To What Extent Did the Weaknesses in the Weimar Republic Account for the Growth and Rise to Power of the Nazi Party in 1933?
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Jessica Bartley
Modern History Higher School Certificate
Germany 1918-1945
b. To what extent did the weaknesses in the Weimar Republic account for the growth and rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933?
The Weimar Republics weaknesses were sought as the catalyst to why the growth and rise to power of the Nazi Party had begun in 1933. The Weimar republic was a government attempting a democracy in a country that was full of political, economic and personal trauma. Hitler’s rise to power was not simply due to the collapse of the Weimar Republic but a combination of tumultuous political and economic events within a struggling nation and a country looking for a “ drummer boy ”[1].
The Weimar republic came about in the midst of civil war and great unrest winning 165 out of 423 seats giving them a minority government. This meant that to govern Germany the socialists would require support of the other parties, which in itself was an interesting place to start.
The national assembly met in a small town named Weimar with the task of creating a lawfully elected government to make peace with the allies post the war and to create a constitution for the republic which would lay down new laws to govern Germany. Frederick Ebert was elected president and Phillip Scheidemann the first Chancellor. The government worked fairly well as long as democratic parties held majority.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919, it could be said was the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic even from this early point. The Treaty opened as a peace conference in Paris in January 1919, it was a meeting of the victorious allies who would decide how Germany would be managed and run, and it was to have much of its political decisions set down from a group of countries it had been fighting.
The treaty made Germany and other defeated enemies sign based on the premise of the fourteen points by President Wilson of the United States. Wilson believed that the war could be outlawed by setting...
Modern History Higher School Certificate
Germany 1918-1945
b. To what extent did the weaknesses in the Weimar Republic account for the growth and rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933?
The Weimar Republics weaknesses were sought as the catalyst to why the growth and rise to power of the Nazi Party had begun in 1933. The Weimar republic was a government attempting a democracy in a country that was full of political, economic and personal trauma. Hitler’s rise to power was not simply due to the collapse of the Weimar Republic but a combination of tumultuous political and economic events within a struggling nation and a country looking for a “ drummer boy ”[1].
The Weimar republic came about in the midst of civil war and great unrest winning 165 out of 423 seats giving them a minority government. This meant that to govern Germany the socialists would require support of the other parties, which in itself was an interesting place to start.
The national assembly met in a small town named Weimar with the task of creating a lawfully elected government to make peace with the allies post the war and to create a constitution for the republic which would lay down new laws to govern Germany. Frederick Ebert was elected president and Phillip Scheidemann the first Chancellor. The government worked fairly well as long as democratic parties held majority.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919, it could be said was the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic even from this early point. The Treaty opened as a peace conference in Paris in January 1919, it was a meeting of the victorious allies who would decide how Germany would be managed and run, and it was to have much of its political decisions set down from a group of countries it had been fighting.
The treaty made Germany and other defeated enemies sign based on the premise of the fourteen points by President Wilson of the United States. Wilson believed that the war could be outlawed by setting...