The Main Threat to the Stability of the Weimar Republic free essay sample

The main threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic in the period of 1919 to 1923 came from the political violence of the extreme right. † How far do you agree with this judgement? The period of 1919 to 1923 saw numerous factors threaten the stability of the Weimar Republic. The political violence from both the left and right wing parties, the weakness of the Weimar Constituion itself and the economic issues such as hyperinflation all posed as threats to the stability of the Republic. However, although the statement above claims that the political violence from the right was the main threat to the stability of the republic, the Treaty of Versailles resulted in the republic itself been built upon resentment and failure. In turn, this saw the ‘stab in the back’ myth take its toll on the army and saw the public reel in humiliation and anger. This was a bigger and more significant threat to the stability of the republic than any political violence could possibly be. The extreme right wing was not slow in letting people know of their disapproval of the Treaty of Versailles. To the right, the peace settlement was a Schmachfrieden and persistently referred to the politicians who agreed to the armistice as the ‘November Criminals’. The Freikorps themselves posed a real threat to the republic. The government used them several times in attempted revolutions to put them down in which they did do quite easily. This alone demonstrated the power of the Freikorps and their methods of violence which perceived they were a brutal and skilled organisation. The extreme right also had the support of Germany’s elities such as the judiciary. This was proved in the statistics of the political assassinations in Germany between 1919 1923. 354 right wing people committed murders, with 326 going unpunished and only 1 been convicted and sentenced to a severe punishment. However, only 22 left wing people committed murders, with 10 been sentenced to death. Although Article 54 stated the judiciary maintained independence, these statistics prove otherwise and show an element of bias and support for the right wing. Such support could threaten the stability of the Republic as the elites essentially held the most influential power and could easily threaten the Republic’s position. However, although the extreme right wing seemed to have mastered political violence strategy and used it to their full advantages, certain factors effected it been a threat to the republic. The amount of support for the right wing was limited and they didn’t have the majority support. This meant it would prove extremely difficult for the right wing to take any successful action against the Republic without been stopped, making them a perceived threat rather than an actual threat. Similarly, there were several internal divisions within the right wing. Tensions between parties such as the DNVP and the NSDAP arose over issues such as the restoration of the monarchy and disagreements between the Reichswehr and the Freikorps with the latter been seen by the former as anarchic. These divisions resulted in the failure of both the 1920 and 1923 putsch attempts. Although these attempts did prove that there was potential for the right to threaten the republic, they were unable to overthrow due to these reasons, consequently making them less of a threat than other factors affecting the republic. A further factor affecting the stability of the Weimar Republic was the revolutionary left. After the first World War, the KPD established control over all or part of major cities such as Berlin and the State of Bavaria. The fact that a political movement was able to sustain such large achievements and control meant they could not be written off and can be perceived as a possible threat to the Republic, with the potential of been able to overthrow or even destroy the Republic. The most important factor making the left wing a potential threat was that fact that they could feed off the discontent of the working class. To quote historian Elizabeth Wiskemann, â€Å"defeated armies’ returned to starving homes. † Arriving home with low morale was bad enough, but to see families starving and living in poor economic conditions only added to the resentment of the Treaty of Versailles and engaged in a build- up of support for the left wing. This was displayed in the Communist rallies and demonstrations that often attracted large audiences. Taking support from the Republic and adding it to the left wing meant that they could make a larger impact on the republic itself, threatening its position and questioning its authority. However, the Republic was never really in any serious danger of succumbing to Communism. For example, the KPD lacked popular support amongst the people. They only won 12. 6% of the vote in the elections in the Reichstag of 1920. People were more motivated by economic issues such as food shortages as oppose to the political upheaval that the party suggested. Without the support of the people, it would be impossible to even suggest any action against the republic without accepting defeat. Also, the KPD was poorly led. It had no organisation, no political insight or ruthlessness like that of Lenin in Russia in 1917. This was shown in the Spartacist rising, when Liebknecht and Luxemburg failed to control the rising to any great effect, resulting in a botched affair. More so, this event displayed that the left didn’t have the capability to interfere with the Republic and if they did, they could be put down very easily by the Freikorps. In hindsight, the threat from the left was in fact a perceived threat. Although they could be a potential threat through their backing from Lenin’s Russia and that they could feed off the discontent of the majority of the electorate, they had no real power in terms of support or military back up and therefore would make it very difficult for them to threaten the stability of the Republic at all. The Weimar Constitution itself could also been seen as a threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic. In the Bundesrat, Prussian seats were elected by those who paid more tax, resulting in it therefore been dominated by conservatives. 