The Weimar Republic
Why did the Weimar Republic get off to a "bad start?" What were the republic's main successes and failures? What were the unique features of the Weimar constitution? What social problems existed in post war Germany? What does "We shall all be nationalists in ten years," mean? Why was 1926 a good year of the republic? Why was 1929 a bad one? Make a chronological list of the major events in Hitler's early life through 1933. This will be collected. Rosa Luxemburg- (One of the Sparticist leaders murdered by German police)"Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party -- however numerous they may be -- is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks."Of all liberal attempts at reconstruction, none began more hopefully nor ended more pathetically than the German republic. On paper-that is, in its constitution-it appeared to be one of the most advanced democratic nations of the times, but almost from the beginning it encountered die-hard opposition from both ends of the political spectrum. Its founders carried the onus of having accepted the Versailles treaty with the war guilt clause. It was overwhelmed by the world
" The purpose of this article was to prevent either a communist or a monarchist putsch (coup d'etat) against the republic, either of which appeared quite possible in the spring of 1919. At the same time it went ahead with plans for the election, the freest and most democratic in Germany's history. The republic got off to a bad start. He was in a military hospital recovering from gas poisoning when the armistice was signed; the effect of the event appears to have produced a kind of emotional crisis that strengthened his fanaticism and released his libido. Lawlessness was rife and took such extreme forms as frequent assassinations of political leaders. Although the almost miraculous economic recovery and prosperity left in the body politic and social, they festered all the more for being hidden. At the beginning of February, 1919, the constituent assembly convened in Weimar, the city of Goethe and Schiller, in order to avoid intimidation by the army and the mobs of Berlin, still in a state of anarchy. THE STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT The constitution borrowed freely from American, British, French, and Swiss precedent and practice, but all of these democratic shoots were grafted onto a solidly Germanic trunk. The government called on elements of the old imperial army to suppress the revolt and executed its leaders without trial, both of which were bad precedents for a new democracy. They were the largest party but fell far short of an absolute majority. In the presidential election soon afterward, Field Marshal von Hindenburg, the Nationalist candidate, won with a mere plurality-not a majority- as a result of Communist inroads on the moderate vote. Unemployed workers joined the brown-shined storm troopers (SA), for which they received a pittance plus indoctrination in loyalty to their leaders and hate for "the others," whomever they might be: communists or capitalists, Jews or the beneficiaries of the Diktat of Versailles. In fact it was used in 1933 by Adolf Hitler, after he had acquired power by legal means, to dispose of the republic itself. Originally entitled "Four and a Half Years' Struggle against Lying, Stupidity, and Cowardice," it is a rambling, confused account of Hitler's early life and political activities to the time of his imprisonment, as well as a turgid exposition of his hates, prejudices, and visions of a Germany dominated by himself. Although the name was suspect, he soon discovered that its small membership consisted principally of fanatical nationalists like himself.
Common topics in this essay:
Luxemburg- Sparticist,
Soviet Union,
President Hindenburg,
World War,
Elbian Junkers,
Partei NSDAP,
Max Weber,
Luttwitz Ludendorff,
Stupidity Cowardice,
Hindenburg Nationalist,
weimar republic,
german republic,
storm troopers,
adolf hitler,
kapp putsch,
moderate parties,
article 48,
article 48 constitution,
largest party,
officer corps,
german workers' party,
emergency powers,
war guilt clause,
republic bad start,
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Acceptance Essays
