A Report on the importance of three main problems facing the Weimar Republic

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"We can scarcely count on being able to withstand a serious offensive." (Hindenburg, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/wei2.htm) The Weimar Republic started off with many problems. The government was in a tough spot, because of the Left and Right wing. The left was the Communists, while those on the right were fascist. The three main problems facing the Weimar Republic were the Left wing, Right wing, and also the ineffective constitution.

The Weimar government was not strong due to the constitution. In the constitution, Article 48 gave the president sole power for emergency use. "The president was allowed to appoint and dismiss governments, and suspend civil rights, without parliamentary support, in a time of emergency." (Pg 83 CONFLICT, COMMUNISM, AND FASCISM) Proportional representation means, "lots of small, powerless parties and frequent changes in government." (http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar_revision.htm) This system created 27 different parties in the Reichstag. This made it very difficult and caused lots of changes in government.

Hans Van Seekt led an army that wasn't fully under the government/president's control. It never supported the government during crisis. Another problem was that most of the judges were right wings. Therefore they tried to throw over the government, but after the Kapp putsch, out of the 700 rebels, only one went to jail.

The communist, also known as the Left wing, disliked the Weimar government. Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebnicht created the left wing (spartacists) in 1919. On January 6, 1919, both Luxembourg and Liebnicht led 50,000 spartacists to rebel in Berlin. But by January 15, the Freikorps murdered Luxembourg and Liebnicht. In that same year, the capital of Bavaria, Munich, was controlled by the communist workers' councils and proclaimed a socialist republic of Bavaria. The Kapp putsch failed in 1920 and a group known as the Red Brigade took over the Ruhr.

The right wing of the German politics hated the Weimar republic for they have signed the Treaty of Versailles. In March 1920, Dr. Wolfgang Kapp led an army to rebel against the Treaty of Versailles. This army was known as Kapp putsch or the Freikorps brigade. In order to have the Kaiser return, they took over Berlin. The army wouldn't do a thing, until after a general strike that was called by the trade unions. The government took back power, but it was weak and no one respected it. "Only after a general strike, called by the trade unions, did the army decide to put the putsch down." (Pg 85 CONFLICT, COMMUNISM, AND FASCISM)

In conclusion, the left wing, right wing, as well as the ineffective constitution, these are three major problems facing the Weimar republic. The left wing was the communists who had no respect for the government/president. While on the right wing, they disliked the Weimar republic for signing the Treaty of Versailles.

Bibliography

http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar3.htm

http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar_revision.htm

http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/failureofweimar.htm

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/wei2.htm

CONFLICT, COMMUNISM AND FASCISM (Pg 82~86)