Despite the Weimar Republic lasting fourteen years some historians viewed it as merely an interlude between imperial and Nazi Germany, and believe that it was doomed from the outset. It had been described as a 'republic without republicans', which to have been introduced immediately after the war was 'a gamble standing virtually no chance of success'. There are many factors that have drawn them to this conclusion, primarily the long-term weaknesses it faced. These included a lack of any democratic history and the circumstances under which it was established. The foundations for this government were not strong or appropriate. A semi-democratic state had been created to alleviate blame from the politicians and generals over the loss of the war and then a full democracy introduced as a way of preventing a communist uprising that Russia had just experienced. With a lack of support from the German people, a country exhausted after the First World War and harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles awaiting it, the Weimar Republic had an incredible struggle ahead.
germany
Karte des Deutschen Reiches, »Weimarer Republik/D...
English: Map of the Weimar Republic in 1930.Germany was far from a settled country long before the arrival of the Weimar Republic. It had a relatively short history as a nation state; the empire created by Bismarck had only come into existence in 1871, unlike Britain or France, which had existed as unified states for centuries. The success of Bismark's creation of a united Germany persuaded many middle-class Liberals to support the new authoritarian national state. Consequently support for a future fully democratic Germany had been substantially reduced. A process of rapid industrialisation had been taking place before the First World War, resulting in Germany becoming one of three leading industrial powers in the world. From this had emerged an industrial class, represented mainly by the Social Democratic Party. But since such groups had...