimer losing support and the Nazi power growing, this shift in power meant that it was easier for the Nazi party to take all power and the demise of Weimer. This was evident in the next election when the Nazi government won a majority of the seats in the Senate. Political structure can be credited with the collapse of Weimer as there was no clear support for the governing party. This is a significant argument for the collapse of Weimer yet it cannot be solely credited for the fall of the Weimer government. In 1923 Gustav Stresemann became the foreign minister of the Weimer government; he was seen as somewhat of a savior. He was a nationalist who set realistic goals for German foreign policy, some of these included to return to relatively good terms with former enemies, end diplomatic isolation of Germany and to recover Germany to be one of the outstanding places in the world. “As Foreign Minister, Stresemann achieved a great deal. His greatest achievement was to get Germany accepted back into the European community”₃ this goal was realistic and was achieved by Stresemann in his time of power. In 1929 Stresemann insisted that Germany join the League of Nations it was an aim to have Germany’s renewed reputation as one of the great powers of the world. This created a sense of stability among the German public from 1924 to 1928 there was a period of great stability however the Nazi’s held many protests which created many instances of doubt in the minds of the German population. The appeal of Hitler was one of the major influences over the lack of stability after 1928 of the Weimer republic. After WW1 economics played a major role in the daily life of the German citizens. The 1929 crash of Wall Street was the trigger for the collapse of the German economy which led to the Depression. The beginning of the Depression marked the ultimate collapse of the Weimer government. Inflation was at a record high and the unemployment rate had soared, this also lead to the poor living conditions and lack of food that the population endured, people looked to the government for answers and the Weimer government could not provide adequate answers, thus leading to a lack of faith from the people. With the lack of answers that the Weimer provided the German citizens turned to the Nazi party who seemed to provide answers that the public wanted to hear. The Nazi ideology appealed to the general public with promises and nationalist ideology that boosted the general moral of the citizens. “Before the Great Depression, people were happy to go along with Stresemann's policy of fulfillment. Support for Hitler grew as unemployment grew. In 1928, the Nazis had 12 seats in the Reichstag. In 1930 this rose to 107 and in 1932 to almost 200”₄ the Wall Street crash was another significant failure in the failure of the Weimer republic. Source four shows how the support for the Nazi party in the Reichstag which led to the growing support for Hitler himself. The Nazi’s had convinced many of the unemployed veterans from WW1 to join their party as it offered stability and hope for many of the members. The policy that the Nazi’s held appealed to a wide range of Germans and thus Hitler himself appealed to large amounts of people in the German population, this lead to the demise of the Weimer government. In Mach 1933 Hitler and the Nazi party received 43.9 percent of the votes; it was the highest number of votes in the party’s history. Hitler was made chancellor under President von Hindenburg, and the Weimer government was brought to its official end. The appeal of the Nazi policy and the leadership qualities that Hitler possessed influenced the public opinion of the Weimer democracy and that growth is support effectively ended the Weimer democracy.