Section 1 Establishment and early years of Weimar 1918-24
Narrative order:
1. German generals recommend a civilian government and armistice
2. Prince Max made chancellor and forms a government
3. Kiel mutiny happened
4. Max handed chancellorship to SPD leader Ebert, republic declared and Kaiser abdicated
and fled to Netherlands
5. Ebert made a secret deal with the army; Ebert-Groener Pact
6. New German government signed the armistice
Constitution terms, strengths, and weaknesses
● Constitution established a democratic parliamentary republic in which everyone 20 or
older voted every 4 years for a new parliament and every 7 years for president
● Proportional representation encouraged political participation by giving influence to
minority views
● Coalition government usual outcome
● Changes of government happened more than every 4 years and so did elections,
change of government didn’t necessarily mean an election
● President elected 7 years by popular vote; appoint / dismiss chancellor, dissolve
Reichstag, call for new elections, command army
● Article 48 invoked to allow President rule by decree
● Reichstag had to be informed of all measures the president took under article 48 and
could revoke them
● Reichsrat could advise the Reichstag and reject new laws but could be overruled by the
Reichstag
● Germany federal state, Lander - local states ran major services like education and police
● Highly democratic
● No one party could dominate without over 50% of vote
● More people’s interests were reflected in government, president’s emergency powers
could be checked by the Reichstag
● Germany had no experience of this level of democracy
● Coalitions gave minority parties the balance of power; it needed the traditional elites and
empirical civil service who tended not to support the Weimar republic
● “Most democratic in the world and major reason why democracy failed in Germany”
● “Spirit of imperial Germany lived on in the unreformed civil service, judiciary and office
corps”
● Problem for weimar was the traditional elites with their traditional attitudes wielded too
much influence
Impact of war
● The war dead left widows and orphans to be cared for
● Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg issued memo 9th September 1914 that detailed
annexation of French and Belgian territories to Germany as a war aim
, ● Brest-Litovsk Treaty March 1918 required Russia to give up almost half of its European
territory
● By autumn 1918 the German army recognised it needed to sue for peace, it realised
President Wilson would be more amenable to a civilian government
● Bitterness and resentment at the sacrifice and hardship that people faced through the
war fuelled social and political unrest even in the armed forces
● 1917 new Russian government admitted defeat against Germany, Germany imposed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on Russia in spring 1918
● 1918 a major spring offensive by the German army failed
● Total war geared the economy to the war effort prioritising military over civilians
● Government introduced price ceilings, requisitioning and then rationing. Food - potatoes
short supply so were coal and clothing
● Long queues for food, malnutrition and starvation were common 80,000 children died of
starvation 1916 harsh winter of 1916-17 made shortages worse
● Profiteers and black marketeers grew wealthy and the rich did not suffer like the majority,
worsened social divisions and generated more anger
● Wave of strikes across Germany 1917
● Ebert made chancellor - made deal with General Groener vital to transition to a republic,
Groener guaranteed the army and civil service would support Ebert’s government if it
supported the officer corps and protected the army's food supply
● Versailles damaged national pride and reduced the size of Germany and its army, war
guilt clause and reparations bill deeply resented
● Treaty damaged German economically it was a source of anger and propaganda for
German nationalist
● 7 million Germans found themselves living as minorities in other countries
● New Weimar Republic associated with signing it as well as being blamed for the defeat
by the army’s stab-in-the-back myth
● “Constitution born with a curse upon it” - speaking of TOV
Political crisis Oct - Nov 1918
● By April 1919 Germany’s army had been demobilised, Britain’s navy was still blockading
its ports while French and Belgian troops poised on its border
● May 1991 Germany presented list of non-negotiable demands
● New German government signed ToV, German opinion called it a Diktat and branded
those who signed it as November Criminals
● Military wanted a new civilian government to be formed preferably from moderate and
left wing parties to admit Germany’s defeat and take the blame
● Hoped that a civilian government would get better peace terms
● Ludendroff persuaded the Kaiser to make Prince Max Germany’s Chancellor Oct 1918,
Prince Max had credibility with the military and civilians
● More importantly Prince Max could bring the SPD into government so a moderate to left
wing, civilian government would take the blame for defeat
● 29 Sept = German generals recommend a civilian government and armistice
● 3 Oct = Prince Max is made chancellor and forms a government
, ● 31 Oct = Kiel Mutiny, unrest spreads
● 9 Nov = Max hands chancellorship to SPD leader Ebert, a republic declared, Kaiser
abdicates and flees to the Netherlands
● 10 Nov = Ebert makes a secret deal with the army; Ebert-Groener Pact
● 11 Nov = new German government signs the armistice
Political instability and extremism
● 1921 OC assassinated Erzberger, had been attacked by right wing press for signing
Armistice and introducing tax reforms
● 1922 = assassinatiom of Rathenau, founded DDP, negotiated Treaty of Rapallo 1922
already a hate figure for right wing press
● Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
● Coal-rich Saarland given to France for 15 years
● East Prussia separated from Germany; Poland got West Prussia and Poznan, port of
Danzig became a free city under League of Nations control
● Control of Germany’s overseas colonies given to Britain and France
● Anschluss (unification) with Austria forbidden
● Army cut to 100,000 troops and conscription banned
● No tanks, military aircraft, submarines etc..
● Rhineland demilitarised, allied troops occupied its west bank and would stay there for 15
years
● Article 231 - War Guilt Clause made Germany accept responsibility for starting the war
and so all the losses that resulted, led to paying reparations, commission decided
amount set April 1921 £6.6 billion
● Expected to negotiate a peace based on Wilson’s 14 points; key ideas were
self-determination, free trade, general reduction in armaments, new international body,
League of nations to settle disputes and ensure peace collective security
● “Hoped the 14 points would lead to a fair peace they were in for a major shock”
● Economic problems and military failures 1918 destroyed morale and led to criticism of
the government people became more open to revolutionary politics
● Mutinies spread from Kiel across Germany, revolutionary committees were formed
demonstrating anger at Germany’s leaders / military and political
● KPD never forgave SPD, USPD split some joined KPD others SPD after Sparticist
Uprisings
● Kapp Putsch 1920 = led by Wolfgang Kapp and General von Lüttwitz; 12,000 Freikorp
troops marched on Berlin, army refused to fire on Freikorps, Ebert’s government fled
Berlin a new government led by Kapp announced, insufficient support, SPD and trade
unionists organised a general strike in Berlin and an uprising in the Ruhr
● No action taken against von Seeckt who had refused to do as ordered by the
government, participants in the Putsch treated leniently only one punished over half
granted amnesty, Kapp died before prosecuted, participants of Ruhr uprising illegally
executed by Freikorps leaders tried and given death sentences
