1.1 Origins of the republic, 1918-19

• The First World War had lasted 4 years from 1914-1918
• out of the 11 million germans that fought, 2 million died and 4 million were injured
• the cost of the war led the governments debt to triple from 50 billion marks in 1914 to 150,000 billion marks in 1918
• over 750,000 germans died due to food shortages during the war
• in Berlin it was clear the Kaiser was losing control ~

  • in Stuttgart, workers went on strike
  • in Keil and Hamburg, in October 1918, the navy mutinied
  • in Hanover, the soldiers refused to control riots
  • in Munich, on 7th November 1918, the workers declared a general strike
• On the 9th november, after hearing the army would no longer support him, the Kaiser abdicated and went into exile in Holland
• on the 9th november, Phillip Scheidemann announced the new republic
• the SDP had to work quickly to establish the new republic ~

  • Freidrich Ebert was made chancellor
  • 6 moderate politicians were chosen to form the Council of Peoples Representatives
• on the 11th November the armistice was signed
• Ebert took several steps to increase public confidence ~

  • civil servants remained (this ensured the state would keep running)
  • the army agreed to keep the new republic in power
  • businesses were assured that no land would be confiscated
  • trade unions appreciated the effort to make the working days 8hrs
• Even though some extreme political groups were still unhappy and riots were still common, Ebert had managed to achieve a fragile control, which lasted long enough to agree new constitution
• After being elected by a national election, the national assembly met from february 1919 in weimar and on the 31st july the new republic became known as the weimar republic
• strengths of the weimar constitution ~

  • women could vote
  • the voting age became 21
  • the Reichstag was elected under a system of proportional representation
  • power was shared between the president, chancellor, reichstag and reichsrat
• Weaknesses of the weimar constitution ~

  • Coalition government -

  Because of proportional representation, power was shared between many different political parties. This meant it was very hard to agree and often led to disagreements and a lack of clear policies

  • Weakness in crisis -

  The lack of strong, single-party governments was a problem during crisis since it took so long to come to a clear decision
• Weaknesses of the Weimar constitution ~

  • Article 48 -

  Article 48 stated that in a crisis, the chancellor could ask the president to pass a law without the consent of the reichstag. By 1930, the chancellor regularly relied on this, making the constitution seem weak

  • Based on division and violence -

  During the german revolution, the government used alot of force, often relying on the army to subdue riots. Because of this, many parties in the reichstag openly hated the new constitution