FREE ESSAY ON COLLAPSE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

COLLAPSE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

"On 2 August 1934, President Hindenburg died. Within an hour of his death Hitler announced
that the offices of chancellor and president were to be combined and that he was the new
head of state. Hitler's adolescent dream of becoming Fuhrer of the German people had been
realized" President Hindenburg's death marked the official end of the Weimar Republic, a
democratic 'experiment' that had lasted since 1918. The causes of the dissolution of the
Republic are wide ranging and numerous, as was explained in the articles of both Richard
Bessel, and John McKenzie. The two author's agree on the sequence of events which led to
the dissolution of the Republic, however, they disagree on what exactly caused the
transition from Weimar to the Third Reich. The author's disagreement stem from a
differing view of the fundamental cause, political structure versus political
leadership.
Richard Bessel's article stresses the political structure of Weimar Germany as the cause
of its failure. Its structure was flawed in numerous ways, all of which contributed to
its inevitable failure. First of all, the problems within Germany due to the First World
War were massive. This caused economic, political and social problems which first had to
be dealt with by the new Weimar government. The loss of the war had left Germany with
huge reparations to pay, and massive destruction to repair. In order to gain the capital
needed to finance efforts to rebuild, and repay the Allies, the economy had to be brought
back to its prewar levels. This was not an easy task. 
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Roughly 2.7 million German soldiers returned from the First World 
War with some sort of permanent disability, and in 1923 the Reich
Labour Ministry estimated the number of war widows at 533,000
and of war orphans at 1,192,000…the scale of the problem may be 
judged from the fact that during the mid-1920s nearly one third of
the funds at the disposal of the Reich government were swallowed
up by pension costs. 
This alone was a major economic hurdle to overcome. With the amount of money being
demanded by the Allies in reparation payments, and the pension costs of the war victims,
there was little left to finance rebuilding initiatives, and to get the country back on
its feet in general. These economic problems were worsened by the very weak currency, and
loss of many international trading partners. The people of Germany did not at the time
realize that the country was as poor as it was, and expected the situation to revert to
what it had been like previous to the war. Unfortunately this was not possible. 
The Left wing government had gained power quite unexpectedly, and was not prepared to
deal with the problems the country was facing. Many of the political elites had
relinquished power, and backed out of the new left government, taking with them their
leadership, experience and support. The Left gaining power was "perhaps less the
consequence of a triumph of the Left, than a colossal failure of elite politics in
Germany." This 'compromise' made it difficult for the Left wing government to function.
The people were in no means ready for a Bolshevik style revolution, or even left wing
reforms for that matter. The left gained power because there was no one else to take
control. This presented a problem, in that there was no strong leadership of the left.
The government was never quite legitimate in the eyes of the public. 
As well, in the formation of the constitution of the new Weimar republic, there was such
an emphasis on it being democratic, that it ended up being so democratic that it was very
difficult for legislation to be passed. All the balances and counter-balances proved to
stall proposed bills before they got anywhere. This caused a vicious cycle in which not
legislation was being passed. The inability of the Reichstag to pass any legislation
forced President Hindenburg to enact Article 48 of the constitution numerous times to the
dismay of the people and the parties. Article 48 allowed law to be passed by only
presidential decree, effectively bypassing all debate over it. This ended democratic
politics, and started the Weimar Republic on a road to dissolution. As this political
turmoil was occurring, the right-wing Nazi's had begun to muster much political support.
The people of Germany were fed up with ineffective decision-making, and the numerous
elections that had been occurring. Hitler used these views to create powerful propaganda,
and gain considerable public support, eventually leading to his capture of full and total
power of Germany.
John McKenzie presents a very different view on the cause of the dissolution of the
Weimar Republic. Although he agrees with Bessel on the events that led to the end of the
republic, he argues a different motivation to the events. McKenzie squarely puts the
blame on the individual political leaders of the Weimar Republic for its failure. A
succession of bad leaders led to rise of the Nazi party, beginning with Bruning. Bruning
had started many economic reforms that did not have popular support in the Reichstag.
Although the bills had been voted down, Bruning and Hindenburg decided to make use of
Article 48, and pass them without the support of the Reichstag. As well, Bruning agreed
to pass legislation banning the SA and the SS. This Angered the Nazi Party, and caused
them to demand Bruning's dismissal. Bruning was dismissed, which was just one in a line
of actions designed to appease the Nazi's and Hitler. Following Bruning, a new leader,
Franz von Papen was made Chancellor by President Hindenburg's decree, on advisor
Schleicher proposal. "Schleicher believed his old comrade [Papen] would be a 'pliable
henchman', a puppet chancellor who could be trusted to implement his schemes. He had
after all no experience as a diplomat, an administrator or a leading politician." 
Papen proved to be a very inadequate leader. On numerous occasions, Papen underestimated
the power of the Nazi's and Hitler in general, ceding more and more power to them. Under
Papen, Hindenburg (who at the time was beginning to become senile) signed an order to
suspend the constitution. Again, as in the case of Bruning, Schleicher persuaded
Hindenburg to ask Papen to resign. Schleicher then took the role of chancellor for a very
short time, and was unable to accomplish anything. Hindenburg, then had no other option,
he declared Hitler as chancellor, not entirely realizing what the decision would end up
causing. 
McKenzie argues throughout his article that it is the political leadership, which caused
Hitler to gain power. The combined actions of the various ineffective chancellors and
President Hindenburg led a direct path to Hitler's rise to power.
"Instead of regarding the Weimar Republic as a brave experiment gone wrong, more
appropriate might be to consider Weimar as a gamble which stood virtually no chance of
success." This quote sums up the differing views of the two authors in my opinion. Bessel
views the Weimar Republic as a state that was doomed before it began, whereas McKenzie
views it as a state that was horribly mismanaged. The difference between their views is
that McKenzie's article leaves the option open, that if different leaders had been in
place, the Republic could have survived. However, I tend to agree with Bessel.
The Weimar Republic was born in a time of massive change. The First World War was more
then most people at the time could comprehend. The destruction it caused was greater then
anything that had ever been seen before, and the people of Germany were not exactly
prepared for it. At the same time, there was much political turmoil in all of Europe. The
people had just witnessed the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and the quick decay of
Austria-Hungary. Personal thoughts and views had begun to change, almost as if the war
had brought in a new order. The economic problems facing Germany were too much to even
fathom. And the German people were largely unaware of the poor state of the German
economy. They expected to see a quick recovery, and return to the prewar economic
atmosphere they had been used to. All of these factors together were far too much to
expect a very strong, well-organized party with popular support to deal with.
Unfortunately, the fact that there was no strong, organized and well-liked party to take
control made matters even worse. After years of stagnant policy making, and very little
change, it is no wonder the people turned to something new, and something that promised
to make things change. It is truly unfortunate for human kind, that this party happened
to be the Nazi Party. 
Bibliography
1. Bessel, Richard. "Why Did the Weimar Republic Collapse?" Why Did German 
Democracy fail, Ed. Ian Kershaw. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1990.
2. McKenzie, John. "The End of the Republic" Weimar Germany 1918-1933. London: 
Blandford Press, 1971.