Tag Archives: Weimar republic

When Hitler was discharged by the army in 1918, he found an altogether different Germany from the one he had known before the war. It was no longer ruled by a kaiser. The Socialists had taken over the government, but the Communists were active and calling for a revolution like that of Russia’s. After some fighting, the government succeeded in putting down the Communists. Their leaders, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, were killed and the communist threat died down, at least for a time. In 1919, after elections, a coalition — a combination of various parties — led by the Socialists, took control of the government. It set up a republic, which was called the “Weimar Republic,” because the government first met in the city of Weimar. A constitution was adopted and it looked as though Germany was on the way to becoming a real democracy. There were too many people in Germany who had no use for democracy. Germany had long been a militaristic nation and the army had had enormous power. Its officers longed to regain that power and they were supported by the judges and officials whom the republic inherited from the old government. The army began to spread the story that it was not to blame for losing the war. Germany should have won and would have won — if it had not been for the Socialists and the other politicians who wanted to set up a republic. They had plotted against the army, they had “stabbed it in the back.” They were responsible for Germany’s defeat‚ for the signing of the harsh Versailles Treaty, for all of Germany’s troubles. The story was not true, but millions of Germans were ready to believe it. Like Hitler, they had been shocked by their country’s surrender and they …

IN THE closing weeks of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire came apart. Its subject peoples proclaimed their independence, through “national councils” set up in Paris and London. On November 12, 1918, the last of the Hapsburg emperors, Charles I, abdicated and the next day Austria became a republic. Hungary became a republic a week later. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also came into existence and Rumania helped itself to the slice of Hapsburg territory called Transylvania. Before any peace conference could meet, the empire’s former subjects had redrawn the map to suit themselves and the Allies formally recognized the new nations. THE KAISER ABDICATES Unlike its ally, the German Empire held firm almost to the end. Earlier in the war, the liberals, democrats and socialists in the Reichstag, Germany’s legislative body, had put off their demands for the sake of national unity. Power had become concentrated in the hands of the generals, led by General Ludendorff. On September 29, 1918, Ludendorff told the Kaiser that Germany must sue for peace. Furthermore, he urged the immediate formation of a new government along democratic lines, based on the important parties in the Reichstag. The kaiser was astonished, but he soon realized that the army must be in a desperate situation for Ludendorff to suggest such a step. He knew, too, that the proud military aristocrats who commanded the army could not bring themselves to surrender; the task must be left to civilians. Sadly the kaiser gave his consent and Prince Max of Baden, a liberal nobleman, agreed to head a cabinet that included the socialists. By October it had put through a number of reforms, but the socialists were not satisfied. They threatened to quit the government unless the kaiser abdicated. Meanwhile, as word spread of the disastrous military situation, the German people began …