Why was the Weimar Republic so short lived? Notes
Weimar Germany 1918-1923: Creation and Crisis
* The Weimar Republic was set up in the aftermath of Germany's defeat in WWI. It was burdened with the blame for the much resented Treaty of Versailles [TOV.] Although it had a new, democratic constitution creating parliamentary government, key structures in Germany were not changed in the 1918-19 German Revolution, which was very limited in scope.
* Between 1919-23 the Republic faced a series of revolts from the extreme Left and Right, the French (and Belgian) occupation of its key industrial heartland, the Ruhr (in 1923) and a major inflationary crisis, but managed to somehow survive.
Weimar Republic 1924-1929: Years of recovery and achievement
* From 1924 the economy recovered and moderate parties gained more support in elections.
* Stresemann's conciliatory foreign policy brought Germany out of diplomatic isolation, but it aroused opposition from nationalists.
* Weimar Germany became famous for its cultural experimentation but this alienated many traditionalists.
Weimar democracy undermined by the world economic depression
* Germany's economy was already suffering difficulties before 1929 and was heavily dependent on American loans, many of which could be withdrawn.
* From October 1929, Germany was badly hit by the effects of the Wall Street Crash.
* Between 1929 and 1932 production nearly halved and unemployment rose to 6 million.
* Governments were terrified of sparking off inflation if they spent extra money and so they took little action to counter the Depression.
* The slump led to growing support for extreme parties in the 1930 and 1932 elections.
Germany 1929-1933: Weimar Rpublic fails and Hitler gains power
* After the failure of the Munich Putsch of 1923, Hitler reorganised the Nazi Party on the Fuhrerprinzip.
* The Nazis used skillful propaganda techniques and exploited Hitler's ability as a speaker....