Weimar Essay

Evaluate the view that democracy was succeeding in Germany until the start of the Depression in 1929
The democracy in Germany was not succeeding at the start of the depression in 1929. This is shown through the signs of failure between 1919 and 1924 with problems from the outset of Weimar such as the new republican beginnings and constitutional problems. The period of 1919 to 1924 also shows how the democracy was not succeeding with economic problems from the outset and the attempted overthrows of government. Although from 1924 to 1929 there seemed to be a sense of success in Weimar this is shown by the work of Gustav Stresemann. With that being the case there was overarching factors that showed the false prosperity in Germany during that time which outweighed the success making the democracy and failure by 1929.
The democracy experienced problems from the outset that came about from the new republic and the constitution. Germany had no republican tradition prior to November 9 1918. Because of this the German people did not have any specific preferred party, which led to widespread hate towards the new republic. The hate was associated with the fact that the republic basically took the blame for World War I in which the new republic was considered a product of defeat and that the signing of the treaty of Versailles stabbed the German people in the back. The constitution was another problem that the democracy faced from the outset that led to Germany not succeeding by 1929. The constitution was constructed from other nations constitutions and brought together for Germany; the problem with this is that the Germans took parts of the constitution from western nations that would not work in Germany. Some of the problems with the constitution were article 48 which allowed the President to rule an emergency decree without any approval from the Reichstag. Another problem with the constitution was the proportional representation voting system, this was a problem as because of the new government in Germany the people did not have a party to vote for which led to there never being an outright winner in elections and the formation of coalition governments in Weimar. The constitution was also a reason for there not being success in Germany as it led to extremist parties in the democracy. Therefore the new republic and problems with the constitution show how the democracy was not succeeding in Germany from the outset.
During the period of 1919 to 1924 there was minimal signs of success in the Weimar democracy this is shown by the economic problems faced by the democracy and the attempted overthrows of government. By 1919 Germany were already in economic troubles because of the finances that they put into their efforts in World War I so from the outset Germany were financially unstable and then with the defeat of the war came the treaty of Versailles which put many restrictions on Germany including the reparations to all the nations that defeated Germany in the war the amount of this 6.6 billion pounds. At times the Germans struggled to pay the reparations owed and because of this the French occupied the industrial area of the Ruhr. By doing this the Germans started the passive resistance policy where no German would work but they would still receive payments, this led to hyperinflation in Germany were 1 US dollar was equivalent to 4 200 000 000 000 German marks the hyperinflation caused widespread poverty in Germany and people put the democracy at fault for signing the treaty of Versailles. Various attempts to overthrow the government were also reasons why the democracy did not succeed. Attempts such as the communist Spartacist revolt in Berlin was the first attempt and although unsuccessful it was the catalyst for others attempts to overthrow. Such as the Kapp putsch, which was an attempted overthrow by former soldiers who were dismissed due to the treaty of Versailles. This attempted overthrow can be considered a reason for the democracy being unsuccessful as it showed the distant relationship between the government and the army when general Hans Von Seeckt did not assist the government to stop the overthrow. Another attempted overthrow that resulted in an unsuccessful Weimar democracy was the Munich (beer hall) putsch led by Adolf Hitler. The putsch fails and Hitler is imprisoned but Hitler becomes a common name because of it. Therefore the economic problems and attempted overthrows of the government show how the democracy was unsuccessful in the period between 1919 to 1924.
By 1924 Germany were in a horrible position but between 1924 and 1929 there was a sense of recovery amongst Germany that was led by Gustav Stresemann. Stresemann was the reason for the recovery in Germany as he stabilised Germany and gave a sense of success to the democracy that had struggled greatly up to 1924. Stresemann ended passive resistance in Germany, which eventually led to end of hyperinflation, and the French leaving the Ruhr in July 1925. Stresemann also introduced the Dawes plan, which rescheduled the reparations payments owed by Germany that would start low and progressively grow each year. The plan also gave Germany 800 million dollars in US loans. With the resolution of reparations the financial position of Germany improved where 1US dollar was equivalent to 4.2 German Marks. Stresemann also helped Germany through the treaty of Locarno, which was a treaty between Germany, France and Belgium that was signed to respect the 1919 borders. Stresemann also got Germany admission into the League of Nations in September 1926 that shows that other nations felt sorry for Germany and could see a sense of rebuilding in Germany. Therefore Gustav Stresemann was the catalyst for the sense of success and stability amongst the democracy in the periods between 1924 and 1929.
While there was a sense of success of success in the democracy from 1924 to 1929 there were the overarching factors that showed false prosperity in Germany that ultimately outweighed the success. Although there were some positive economic success in Germany such as the industrial output in Germany exceeding previous years greatly and there was the overarching factor of false economic success that outweighed the positive. The faults in economic situation in Germany were that they dangerous dependent on short term foreign loans hence there economic position would be unstable especially when the loans end. Germany still had high unemployment; in 1928 over 1.3 million people were unemployed. As German farmers were a third of the nation they did not experience the boom that came with Stresemann’s reign. Germany was still suffering with the treaty of Versailles although the plans implemented by Stresemann somewhat stabilised that repartitions. Another economic problem was that Germany was spending more than they were receiving. Therefore Germany had a false sense of economic success by 1929 as the economic problems outweighed the economic success greatly meaning the democracy was not succeeding at the start of the depression in 1929.
There was also a false sense of political success in Germany that outweighed the positive. Although there was some political success in Germany such as the elections in 1924 and 1928 that showed that the moderate parties such as the SPD went up in seat whilst the extremist went down. There were more political problems that greatly outweighed the positive. Problems such as that during the sense of recovery times in Germany there was 6 changes in government, in which 5 were coalition governments and the longest lasting for 21 months. There were still major problems with the voting system showed with the fact that 5 of 6 governments were coalition. Another problem was that the German people did still not like the democracy as it was considered a product of defeat associated with World War I. Therefore the political problems outweighed the political success in Germany making the democracy not in a success.
Altogether the democracy was not a success in Germany by the start of the depression in 1929. This is shown by the lack of success in the period of 1919 to 1924 with their problems from the start with the new republic and the constitution. Also the economic problems that came from the treaty of Versailles and attempted overthrows of government. Although there were positive signs of success shown by Gustav Stresemann from 1924 to 1929. There were overarching factors such as economic problems and political problems that showed the false prosperity outweighed the success in Germany.