Collapse of democracy

• The Great Depression was one of the main events that caused the collapse of the Weimar Republic
• Disaster at the New York Stock Exchange, collapse of share values, bankrupted much of the US economy

  October 1929
• The Great Depression was one of the largest crashes in American history, economists still argue about what really caused it
• Great Depression in Germany

  • Industrial production fell by more than 40%
  • 50,000 businesses went bankrupt
  • 6 million Germans officially unemployed by February 1932
• Decrease in GDP


  Due to 40% fall in industrial production and 50,000 businesses going bankrupt
• Increase in unemployment


  Reached 6 million by February 1932
• Real wages


  Fell by 1/3 by 1932
• Majority of unemployed were under the age of 25
• Younger people attracted to the Nazi Party

  As they saw it as a way to find relief and like-minded individuals
• Homelessness and poverty increased as a result of the Great Depression
• American economists and businessmen pulling investments from Germany


  Contributed to the problems caused by the Great Depression
• US government demanding more reparations

  Worsened the impact of the Great Depression in Germany
• The Great Depression marked the end of the Golden Age of the Weimar Republic
• Gustav Stresemann, the architect of the Golden Age, died in the same month the Great Depression began
• There was no democratic politician of Stresemann's calibre to replace him and keep everything in line
• The grand coalition of SPD and other centrist parties became more unproductive from 1928
• In 1930, President Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag when it refused to approve the budget
• Economic downfall


  Leads to the rise of extremist parties
• In the 1930 election, the KPD (Communist Party) and NSDAP (Nazi Party) gained a significant number of seats in the Reichstag
• The NSDAP became the second largest party in the Reichstag, giving them considerable power
• Between 1930 and 1932, the Reichstag passed only 22 bills, while Hindenburg issued 109 emergency decrees
• Some historians argue that democracy in Germany ended in 1930 due to Hindenburg's increased use of emergency powers
• In 1932, Brüning brought an end to Germany's reparation payments, which had been a significant burden
• Brüning's success was short-lived as the army began to have increasing influence in politics, with General von Schleicher gaining considerable influence
• Brüning was replaced by Franz von Papen as Chancellor in 1932
• The political climate and constitution in Weimar Germany were collapsing under the strain of the Great Depression, leading to the rise of extremist parties like the Nazis and Communists
• NSDAP


  National Socialist German Workers Party
• Hitler's 25-point program


  Mix of nationalism and socialism
• The Nazi NSDAP were not actually left-wing despite the phrase "socialism"
• Hitler's use of "socialism"


  Meant a Workers' Party and People's Party, not the same as modern socialism
• Nazi Party


  • More nationalist than socialist
  • Strove for a "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft)
  • Extreme right-wing party
• Hitler became the party leader


  1921
• NSDAP became the largest far-right group in Bavaria


  1923
• Hitler's ideology


  • Very extremist
  • Anti-semitism was hugely popular in Europe at the time
  • Believed in a hierarchy of races, with some being inferior
• Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's problems and created a "Jewish conspiracy" in his book Mein Kampf
• Lebensraum


  Living space for German-speaking citizens and the Aryan race
• Hitler's plans outlined in Mein Kampf, such as expanding eastwards and eliminating Jews, came as a surprise to many when he actually implemented them
• Mein Kampf is poorly written and boring
• Development of the Nazi Party before the Great Depression


  1923-1928
• Hitler's attempt to seize power in 1923 (the Munich push) failed