Democracy in Germany

The collapse of the democracy in Germany between 1928 and 1934 was not contributed by one single event but by a wide ranging, and large number of factors, making it vulnerable to sudden shock. In some ways, the complexity of contributing factors to the collapse of democracy can be depended on the shaky foundations, lack of a democratic tradition and flaws within the constitution. Like the article 48, it created opportunities for the corrupt high commands to abuse the democratic authority, the appointment of Chancellor Bruning would be one of the early examples to the failing democratic situation in Germany. Follow by many other issues such as the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depsression. Germany changed from a true representative democracy to the extreme dictatorship, Nazis totalitarian state. In general, the appointment of Hitler as chancellor signified the end of republic and democracy in Germany. But now, the question is, how did Hitler manage to gain his position of chancellorship? The answer focuses on the economic situation in the world during that period of time. The whole world was suffering from the Great Depression, which brought financial crisis to many countries including the U.S who Germany depended heavily on their loans to pay the reparation payments. This meant more unemployment and failing living standards to the German people. In many ways this was achieved by the policies of Bruning’s government as he managed to establish an absolutely balanced budget to avoid inflation, by raising taxes, cutting expanded charges, and reducing wages. This shows to us how the weak chancellor and the government were unable to solve difficult issues effectively. This was partly due to the lack of a democratic tradition within Germany. The high commands were not familiar with the representative system and then, more problems kept coming, people kept losing their confidence to the Republic. And this is one of the many elements that contributed to the collapse

References: - W.Shirer, The rise and fall of the third Reich, Pan books, London, 1964, P.246 - J.Fest, Hitler, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1973, p. 415 - W.Shirer, The rise and fall of the third Reich, Pan books, 1960, p.235