Weimar Germany, 1918-1924 - EduqasPolitical instability in the Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic was created at a time of confusion and chaos after Germany had lost World War One.

Learn more about the impact of the First World War on Germany in this podcast.

Listen to the full series on BBC Sounds.

People were starving, the Kaiser had fled and the new Republic got off to a troubled start for two reasons:

• Many Germans hated the government for signing the armistice in November 1918 - they called them the November criminals. The defeat in the war came as a huge surprise to the German people, which led to a theory that the brave German army had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the politicians.
• Many Germans felt their country had received a very harsh deal in the Treaty of Versailles. They resented the government for agreeing to its conditions and signing it, even though they were forced to by the Allies.

The Weimar Republic’s unpopularity meant it faced violent uprisings from both sides of the political spectrum during 1919 and 1920.

The threat from the Left: The Spartacist Uprising

• During 5 – 12 January 1919, 50,000 members of the post-World War One Communist Party, known as the Spartacists, rebelled in Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
• The government was saved when it armed bands of ex-soldiers, known as the Freikorps, who defeated the Spartacist rebels.
• In the aftermath, communist workers' councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist People's Government took power in Bavaria.
• By May 1919 the Freikorps had crushed all of these uprisings.

The threat from the Right: The Kapp Putsch

• In crushing the communists the Freikorps had saved the government, but the terms of the Treaty of Versailles meant Germany’s army had to be significantly reduced and the Freikorps had to be disbanded.
• During 13 - 17 March 1920, as a reaction to this, the right-wing nationalist, Dr Wolfgang Kapp led a Freikorps takeover in Berlin.
• The regular army refused to attack the Freikorps; Kapp was only defeated when the workers of Berlin went on strike and refused to cooperate with him.

Other violence

Nationalist terrorists assassinated 356 government politicians, including Walter Rathenau, the foreign minister, and Matthias Erzberger who had been finance minister. Judges in their trials, many of whom preferred the Kaiser's government, consistently gave these terrorists light sentences, or let them go free.