The Weimar Republic Face Political Problems
Why Did The Weimar Republic Face Political Problems In The First Few Years Of Its Existence - 1919-1923?
In 1919 the Weimar Republic was set up in Germany. From its birth it faced numerous political problems, for which the causes were many and varied. These problems included political instability, deep divisions within society and economic crisis; problems were constantly appearing for the new government and from 1919-1923, the Weimar Republic experienced a period of crisis.
In 1916, the German Social Democratic Party, which controlled the Reichstag, split in order to cater for the tensions between the reformist and revolutionary wings. They formed the majority socialists (SPD) and the Independent socialists (USPD). Another group split from the SPD to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). On 9 November 1918, the Kaiser abdicated and fled to the Netherlands. This meant that a new government had to be formed. The SPD, being the largest political party proclaimed Germany a democratic republic and formed a new government. The main interest of the SPD was to create a strong and stable government with which they could sign the Treaty of Versailles in order to end the war with the Allies. However, in order to return Germany back to peace and stability, the SPD had made a pact with the old order who had strongly supported the Kaiser; they compromised themselves by cooperating with the business community and the army in order to prevent a social revolution. Naturally this sparked off communist anger; the SPD had created a middle class democracy, while the communists demanded a worker's state like that in Bolshevik Russia. The communists wanted nationalisation to take place (i.e. factories, businesses and land to be owned by workers), they wanted workers to be more in control of their lives by means of locally elected councils (soviets), they wanted the army to be replaced with a Citizen's Militia, and they wanted to prevent the middle class from exploiting the working class. In other words, they required a much more radical change than that made since the Kaiser had left. In January 1919, the Spartacists (an old name for the KPD), led by Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxembourg, attempted to overthrow the government and establish a worker's republic by means of an armed uprising in Berlin, Germany's capital. The Spartacists, however, did not have enough support and their revolt was brutally suppressed by a group of armed...