The Versailles Peace Treaty, signed by Germany in 1919, can only be partially held responsible for the crisis faced by the Weimar Government. In 1923, the Weimar Government reached a terrible crisis point in which it sank into chaos, facing serious problems both politically and economically. Politically, the Weimar Government encountered extreme opponents from both the right and left wing; however, not all political threats faced by the Weimar Government were due to the Versailles Peace Treaty. Economically, the Weimar Government were also faced with severe difficulties. Before the end of WWI, under the Kaiserreich, Germany was already carrying the burden of trade deficits and war economy so the cause of all the economic problems can not be limited to the Treaty though the Treaty was indirectly linked to the problems of hyperinflation. The Weimar Constitution, another contributory factor of the crisis, was not at all a result of the Versailles Peace Treaty as the set up and contents of the constitution was never stated as a term in the Treaty.
The Versailles Peace Treaty should not be responsible for the establishment of the Weimar Constitution. The Weimar Constitution was a very weak written composition of the Government that tried to set up a democratic system. Article 17 of the Constitution stated the voting system which was known as proportional representation. Proportional representation is where a party that gains 20 per cent of the vote will also gain 20 percent of the seats in the Reichstag. This kind of system proved to be a problem, as argued by historian Geoff Layton. He said that the introduction to proportional representation encouraged the formation of new and splinter parties; this made it even harder for any one party to gain the 50 % of votes required to become government.
The Term Paper on Weimar Republic Government Germany Treaty
After the new Weimar government, led by the Social Democrats, signed the Treaty of Versailles it may have signaled the beginning of the end for the new republic. The consequences of Versailles were severe to Germany, and many were looking for someone to blame, and the government was the ideal scapegoat. Communists and the right saw an opportunity to create a state that they wanted, and were ...
The only way for a party to gain that extra percent of votes needed to become the government was to befriend other parties. This was even more of a complication because there was a lot more compromising due to the different ideas and policies. Another weakness of the constitution was Article 48 where it stated that in the case of an emergency the President may suspend civil rights and take whatever was needed to restore the country. Geoff Layton said that the flaw of this article was that in the cases of emergencies the President could just overthrow the government and simply rule as a dictator; this defeats the whole purpose of democracy. However, in 1923, the presidential powers were used as intended and to good effect (Layton) but it was also the source of Hitlers rise to power. The Weimar Constitution was indeed a weak composition but the Treaty should not be blamed as there were no terms in the Treaty that stated what kind of a constitution the Government and the Germans had to follow.
The political instability played a major part in the crisis but the Treaty should not carry the full responsibility of debilitating politics in Germany. Friedreich Ebert, the president of the Weimar Government, experienced violent threats from both the extreme left and right wing. Eberts left wing opponents were known as the Spartacists. They did not like Eberts plan for a democracy and believed that Germany was ready for a Communist revolution, like the Russians. Therefore, the rebellions of the Spartacists against the Weimar Government were not the results of the Treaty but the pure beliefs of the Communist party. On the other hand, the right wing opponents were totally opposed to the Versailles Peace Treaty. They were furious with the Treaty and a rebellion occurred in Berlin in 1920.
The Term Paper on Weimar Government Germany German Republic
... provisions to weaken Germany economically and militarily. The Weimar government was forced with an ultimatum, either sign the Versailles treaty or face ... pact became highly criticized because it created a "state within a state" (10) but Ebert had immediate issues to deal ... the Weimar constitution were Friedrich Ebert, and a left wing liberal named Hugo Preuss.Friedrich Ebert became the Reich Chancellor ...
Then in 1922, Walther Rathenau, the Foreign Minister was assassinated. Ernst von Solomon, a man sentenced for the murder of Rathenau said It amounted to this; we must make an end to the policy of accepting the Versailles Treaty and cooperating with the westThe only course open was to eliminate every politician who accepted the Versailles Treaty. To eliminate in that context is, of course, to kill. Another source showed that the political murders between 1919 and 1923 by the extreme right amounted above three hundred where as the murder committed by the left wing only amounted to 22 (source 17 of H1).
Both sources illustrated how the Treaty impacted on politics in Germany and how opposed the right wing was to Eberts acceptance of the Treaty; however, because only the right wing was motivated by the Versailles Treaty to rebel, the Treaty should be seen as only partly responsible for the political instability. There were many economic difficulties faced by the Government and some of these problems faced can be attributed to certain terms of the Treaty. During the Kaiserreich, Germany had already been carrying the burden of economic problems, Geoff Layton stated.
Germany owed a large trade debt and also had problems readjusting war economy so it can be seen that even before the signing of the Versailles Treaty Germany had already had an economic crisis. The reparations amount Germany had to pay as a result of the defeat in war was regarded as extremely harsh and definitely did not help in the recovery of the German economy. Hyperinflation was the final outcome of the French and Belgian troops taking over the Ruhr because of the halt in industrial production and consequently the halt in the growth of German economy. Many see the Treaty was to be blamed for this but Stephen J Lee argued that the reparation term of the Treaty was not the sole cause of the great inflation. He stated that it was possible for the government to have increased taxation rather than printing notes though it was understandable that the government didnt want to further saddle the already infuriated population. Geoff Layton also expressed similar ideas that the Treaty had not been a primary cause of the inflation.
The Term Paper on The Treaty of Versailles 5
The treaty of Versailles caused a reaction of horror and outrage to the Germans. They were being forced to accept a harsh treaty without any choice or even a comment. Hitler hated the treaty of Versailles, and he promised to kick out the treaty of Versailles as he had said in the Nazis Twenty-Five Points. People began to believe in Hitler. His Twenty-Five Point programme showed that the treaty of ...
The problems of inflation began from the war in 1914 where instead of increasing tax the government borrowed large sums of money through war bonds which then allowed the national debt to grow. The failure of the government to solve the economic crisis effectively was also a main contributor to the economic crisis; the Versailles Peace Treaty alone had not been the cause of the entire economic dilemmas but a contributory factor. There were many reasons behind the crisis encountered by the Weimar Government but the Versailles Peace Treaty was not the sole cause of all the problems. Indeed, the Treaty had been the source of the rebellions by the extreme right but the left wing had their own motives. The economic instability began long before the signing of the Treaty and though hyperinflation had an indirect link to the Treaty, the cause of the economic problems should not be limited to the Treaty alone. The Weimar Constitution was definitely not the result of any terms of the Treaty. As a conclusion, the Versailles Peace Treaty can not be entirely but partly responsible for the crisis faced..
