After the end of World War I, Germany revolutionised into a democratic republic which was encouraged by war weariness and the demand for political reform. However, the new ‘Weimar Republic’ was not the ideal nation it was planned to be. Democratic leadership encountered many economic and political issues, which arose from the Treaty of Versailles, the French occupation of the Ruhr, and the Great Depression – and simply the frailty of democracy itself. The German people longed for a return to authoritarianism, a time when their nation had been regarded as one of the strongest in the world, and democracy provided them with nothing more than failure. The factors that ultimately lead to the collapse of the Weimar Republic are complex, but it was certainly not triggered by a single event.
When Germany was presented with the peace terms of the Treaty of Versailles on 7 May 1919, they were far tougher than expected. Philipp Scheidemann resigned as Chancellor of Germany as he declared the terms “unbearable, unreasonable, and unacceptable”. The terms of the treaty were controversial among Germans, but none more than Article …show more content…
When Hindenburg was elected President in 1925, the Weimar constitution was amended to give him additional powers. Hindenburg abolished the principle that a government needed a majority in the Reichstag to make a decision. He appointed several chancellors with little success: Brüning, who destroyed the principles of democracy and aimed to abolish the Reichstag and the welfare system; Franz von Papen, who proved to be too independent; and close friend Kurt von Schleicher, who was not able to gain a majority in the Reichstag. Following this, it was Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, who was finally chosen as chancellor of
When Germany was presented with the peace terms of the Treaty of Versailles on 7 May 1919, they were far tougher than expected. Philipp Scheidemann resigned as Chancellor of Germany as he declared the terms “unbearable, unreasonable, and unacceptable”. The terms of the treaty were controversial among Germans, but none more than Article …show more content…
When Hindenburg was elected President in 1925, the Weimar constitution was amended to give him additional powers. Hindenburg abolished the principle that a government needed a majority in the Reichstag to make a decision. He appointed several chancellors with little success: Brüning, who destroyed the principles of democracy and aimed to abolish the Reichstag and the welfare system; Franz von Papen, who proved to be too independent; and close friend Kurt von Schleicher, who was not able to gain a majority in the Reichstag. Following this, it was Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, who was finally chosen as chancellor of