- The Weimar government might have been doomed from the start:
- It had been forced to surrender to the Allies under threat of invasion.
- It had been forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, including the humiliating War Guilt Clause.
- The German people had no democratic tradition.
- Germany's economy was ruined due to World War I and the reparations payments, and was left with no way of fighting the two depressions that were to hit the country.
- Germany had to face humiliation due to loss of prestige.
- The Weimar government might have caused its own downfall:
- There were too many political parties, which led to a series of weak coalition governments.
- It left a loophole in the new Constitution in Article 48, which could be used by someone trying to take all the power in his hands.
- It used the right wing to suppress uprisings from the left wing.
- It did not deal with right wing uprisings effectively, choosing to be lenient.
- It did not deal with the economic problems of the early and late 1920s effectively - with the exception of Stresemann.
- Hitler might have been a master at creating his own success and being an opportunist:
- He used propaganda to promise the German people all those things they wanted most.
- He gave them someone to blame for their suffering.
- He told them again and again how wrong and useless the Weimar government was, and how he would make Germany into a proud and strong nation again.
- He used intimidation and elimination to suppress his enemies and scare people into voting for the Nazi Party.
- He used the weaknesses of the Weimar constitution against the government.
- He was ruthless in his single-minded determination to become the sole ruler of Germany.
There are probably many more reasons for the Weimar government's failure and Hitler's success. The answer does not lie in only one factor but in a combination of factors. Working together, these were to give Germany the dictator Adolf Hitler - and to give the world the conqueror who would become enemy number one. |
