The Weimar Republic is considered to be one of the most democratic states of its time. However, following its rule, Germany became a totalitarian dictatorship under the total control of the Nazi party and the self proclaimed Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. It has often been wondered how this abrupt and dramatic transition occurred in such a democratic society. However, it can be said that the foundation for this political change was ingrained in the political system of Weimar Germany in addition to the economic state of Germany at this time and the lack of legitimacy seen in the government system. As per Crisis Theory, the weakened economic state of Germany greatly influenced the political changes made in the rise of the Nazi party and the fall of the
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Their bill of rights allowed freedom of speech and religion, promised equality, and allowed men and women over 20 to vote for their president. From this perspective, the Weimar Republic seemed like a stable and viable democracy. However, within their constitution, there were flaws that negated the overall effects of a few democratic decisions. One of the main issues within their system came with the amount of power that the president was able to have. The president, although elected, had no set term limit, meaning that they could continue to be re-elected indefinitely. In addition, the president alone chose a large majority of the government, being half of the Reichstag and the Chancellor; both of which had to be approved by the publicly elected Reichstag, but was still ultimately chosen by the president. These appointing responsibilities will eventually lead to the rise in power of Hitler as Chancellor of Weimar Germany before its fall. Despite these two largely undemocratic characteristics of the president’s power, the largest constitutional disproportion of presidential power was Article 48. Article 48 stated that the president would be able to solely make governmental decisions in emergency situations; the circumstances of which were not clearly defined, leading to unwarranted overuse. This gave the president ultimate power to carry out whatever actions …show more content…
This proved to be a weakness in maintaining the support of the public through times of crisis. Beginning with the Spartacist revolt in January 1919, cracks began to show in the strength of the government. After being unable to stop the revolt using their own military and police forces, the Weimar government turned to the Freikorps to control the public, which once again revealed the cracks in their weakened government power and influence. Later when the Freikorps revolted against the government as well in the Kapp Putsch, the government had lost all influence over their people as both a legitimate government and a force to be feared. This showed to the government that they had no control over their own people, with their police and military forces not even seeing them as a legitimate government. The government’s lack of legitimacy persisted when laws were created by the government that could be seen as going against their own contextually progressive and democratic constitution, such as how Roma needed to be registered under law. With trust in the government fading as the faults of their own constitution became more pronounced, the public began to favour more radical parties. The Nazi party would ultimately use the emergence of these weaknesses and the confusion of the public to gain support for their own party in
Their bill of rights allowed freedom of speech and religion, promised equality, and allowed men and women over 20 to vote for their president. From this perspective, the Weimar Republic seemed like a stable and viable democracy. However, within their constitution, there were flaws that negated the overall effects of a few democratic decisions. One of the main issues within their system came with the amount of power that the president was able to have. The president, although elected, had no set term limit, meaning that they could continue to be re-elected indefinitely. In addition, the president alone chose a large majority of the government, being half of the Reichstag and the Chancellor; both of which had to be approved by the publicly elected Reichstag, but was still ultimately chosen by the president. These appointing responsibilities will eventually lead to the rise in power of Hitler as Chancellor of Weimar Germany before its fall. Despite these two largely undemocratic characteristics of the president’s power, the largest constitutional disproportion of presidential power was Article 48. Article 48 stated that the president would be able to solely make governmental decisions in emergency situations; the circumstances of which were not clearly defined, leading to unwarranted overuse. This gave the president ultimate power to carry out whatever actions …show more content…
This proved to be a weakness in maintaining the support of the public through times of crisis. Beginning with the Spartacist revolt in January 1919, cracks began to show in the strength of the government. After being unable to stop the revolt using their own military and police forces, the Weimar government turned to the Freikorps to control the public, which once again revealed the cracks in their weakened government power and influence. Later when the Freikorps revolted against the government as well in the Kapp Putsch, the government had lost all influence over their people as both a legitimate government and a force to be feared. This showed to the government that they had no control over their own people, with their police and military forces not even seeing them as a legitimate government. The government’s lack of legitimacy persisted when laws were created by the government that could be seen as going against their own contextually progressive and democratic constitution, such as how Roma needed to be registered under law. With trust in the government fading as the faults of their own constitution became more pronounced, the public began to favour more radical parties. The Nazi party would ultimately use the emergence of these weaknesses and the confusion of the public to gain support for their own party in