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Was the Weimar Rebublic Doomed To Fail
Assessment: What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic (1918-1929)? Was it doomed to failure?
The Weimar Republic was born in the aftermath of the First World War. The creators of the Republic were blame, rididculed and labelled for the defeat of Germany during World War One and for accepting the crippling terms of the Traety of Versailles. Weimar Germany was to have a short, tumultou history. Yet under normal circumstances would it have survived? Was Weimar Germany destined to failure from the outset, doomed from the start? World War One ended when it became clear that no one could win. If they were to continue on fighting, everyone had a lot to lose. Germany had become increasingly unsettled. The Kaiser abdicated in 1918 because Germany had lost the war and the victors, Britain and France would not sign a peace treaty unless Germany set up a new democratic system of government. They saw the Kaiser and his way of ruling as being a major reason for Germany starting the war. The Kaiser fled the country and went to live in Holland. On 4 October 1918, the new government - led by Max von Baden - decided that enough was enough. They needed to sort out their own affairs and decided that they couldn't possibly win this war. They asked the American President, Woodrow Wilson for a ceasefire. On 11 November 1918, an armistice was signed at Compiegne in France.
Germany had to create a government that the Allies would be prepared to negotiate with, so Hindenburg ordered a government, which had the support of the Reichstag. In June 1919 at the Hall of Mirrors the Treaty of Versailles was signed. The ‘November Criminals´ who signed the Treaty of Versailles went on to run the country, and the ‘Stab in the Back Myth ´ left the public with a sense of betrayal and a bitter resentment towards the Republic itself.
In August 1919 a new constitution called the Weimar Republic, lead by Ebert, was adopted. This was the first constitution in Germany that used proportional representation and Article 48. The new constitution enabled that all Germans had equal rights including voting. All people over 20 years of age could vote. This was new to Germany, as they had never experienced Democracy before. The Weimar Republic was not based on strong public convictions, which must, [next page]