Why was the Weimar Republic doomed?

          The republic was doomed to fail for many reasons. It had formed into a Germany that was largely socially divided, where Germany was only getting one third the national income as it did in 1913 and where many people believed a Kaiser was the correct way to run a country. A democracy was viewed as week compared to the Kaiser.

          The structure of the government was easily corruptible because once a corrupt man was elected president he could appoint whoever he wanted in the courts, as chancellor and the government ministers. This meant a criminal if in league with the president would not be punished justly and the ministers would just follow him, making the president a Kaiser in some ways. He also solely controlled the armed forces which meant he had the power to do whatever he wanted. If this happened Germany would no longer be democratic. Also the Reichstag was weak due to proportional representation and they very rarely agreed on one topic.

          Two parties formed which opposed the government, the Freikorps and the Spartacists. The Freikorps was made up of Great War soldiers who did not want communism. They wanted the Kaiser back and for Germany to be a capitalistic country. If a Kaiser returned then the former enemies - USA, France and Britain – would force him to abdicate and either democracy would once again rule or the country would turn communist.

The Spartacists wanted Germany to follow Russia and become a communist country which was ruled by the workers and soviets. Becoming a communist country would just make them follow Russia and there would be a national civil war which would devastate Germany.

In 1919 the Spartacists joined Great War soldiers who wanted communism and tried to form soviets in towns and cities. The Weimar government sent the army to aid the Freikorps in stopping the communism spreading and there were many casualties. Eventually the Freikorps won and the leaders of the revolution were murdered.

          In February the leader of Bavaria was murdered and the communists seized the opportunity to make it a soviet state. Again the Freikorps moved in with the army to stop the communism spreading and more street fighting occurred. There were 600 communists’ deaths. The spread of communism was to be stooped at all costs of by the Freikorps.

In May the terms of the treaty of Versailles were announced and the government had no choice but to sign and agree with the terms. The unfairness of the treaty, in the eyes of the public, was the fault of Ebert and the government. Ebert was seen as a backstabber which made him even more unpopular. If the public did not believe in the democratic government then they would never agree and would not follow his rule, leading to civil war.

The public saw the republic as the November Criminals because they signed the treaty of Versailles and surrendered. This meant the public would not follow the republic willingly. When the Freikorps and the Spartacists formed the public followed them and there were large street fights, resulting in many casualties.

          In 1920 the communists tried to cause a revolution in the Ruhr, the police, army and the Freikorps attacked killing. There were 2000 casualties, many communist.

          In March, Wolfgang Kapp led 5000 Freikorps into Berlin, the Kapp Putsch; the government could not use the army to stop the revolution because they refused firing at the Freikorps. The revolution was stopped by a general strike in Berlin, which made Kapp realise he could not succeed and he fled. The rebels were not punished suggesting that the courts were already corrupt and the governments downfall had already begun.

          In 1923 the Nazi party had grown to 55,000 members and the government had ordered the Ruhr back to work. Hitler counted on the nationalists for help when he would take control of Bavaria and then marched on Munich. Kahr was one of the nationalist politicians that helped Hitler plan the revolution had called off the attack. Hitler continued however when he got to Munich Kahr had called the police and many of Hitler’s storm troopers were killed.

          Hitler was arrested and went to prison but only for a short period because the Nazis had friends in high positions in the courts. He got publicity from the revolution that spread his ideas. This showed Hitler he did not have enough public support to take control of Germany.

          For the next two years Germany continued to be unstable and any spark could cause civil war. Luckily there were no sparking events because Ebert used appeasement often. There were many political assassinations, implying there were very violent groups opposed to the government, Ebert let this go without massive investigation. He knew civil war would completely destroy his country.

          The public divides were growing as the public followed a party and each party and there followers hated their opposition.

The republic was also doomed to fail because if a corrupt man was elected as president or any high position he could influence the government enough to appoint other corrupt men. This made it possible for Hitler to gain power.