Research on Was Weimar Republic Doomed to Failure? (Essay Sample)

Weimar Republic was Doomed to Failure
Introduction
The Weimar Republic has attracted a lot of historical debates in the past and during the present times. The Weimar Republic is a title that had been imposed on the German territory between 1919 and 1933 when Germans attempted to install parliamentary democracy in their governance system. Some historian argue that the Weimar Republic was deemed to fail by default. In other words, it had been foreseen that the state would not last for long without collapsing. On the other hand, another faction of historians argue that the formation of the Weimar Republic is an indication of the compromises that the German people were ready to make in order to achieve a suitable form of governance. The two arguments achieve even reception in the academic arena. That is to mean that both arguments seem plausible and it is not easy to decide whether the state was doomed to fail or whether it would have survived if suitable economic, political and social conditions were present. This paper aims at examining whether the Weimar Republic was doomed to fail. The underlying premise is an affirmative of the hypothesis that “the Weimar Republic was doomed to fail because its young political, social and economic systems were under constant bombardment from the opposition and other uncontrollable factors.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic came into place after the abdication of Wilhelm II. It was based on a form of parliamentary democracy where the new form of government came into place as a result of the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The republic saw Germany acquire its first constitution. The name derives from the city of Weimar where the first ever constitutional assembly was held. The republic took the form of a semi-presidential representative democracy which evolved from the German Republic (Kolb, 2008). This form of government became unpopular with the people owing to the magnitude of challenges that it introduced. For example, it was blamed for bringing hyperinflation, introducing internal political tensions and contentious diplomatic relationships with the countries that had won the First World War. The following section will focus on the factors that lead historians to believe that the Weimar Republic was doomed to fail from the start.
Political Conditions
The Weimar government faced a lot of opposition during the 14 years that it was in power. The most devastating condition is that it faced opposition from all the political factions in the Germany territory at the time. For example, Weitz (2007) claims that the government was opposed by the left political faction that was identified as the Spartacist Group which wanted Germany to adopt the Russian communist political ideologies. This group was responsible for the revolution that took place in 1919. The overarching goal of the revolution was to change the form of governance from a republic to a communist state with systems that matched those in Russia. This revolution was led two leaders identified as Luxemburg and Liebknecht. At the same time, the government was facing opposition from the military. However, the leader of the government (Ebert) had established a pact with the military in order to gain its support and overcome the revolution. The pact, which later came to be known as the Ebert-Groener Pact saw Ebert gain the support of the military (Patch, 2006). The military later became very instrumental in suppressing the revolution and preventing the revolutionists from taking over Berlin, the capital of Germany.
The foregoing incident introduced a political tension between the left and right political factions. By establishing the Ebert-Groener Pact, the government had taken the side of the Right. Thus, it became partisan and chose to have some leaders from right in the government departments. For example, in 1933, the government chose to select Adolf Hitler as the Chancellor in 1933 which is one of the factors associated with the failure of the Weimar Republic. Despite the government colluding and working together with the Right, the Right decided to revolt against it. Led by Kapp Putch, the Right political faction led a revolution that was aimed at demolishing the government and weakening its systems. As a matter of fact, this revolution was stronger than the first. The government was forced to transfer its offices from Berlin to Stuttgart. This revolution was not going to last long as the rebels surrendered to the government a few months later. Further revolutions led by prominent political personnel such as Hitler continued to deface the government. For example, Hitler attempted to take over the Bavarian government in bad faith but failed.
These political oppositions had demonstrate that the German people were not ready for a constitutional democracy. The two revolutions led by leaders of all the political factions in the state demonstrated that it was not plausible to have democratic form of governance at the time. These revolutions were extensions of the fact the people were not prepared of the form of governance that the government of Weimar Republic was introducing. Specifically, the people were not ready to exercise their democratic rights because of several conditions. On the one hand, the people were not aware of the tenets of democracy (Lacey, 2002). Thus, the form of governance introduced by Ebert was unpopular and not affiliated with the needs of the people at the time. On the other hand, the government and the other leaders did not take attempts of creating the awareness of the benefits of the democratic governance (Henig, 2002). Such a condition means that the people would tend to incline on the side of the governance that would main the previous status quo. Clearly, trying to impose a new legal grand norm in the form of governance would attract such revolutions (Tipton, 2003). Any competent leader ought to have seen this and taken reasonable measures to avoid. Therefore, the government of Weimar Republic failed for recklessness in governance. Such recklessness means that the republic was doomed to fail.
Further, the government acted unreasonably for picking a side when it came to the resistance it was facing from the Right and the Left. Clearly, leaders from all the sides were not comfortable with this idea of govern. The government’s strength and ability to maintain the state as a constitutional democracy was compromised by the alliance it made with persons such as Adolf Hitler. Instead of colluding with the other opposing political factions, the government should have sold its ideas to the Germans, creating awareness and conducting civic education with regards to the importance of this form of governance. The fact the government was not ready to devolve the power to the people shows that it was not ready to have a democratic form of government. As a matter of fact, Anon (2016) argues that the government demonstrated its inability to control the state by colluding with a potential enemy; who later led a revolution that weakened the government further.
Political Failure and Poor Diplomacy
Indications that Weimar Republic started showing a few years after its establishment. The republic’s internal failure weakened its ability to relate well with the other states in the continent. As Fuechtner (2011) argues, the political tensions in the country weakened its financial abilities and sent further negative implications on its ability to meet the international debt obligations. In supporting this argument, Newnhan (2002) posits that Germany could not pay its debts by 1923. One particular problem was found with its diplomatic relationship with France. Apparently, Weimar Republic owed France a significant amount of money. It was supposed to clear this amount progressively. However, the tensions in the country weakened its financial systems and rendered it incapable of paying the dues it owed to France. In repatriation, France became angry and decided to take over some regions of Germany in order to acquire its money. Best et al (2015) notes that France took over the Ruhr region which is now located in the North-Rhine Westphalia. Further, France authorities exploited the residents of Ruhr region in order to get quick repayments.
This condition had a lot of implications to the ability of the government to maintain itself as a state and a republic. The fact another country had invaded a part of its territory demonstrated that it lacked external effectiveness. In other words, it was not able to main positive relationships with the international community. In addition, the government of Weimar Republic lacked the ability to maintain contentment within its own boundaries. As Evans (2004) notes, the people of Ruhr region soon started blaming the government for the ills that were facing them. The people were looking for someone to take the blame for exploitation and harassment that they were receiving from France. By extension, it was right for them to direct the blame to the government for it had taken the loan and failed to repay. Such a condition weakened the position of the government within its population. Undeniably, a government that has lost internal and external effectiveness is at the verge of failure. As such, it is reasonable to conclude that Weimar Republic was doomed to fail.
Weimar’s lack of internal effectiveness does not end with the discontentment of the residents of Ruhr region. The fact that the government was financially incapable created a condition that economic-historians term as hyperinflation. This condition happened in 1923 where the country’s money was losing worth day after day. The currency continued to lose worth for a pro-longed period. The situation of hyperinflation extended the public discontentment to the general public in the state. The conditi...