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Was the Weimar Rebublic Doomed To Fail
must, in part, explain its weakness. Then later the Weimar Republic experienced a collapse of German democracy.
The constitution itself was flawed; it contained within it the its own destruction. Article 48 was to provide future abuse; this was used to appoint the last four Chancellors of the Republic, including Hitler. As Germany lacked in experience with democracy, it was far too democratic, and many groups did not support such a great amount of Democracy in Germany. The system of proportion representation made it easy for anti-democratic parties such as the KPD and the Nazi Party to gain seats in the Reichstag and the chances for any party gaining a majority support in the Reichstag was minimal. With a Republic run by the people who had ‘betrayed´ the country and a constitution that was flawed, a loyalty to the Republic had been formed. This encouraged political instability and frequent elections. The President had too much power; this could result into him becoming a dictator. Another flaw with the constitution is that the states could become hostile and attempt to overthrow the national government. Political opponents lead to political violence. Groups from both the extreme left, like the Spartacists and the extreme right, for example the NSDAP, Nazi Party, opposed the Weimar Republic. Both sides were opposed to the idea of a Republic. Those on the left - communists and the like - had no respect for the government and the success of Lenin in Russia had boosted their self-belief. Those on the right - former soldiers still bitter about the Armistice and the defeat in the war - also had no respect for the government as it had 'betrayed' them. Royalists, who wanted the Kaiser back, had no respect for the government, as it had been the Social Democrats who had told the Kaiser to abdicate. On top of this, the civilian population was still suffering from the affects of the war. [next page]