The Weimar Republic faced several problems during the years 1919-24, one being the Spartacist uprising. The Spartacists, a very communist party, were a threat to the Weimar, and became troublesome, making retaliation inevitable. The Weimar government however could not defend themselves in any physical way, so had to depend on the Freikorp, a more right wing group, to defend them and fight off the Spartacists. This proved instability through the government, as they had to rely on someone else to fight their battle.
This also occurred again during The Munich Putsch, which was another uprising. However this time, the Freikorp were fighting against the Weimar. The Weimar relied solely on the public, requesting them to hold a general strike, which cut off any supplies the Freikorp needed to continue. This may have stopped the uprising, but it also stopped any profit or manufacturing of necessities during the general strike, which took a toll on the German public massively, adding another issue for the Weimar Republic to face.
These attempts to overthrow were very short term and only lasted a matter of days. Another short term problem included the French Occupation of the Ruhr. The treaty of Versailles states that the Allies could occupy areas in Germany as compensation if Germany failed to make a reparations payment. In 1923 Germany failed to make payments in order to give its economy a chance to stabilise, but this went against the Treaty over Versailles so France and Belgium sent troops into the Ruhr to confiscate German production, allowing France to receive the profits from German industries in the Ruhr. This caused a strike and passive resistance in protest, and German industrial production stopped. This then led to hyperinflation, another problem faced later on by the Weimar Government, finally leading to Germanys entire financial system collapsing.
However all of these problems were short term, the uprisings only lasting a matter of days and the French occupation of the Ruhr having a duration of just over two years. The problem that caused these short term problems was one very significant long term issue that the Weimar government had been facing for a while. The weakness of the constitution was a fundamental weakness, causing a lack of stability and leaving the government to rely on others, which not only made them seem weak, but also made them put the countries well being in someone else’s hands, which could have ended in disaster for Germany. The Weimar Republics lack of support and power but showed that the only way that they helped Germany was by relying on others. Taking into account, the Dawes plan, which seemed beneficial with a gain of 800 million marks from the US, ended up as another problem when America requested Germany pay them back. All of their success and improvements were due to other people or countries lending a hand, whether economically or physically, making them altogether very unstable. This instability continued from the very start, to the end of the Weimar Republic, causing potential problems throughout the years, and leading to other long term effects like hyperinflation which led to mass starvation. Therefore all the short term effects, although successful, were dealt with inappropriately and risked the people of Germany’s safety, due to the weakness of the constitution, the long term problem faced by the Weimar Government. As this instability and weakness had a great impact on Germanys economy and people, lasting throughout the years of the Weimar Republics rule, this proves to be the most significant problem that the Weimar Republic had to face.
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