The Weimar Republic was the government that preceded the Nazi government. The birth of this government
was at the defeat end of the First World War. After four long years of devastating warfare, the new government
was left with the unhappy task and responsibility of peace negotiations. The Republic was forced to sign
a treaty that placed the blame of the way solely on the shoulders of the distraught Germans. It was then the
burdened government began its falter.
The following are the main reasons that led to the downfall of the Weimar Republic which indirectly
gave a chance for the rise of the Nazis:
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a huge burden to the newly born Weimar Republic. It was harsh to the government
and its society. The treaty gave away one-eighth of Germany's territories on the eastern and western borders as well
as all of the German colonies and other overseas properties. It, however, does not include the amount of natural
resources given up by the defeated country. In addition, the new government was forced to pay a large reparation
bill for the damages of the war while also limiting its own military to only one hundred thousand men. These
restrictions caused a great deal of burden in addition to the deeply troubled and already weakened new government.
The Treaty of Versailles deprived the Germans of important natural and human resources, but it was also the main
reason for the economic difficulties that Germany faced in the first few years after the war.
Social Problems
Socially, the German people were unhappy about their new socialist government. The communists on the left
side were having revoluntionary ideas to overthrow the new government. With the support from the urban
workers, they all favored the revolutionary process to bring down the Weimar regime. However, the government
was able to make a deal with the German army for their support of the Republic in event of a communist insurrection.
However, from the right side of the society, the old aristocratic militants were also unhappy with the Social Democrats
of the Weimar Republic. Members of the aristocratic alliance were secretly partnered in planning and attempting to
overthrow the government through a coup known as the Kapp putsch. However, it was a total failure in the attempt.
They attempted to overthrow the government with a general worker's strike. However, the labor unions were quick
to crush the rebellion when the military refuse to defend the Republic. Thus, their plan to bring down the government
was unsuccessful. However, the was not the last from the rightist party. An even more extreme political party rose from
that side of the society. Among the rightist parties was the NAtionalso
ZIalistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National-Socialist German Workers' Party)
also known as the NAZI Party.
Economic Problems
The new Weimar government was also faced with numerous economic problems that burdened them in many ways. The French
was a huge economic problem for the government to deal with. Concerned with the payments of heavy reparation bills, the French
added to the trouble when their army occupied the industrial German Ruhr. The occupation of the Ruhr was to assure the future
payments of reparations to France. The government's inability to defend their territory demonstrated their weakness, but however,
a larger problem looms over their heads. As the result of the occupation of the Ruhr, it started a terrible inflation of the German
economy.
The German government encouraged workers of the Ruhr to strike against the French and they did. However, the strike was costly
to the government since the striking workers were supported by money from the national treasury. This was added to the burden
of the other expenditures from the war, the reparation bills, the penalties from the Treaty of Versailles. Seeing no other way, the
government began printing more paper money which was not supported by gold or silver. Because of this plus the fact that there
were too few products to be purchased by buyers all contributed to an inflation problem. Due to this inflation, the value of the German
mark began to plunge. By 1922, the ration was seventy thousand marks to one American dollar. It was worse in the year 1923 when one
American dollar was worth more than four billion German marks. However, things started to look better by the
beginning of 1924. The German mark was back to the prewar currency value. However, many businesses collapsed while the
unemployment rate goes up. At the same time, the standard of living went down hill.