![]() Elections used what was seen as the fairest system: proportional representation. They voted for their area’s representative in the Reichstag Parliament. The leader, Kaiser Wilhelm, abdicated, allowing the old royal system of government to be replaced with a new democratic system, the Weimar Republic.įor the first time, all German people got the vote. Narrator: At the end of World War One, Germany was defeated. However, it did not clearly define what an 'emergency' was, so the power was overused, which weakened Germans’ confidence in democracy. This gave the president the power to act without parliament’s approval in an emergency. Some people argue that this contributed to political instability in Germany. While it allowed for better representation of minorities, it also meant there were lots of small parties in parliament, making it difficult to pass laws, and contributed to weak and often short-lived governments. Historians have argued that there were two main weaknesses of the Weimar Republic.Įach political party got the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it received in an election. However, this caused problems because the German public were so divided. It tried to give genuine power to all German adults by allowing their voices to be heard. The Weimar Republic was set up as a representative democracy, which is a political system in which members of parliament are elected to represent the interests of the public. The republic held elections every four years and all adults over the age of 20 were able to vote. The Weimar Republic was a truly democratic government for Germany, with a constitution that set out how the country should be run. They were a new and inexperienced government who had to deal with a lot of complicated economic problems after World War One. The Weimar Republic was Germany's government from 1919 to 1933, from the end of World War One to the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. This contributed to their post-war economic problems. Germany lost a significant amount of territory: 13% if its land and 10% of their population, including industrial coal and iron producing areas. it was allowed only 6 battleships, and no submarines.it was allowed a maximum of 100,000 troops in the army.American president Woodrow Wilson, had suggested all nations should disarm, but the result of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany would be largely disarmed whilst France and the UK maintained their armed forces. The loss of armed forces left Germany feeling vulnerable. These reparations caused economic hardship in Germany. This figure was decided to be £6.6 billion in 1921, and was finally paid off in 2010. The War Guilt Clause meant Germany had to pay for all of the damage caused in the war. ’ This caused anger in Germany as they felt it was unfair to hold them solely responsible for causing the war. War Guilt Clause 231 stated that ‘ Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage (in the War). The Weimar Government’s response to the Ruhr invasion also led to hyperinflation, which caused financial disaster for many people.They aimed to make Germany a powerful country again and tried to overthrow the Weimar Government with the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Putsch. They believed they shouldn’t have surrendered and that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. Right-wing groups, such as the Freikorps and the newly formed Nazi party, opposed the new Weimar Government.The poverty in Germany at the end of the war made many people believe that communism would make Germany a fairer country, leading to some support for the Spartacists and the Spartacist Uprising. ![]()
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