Below is a Summaried Version on History, 'Crisis and Conflict Textbook' Chap 4, Hitler's rise to power, Pg 92 - 96. [Please note that below are just NOTES that i've summaried from the textbook and may not be absoutely correct. Enjoy reading :)]

Weakness of the Weimar Govt.

- The democratic system allowed many parties to gain seats but not a single party could gain dominace. Disagreements between parties led to squabling with one another. The parties spent more time squablng with one another than governing the country. This led the German people to feel that they cannot get things done.

- Opposed by the Right
After the Weimar Govt. signed the Treaty of Versailles, many German people were very unhappy. The German Army claimed that they could have continued fighting but was 'back-stabbd' by the politicans. The former Kaiser advisers also made this claim. However, this was not true as Germany allies wanted to stop fighting and negoiate for peace.

-Opposed by the Left.
Communists groups were against the Weimar Govt [W.G.] as they wanted to establish a Communist govt. One such group was the Spartacists. However, there were also anti-Communist group, like Freikorps. There were frequent battles between the Freikorps and the Spartacists.

-Unable to keep order in the country
The W.G.'s own army could not put down on revolutions and frequently relied on the Freikorps. This showed that the W.G. was too weak to control the contry. The Freikorps then tried to overthrow the W.G. but failed to do so.
There were also around 375 political murders of members of the W.G. This led the German public to be shocked by the level of violence in the country and caused the public to lose confidence in the W.G.'s ability to maintain law and order.

- Lost the support of the middle-class
After the WW1, Germany's financial position was in dire states. So the W.G. printed more money to pay back their debts. However, this created inflation, and it worsened, turning it into hyper-inflation. Savings became worthless and many Germans bacame poor overnight. This resulted in the W.G. losing the support of the middle-class people.

-Lost of a capable leader
When Stresemann died of a heart attack, Germany lost a capable leader who brought stability and prosperity to the country.

Labels: Chap 4, History Elective Texbook