1919

• weimar republic:

  • elections were organised in jan 1919 create new parliament
  • 1st president: friedrich ebert
  • 1st chancellor: phillip scheidmann
  • feb 1919: members of new reichstag met in weimar to create new constitution for germany.
• weimar constitution:

  • president: elected every 7 years, chooses chancellor & head of army, can dissolve the reichstag, call new elections and suspend constitution.- elected by the german people,had most power but chancellor was in charge of day-to-day running the government.
  • reichstag: new german government, members elected every 4 years by proportional representation (proportion of seats a party ins in parliament is roughly how many votes gotten)
  • reichsrat: second/less powerful house of parliament, members from each local region, delay measures passed by reichstag.
• weaknesses of new constitution:

  • proportional representation: even parties with small votes were guaranteed to get into reichstag - difficult to make decisions since there were so many parties with different views
  • when decision was not reached, president could suspend constitution and pass law without reichstag.
  • only used in emergencies- became useful way to get around disagreements that took place in reichstag- undermined new democracy