7/58 seats in the Bundesrat were from Prussia and had power to veto bills. This in itself mean that any decisions in the Bundesrat were most likely to be that of traditionalist and conservative decisions as oppose to socialist or liberal. Furthermore, the Republic was trying to introduce democracy through this constitution. However, the Kaiser still had enough power to over-rule any decisions, making the system dependent on the abilities and personality of the Kaiser. Such a system would be seem as fundamentally flawed and therefore unable to provide stability and a working democracy. Additionally, the proportional representation voting system meant that a party had to have over 51% of the vote in order to form a government which normally resulted in many coalitions. This also resulted in six different governments coming into power between 1919 and 1923. This meant stability within the Weimar Republic was highly unlikely with so many governments coming in and out of power. However, the Constitution was not weak enough to cause any great threat to the stability of the Republic. Germany still held a federal system, meaning education, police, justice and health care were all controlled by individual states. By doing this, it meant whatever the state decided to implement, the Republic could not be blamed for their decisions meaning blame would fall entirely on the state. Also, the Reichstag still held a relatively strong position. Elections had to be held shortly after disbandment, meaning the Republic wasn’t left long without any political control, securing the stability of the Republic itself. Although the Kaiser was the origin of power, he was given guidance by understudies, which meant public views and expert views would be taken into account, pursuing democracy and further protecting the stability of the republic. On reflection, even though the Constitution was fundamentally flawed and fragmented, it still remained politically active and strong mainly due to the fact there was no political alternative and therefore could only be a minor threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic. The Treaty of Versailles, however, was the main threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic and not the political violence from the extreme right. The signing of the Treaty infuriated many Germans as they claimed it was a humiliating Diktat and a shame peace that should not have been signed. The implications of the treaty itself sent Germany into turmoil, turning many German’s against those who had signed the treaty alongside the ‘stab in the back’ myth. This myth lead to military collapse in 1918 and was a crucial point as the army was vital to the Republic when coming to defending them. In turn this would affect the stability of the Republic as it was open to allied attacks with the potential of been overthrown by revolutionaries. A further term of the treaty that damaged Germany indefinitely was the reparations that it was ordered to pay for damage during world war one. By printing more money to pay these reparations, hyperinflation hit the German economy in 1923 resulting in many losing their cash savings. Hyperinflation resulted in many questioning and losing their faith in the Republic. The support of the public was crucial for the Republic to maintain stability and survive so the hyperinflation crisis came as a worry to the republic who knew they needed to do something drastic in order to keep the support. Hyperinflation also acted as more propaganda and ammunition for the right to use against the republic and the left wing. Clause 231, also known as the ‘War Guilt’ clause also undermined the Weimar government. From this, the government doomed itself to be open to criticism from political extremes which led to many Germans becoming antagonised by this clause, resulting in a large percentage of the population disapproving the government and its actions. This therefore had a side effect of threatening the government’s stability as a result of its existence. Furthermore, the restrictions on military capacity lay uneasily with the military. Only 100,000 were allowed in the Army with no military aircraft and only 6 battleships. Such terms angered the army as many disbanded into Freikorps along with their resentment towards the Republic. Although all factors display some extent of a threat to the Weimar Republic, the Treaty of Versailles is the main threat to the stability of it. Although the extreme right were particular with their strategies and could easily gain power to overthrow the republic, they were too divided to come together and act as one in order to do so, posing no immediate threat to the republic. Furthermore, the revolutionary left could not gain enough support in order to take any successful action but instead would be put down immediately by the Freikorps. In addition, the Constitution although weak and fragmented, was the only political solution at the time and no other alternative was available. However, the Treaty of Versailles fuelled even more resentment and hostility towards the republic and its ‘November criminals’. The economy was more of a motivator amongst the population than any political violence as starvation and poverty saw the people lose faith in the republic and show their support elsewhere. Similarly, the terms that affected the army saw them also lose trust and support within the republic. Without the support of the population and the army backing them, the stability of the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1923 was extremely affected and in trouble of been overthrown.