THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND CONSEQUENCE OF VERSAILLES

SUMMARY The New Constitution____________________________ Ebert and Hindenburg____________________________ Economic Difficulties following WWI and the_________ Treaty of Versailles_______________________________ 1923 The Year of Crises__________________________ The Golden Years, _______________________ The Dawes Plan_________________________________ The Depression_________________________________

The new constitution Article 48: In the case of a state not fulfilling the duties imposed on it by the Federal Constitution or the Federal Laws, the President of the Federation may enforce their fulfillment with the help of the armed forces. In other words, it allows the president to take emergency measures. This article gave the governor a lot of power and sometimes abused of it like Hitler, who used it to reenforce his army. The Weimar Republic was announced following the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918, after WW1.

Ebert and Hindenburg Friedrich Ebert was Germany's first president during the years of 1919 and 1925 Friedrich Ebert Paul Von Hindenburg Paul Von Hindenburg served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934

Economic difficulties following the WW1 and the treaty of Versailles After WW1, Germany was reduced to pure weakness by France, Italy and England with the treaty of Versailles, signed the 28 th of June This treaty led Germany to economic difficulties by making the country pay heavy reparations ( 6,600 million pounds), reduce it's army to make it practically useless, and make the country assume the total responsibility for causing the war and losing it. It also made Germany give back some territories invaded ( E.g Alsace Lauraine) The Germans felt humiliated by all this.

1923 the year of crises. The Weimar constitution faced many problems; the worst crisis occurred in January 1923, when the French invaded the Ruhr to try to force Germany to pay reparations caused by the war. The Government, humiliated by this and having ordered a general strike, consequently tried to print more money to pay the strikers and the reparations to solve the problem but this led to hyperinflation and a number of rebellions (particularly Hitler's Munich Putsch) Munich Putsch The munich Putsch was set on the 8–9 November 1923, when Hitler’s Nazis tried to take control of Bavaria.

The golden years ( ) Germany has also known a period of positive change. Between 1924 and 1929 economic and political stability returned. These changes were particularly due to Gustav Stresemann ( ), the foreign minister of the period, who ended the hyperinflation by introducing a new currency backed by US loans, reassured Germans that the democratic system was willing and able to solve urgent problems and restarted reparation payments He also elaborated the Dawes plan which helped Germany to run back to normal

The Dawes plan The Dawes plan was elaborated in 1924 and provided short term economic benefits to Germany. It's main points were: 1)The Ruhr area was to be evacuated by Allied occupation troops. 2)Reparation payments would begin at “one billion marks the first year, increasing to two and a half billion marks annually after five years" (Merrill 93) 3)The Reichsbank would be reorganized under Allied supervision. 4)The sources for the reparation money would include transportation, excise, and custom taxes. It renegotiated the reparations and helped Germany's economic restructuring by stabilizing the currency and softened the burdens of war reparation. After five years, the plan happened to be a failure.

The Depression The Golden years didn't last real long, the depression all started in October 1929 with the Wall Street crash. The Crash had a devastating impact on the American economy but because America had propped up the Weimar Republic with huge loans in 1924 (the Dawes Plan) and in 1929, what happened to the American economy had to impact the Weimar Republic's economy. The constitution itself was week from the beginning and wasn't effective enough and did not create a strong government and was therefore laid to fail. After these events, Germany was s desperate that Hitler was the only one left to be able to rule Germany. He was the only person left with some form of credibility. His opportunity had arrived.