The Weimar Republic 1918–29
Origins — defeat and abdication
By autumn 1918 Germany was losing WW1. Sailors mutinied at Kiel (October). Workers' councils sprang up across Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated 9 November 1918. Friedrich Ebert (SPD) became Chancellor. The Republic was declared from a Reichstag balcony.
Armistice signed 11 November 1918 — derided as the work of the "November Criminals". Many Germans believed the army had been "stabbed in the back" (the Dolchstoßlegende) by Jews, communists and democrats. This myth poisoned Weimar from day one.
The Treaty of Versailles, June 1919
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Territory | Germany lost ~13% of pre-war land (Alsace-Lorraine to France, parts to Poland), all overseas colonies, the Saar (League of Nations control) |
| Military | Army limited to 100,000; no air force, tanks, submarines; Rhineland demilitarised |
| Reparations | Set in 1921 at £6.6 billion |
| War Guilt | Article 231 — Germany blamed for the war (psychologically devastating) |
The Versailles "diktat" was universally hated. Weimar politicians who signed it = "November Criminals".
The Constitution
A model democratic constitution on paper:
- Universal suffrage (men + women over 20)
- Reichstag elected by proportional representation (PR)
- President elected every 7 years
- Article 48: emergency powers — president could rule by decree
Weaknesses: PR meant fragmented Reichstag (no majority governments — coalitions only). Article 48 became a backdoor to authoritarian rule.
Early threats 1919–23
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1919 | Spartacist Uprising — communist (KPD) attempted revolution; crushed by Freikorps, Liebknecht + Luxemburg killed |
| 1920 | Kapp Putsch — right-wing Freikorps tried to overthrow Ebert; defeated by general strike |
| 1923 | Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch — Hitler + Ludendorff failed coup; Hitler imprisoned, wrote Mein Kampf |
| 1923 | French/Belgian occupation of the Ruhr after Germany defaulted on reparations |
| 1923 | Hyperinflation: 1 trillion marks = 1 dollar at peak |
Stresemann era — recovery 1923–29
Gustav Stresemann (Chancellor briefly 1923, then Foreign Minister 1923–29) stabilised Weimar:
- New Rentenmark currency (1923) — backed by mortgages on industrial + agricultural land
- Dawes Plan (1924): US loans to Germany; reparations rescheduled
- Locarno Treaty (1925): Germany accepted Western borders; readmitted to international community
- Joined League of Nations (1926)
- Young Plan (1929): reparations further reduced
- Cultural blossoming: Weimar Berlin became a centre of avant-garde art, cabaret, Bauhaus architecture, jazz, film (Marlene Dietrich, Fritz Lang)
Hidden weakness: economy heavily dependent on US loans. When Wall Street crashed October 1929, the loans dried up.
⚠Common mistakes
- Forgetting Article 48 — it's the constitutional flaw that Hindenburg + Hitler later exploited.
- Saying Stresemann "ended" the crises — he stabilised, but Weimar remained fragile.
- Munich Putsch and Kapp Putsch confused — Kapp was right-wing 1920 Berlin (failed by general strike); Munich was Hitler's 1923 (failed by police).
- Saying hyperinflation was the worst moment — for the middle class it was, but politically the late 1920s revival mattered more.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-history