POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE RISE OF HITLER

• Weimar Republic - Association with the Treaty of Versailles


  • Having signed the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Weimar Republic were resented by the Germans and even given the nickname the November criminals
  • The Germans were led to believe that the German army was winning in WWI and unaware that they were close to being defeated.
  • They believed that the Weimar politicians stabbed Germany in the back by surrendering.
  • They also blamed them for signing the Treaty of Versailles and accepting the harsh terms demanded by the Allies.
• Weakness of the Weimar Constitution - Proportional

  Representation


  • any party taking part in the elections would gain seats in the Reichstag in proportion to the votes it received
  • was meant to be fair and would allow different views to be represented
  • This system resulted in a highly divided parliament with many small, competing parties in the Reichstag
  • No one party was able to gain a majority
  • Unable to agree and it was challenging for laws to be passed
  • The public perceived that the government was unable to solve their problems and turned to more extreme parties like the Nazis instead.
• Weakness of the Weimar Constitution - Coalition

  Governments

  • Because no one party had a majority, parties had to form alliances and work together to form coalition governments
  • However, it was often difficult for parties in the coalition to agree
  • Some parties had extreme ideas and were not willing to compromise – so they broke the coalition
  • New election had to be called frequently to form yet another coalition government
  • Over time, Germans lost faith in the government and the democratic process. They turned to Hitler who promised a strong central government instead.
• Weakness of the Weimar Constitution - Article 48


  • Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allows the President to dissolve the parliament and rule by decree for 6 months during an “Emergency”
  • However, what counted as an “Emergency” was not clearly defined
  • This would be exploited by Hitler later to remove his opponents and introduce an authoritarian rule
• Threats to the Weimar Republic - Spartacist Uprising, 1919

  • The Spartacists were a Communist group (left-wing)
  • They wanted to set up a Communist government in Germany similar to the Soviet system
  • Spartacists fought to take over Berlin. They were joined by rebel soldiers and sailors. Took over public buildings in Berlin and set up soviets (workers’councils) in many towns
  • The Freikorps – a group made up of anti-Communist WWI veterans fought back and put down the rebellion after days of bitter street fighting.
• Threats to the Weimar Republic - Kapp Putsch, 1920


  • Led by Wolfgang Kapp, a right-wing politician and soldiers from the Freikorps
  • They resented Weimar and wanted to overthrow the government and return to a more authoritarian system
  • Freikorps soldiers took over Berlin and announced a new right-wing government to be established with Kapp as Prime Minister
  • Trade Unions called for strikes. Berlin was paralysed with all public services suspended. Civil servants and govt officials refused to cooperate
  • Kapp realized he had no support and fled. Putsch crushed.
• Threats to the Weimar Republic - Uprisings

  • Besides having problems in its constitution, the Weimar government had to deal threats, from both the left- and ring-wing
  • This led to two uprisings: the Spartacist Uprising and the Kapp Putsch.
  • events also showed that they were incompetent and unable to deal with their opponents In both instances it was their other opponents who successfully ended the crisis, which made them look ineffective
  • weakened the Germans’ trust in the government