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Was The Weimar Republic Doomed From Its Very Beginning?
The German High Command accepted the end of the First World War by September 1918. Three days after the abdication of the Kaiser the armistice was signed on the 11th of November and the German Chancellorship was handed over to Friedrich Ebert. A republic was declared and a new National Assembly met at Weimar for the first time in February 1919. This resulted in the new republic being known as the Weimar Republic. By the time the constitution was completed in August it became apparent that although the republic provided hope for German democracy it had several weaknesses that ultimately led to its doom.
The establishment of a democratic method of governing Germany The system enabled the people of Germany to many provided its people with hope for the future after suffering as a result of the war. The people of Germany were able to have a say in who would run their country. The citizens of Germany elected the President who held the position as Head of State. State governments were also elected into power. The system of the proportional representation was used to determine the members of the Reichstag and this particular governing body was given the authority to influence whether or not laws could be passed. Ultimately it gave the citizens of Germany individual rights and a say in the way their country was run and this was a major advantage of the republic.
The Weimar Government provided further hope for the people of Germany by introducing welfare provisions. This provided benefits for the unemployed and sick and greatly assisted the less advantaged. However it is also true that whilst the working classes benefited from this new system it greatly angered the elite. Generally it can be stated that the elite were very weary of the Weimar government. It had carried many burdens from the past during its establishment. Significantly there was still the fact that there had been a strong authoritarian tradition in Germany and many people considered the monarchy to have played a fundamental role in its development as a nation. The signing of the armistice had caused a great hostility amongst the German people and they had labelled the politicians who had signed the armistice as the November Criminals. This meant that even before its creation people were particularly anxious about the formation of a new political system so soon after the humiliation of the war.
In addition to the burdens of the past that the Weimar Republic carried with it there were also several drawbacks which were evident in the new system. Primarily although the German people were provided with democratic power there were restrictions on who were allowed to have a say. The right to vote was granted to men and women who were over 20 and therefore not all adults were able to have a say. Another considerable weakness of the Weimar Republic was the fact that there were key administrative and judicial structures that remained unchanged. The military were hostile [next page]