Weimar Republic Essay Notes
Account for the failure/collapse of democracy in Germany in the period 1918-1933.
Intro
The Weimar Republic was established in the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War One, with parliamentary democracy operating from 1919 and introducing an advanced social welfare system.
The notion of loyalty to the nation had been particularly influential since Bismark’s wars of unification in the 19th century. The prospect of strengthening their nation by military means, and of it achieving greater status as an international power, had enormous appeal to Germans even if it meant the loss of civil liberties. As the German army was significant in achieving German unification, serving and former soldiers would seek to exploit their prestige by interfering in political process with Hitler using soldiers as an instrument for the achievement of Nazi objectives.
The Great Depression directly led to social dislocation across Germany with increasing unemployment, social welfare inadequacies and a democracy that lacked visionary leadership.
Economic discontent and war weariness caused growing popular unrest.
The key reason for the eventual collapse of the democratic republic was its failure to bring about fundamental socio-economic-judicial change.
The Great Depression brought to Germany not only deep economic dislocation and withstanding social distress, but it also brought a deep sense of psychological disillusionment. It was in this atmosphere of national disillusionment that the Nazi Party was able to prosper.
The German authoritarian tradition had deep psychological and social roots within the majority of the German populace. Democracy was seen as a novel, untried form of government that had no precedent in German history and through Germany’s spiritual and material collapse after the war, the Republican democratic experiment seemed alien to German tradition. Unrest circulated Germany and culminated in the revolution of November 1918 when the belief spread that the army
Intro
The Weimar Republic was established in the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War One, with parliamentary democracy operating from 1919 and introducing an advanced social welfare system.
The notion of loyalty to the nation had been particularly influential since Bismark’s wars of unification in the 19th century. The prospect of strengthening their nation by military means, and of it achieving greater status as an international power, had enormous appeal to Germans even if it meant the loss of civil liberties. As the German army was significant in achieving German unification, serving and former soldiers would seek to exploit their prestige by interfering in political process with Hitler using soldiers as an instrument for the achievement of Nazi objectives.
The Great Depression directly led to social dislocation across Germany with increasing unemployment, social welfare inadequacies and a democracy that lacked visionary leadership.
Economic discontent and war weariness caused growing popular unrest.
The key reason for the eventual collapse of the democratic republic was its failure to bring about fundamental socio-economic-judicial change.
The Great Depression brought to Germany not only deep economic dislocation and withstanding social distress, but it also brought a deep sense of psychological disillusionment. It was in this atmosphere of national disillusionment that the Nazi Party was able to prosper.
The German authoritarian tradition had deep psychological and social roots within the majority of the German populace. Democracy was seen as a novel, untried form of government that had no precedent in German history and through Germany’s spiritual and material collapse after the war, the Republican democratic experiment seemed alien to German tradition. Unrest circulated Germany and culminated in the revolution of November 1918 when the belief spread that the army