Weimar Republic
Germany, 1918–1933. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Weimar Republic was a period of the German state from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history. After grave early problems such as hyperinflation, by 1924 monetary and political stability was largely restored, and the republic enjoyed relative prosperity for the next five years. On 30 January 1933 Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as chancellor to head a coalition government. By the end of March 1933 the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 effectively granted the new chancellor broad power to act outside parliamentary control.
Seat of power: Berlin
Rulers
Friedrich Ebert
Reich Chancellor in the Weimar Republic, 1918–1919
When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I, he became its first chancellor. His policies aimed at restoring justice and order in Germany and suppressing the left, and he allied himself with conservative and nationalistic forces such as the right-wing Freikorps. The Reich government he headed crushed a number of socialist, communist and anarchist uprisings as well as those from the right, including the Kapp Putsch.
Portrait of Friedrich Ebert: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, file
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Friedrich Ebert
president of Germany, 1919–1925
As president, Ebert appointed centre-right figures like Wilhelm Cuno and Hans Luther chancellor and made rigorous use of his wide-ranging powers under Article 48 of the Weimar constitution. Through 1924 he used the presidency's emergency powers a total of 134 times.
Portrait of Friedrich Ebert: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, file
Paul von Hindenburg
president of Germany, 1925–1934
In 1925 he became the second elected president of the Weimar Republic. After twice dissolving the Reichstag in 1932, he reluctantly agreed in January 1933 to appoint Hitler as chancellor in coalition with the German National People's Party. He approved the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended various civil liberties, and signed the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave the Nazi regime emergency powers.
Portrait of Paul von Hindenburg: Unknown author., CC BY-SA 3.0 de, file
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Culture
- In the National Assembly election of 19 January 1919, women were allowed to vote for the first time.
- The period of relative prosperity, sometimes known as the Golden Twenties, was characterized by significant cultural flourishing, social progress, and gradual improvement in foreign relations.
- The hyperinflation caused the cost of a loaf of bread to rise from 3 Reichsmarks in 1922 to 80 billion Reichsmarks in November 1923.
Picture
The Reichstag building in Berlin is the seat of the Bundestag parliament and once housed the legislature of the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.
Image: Mfield, Matthew Field, http://www.photography.mattfield.com; edit by Waugsberg (rotation 0,4°), GFDL 1.2, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.