topic 2 - political stability

what did the elections during the middle years of the weimar republic suggest?

that there was a chance the republic would survive

how can we infer this?

because the extremist parties of both the left and right lost much support

combined, what percentage of the votes did all extremist parties make?

less than 30%

how many seats did the DNVP loose between 1924 to 1929?

30

how many seats did the KPD loose between 1924 to 1929?

8

however, this hides the fundamental problems with the weimar voting system as it distributed seats via proportional representation which led to…

coalition governments which were often hard to maintain due to the friction between parties

did the number of coalition governments grow during the middle years of the Weimar Republic?

yes

what happened after the 1928 election?

Chancellor Muller established his grand coalition

what was the grand coalition?

the first coalition to contain members from all sides of the political spectrum

why did coalitions often fail?

because the individual parties typically put their own interests and aims first and were unable to compromise

what is another issue with coalitions?

representation - they could never have both the far right and far left as members

coalitions rarely included the…

socialists despite being the dominant party in the riechstag

how many governments had there been between 1923 and 1930?

7 with the longest lasting just under 2 years

what was the typical cause of the collapse of coalitions?

internal conflicts between the parties

why was hindeburgs rise to power in 1925 unprecedented?

it was assumed the president ebert would be re-elected however his sudden and untimely death created many political problems

since there was no clear successor, two rounds of elections had to be held before hindenburg was elected in an extremely close victory against…

the centre party, something which highlighted the underlying divisions in german society

what else did hundeburgs victory highlight?

how right wing views had never really gone away

why did he highlight this?

he had been a key figure in ww1, prominently pro monarchy with strong right wing views

what were people on the right hoping would come from hindeburgs rule?

the re-establishment of the monarchy

what actually happened?

he remained loyal to the constitution and gave the weimar republic more respectability in wealthy conservative circles

what did hindeburg do which shows his lack of support for the Weimar republic?

his cabinet - he made sure to surround himself with anti-republican figures and members from the DNVP and excluded the SPD wherever possible

what was Hindenburgs ultimate aim?

to move the government further to the right

did the parliamentary system in germany make much progress during this period?

no

the government was more concerned with…

survival rather than success

what were some minor successes for the Weimar Republic?

there were no putsches from either side of the political spectrum, extremist activity was contained and paramilitary groups were restricted

what is one indicator that the political system was still not strong enough?

not one stable government had been established during this period

an even more significant issues was the growing…

contempt and cynicism from the people towards party politics

what happened to voter turnout during the mid 1920s?

it declined

what is evidence of political stability during this period?

lack of support for extremist parties, no political coups, consistent voting patterns and Hindenburg working within the law

what is evidence of political instability during this period?

constantly changing coalitions, growing contempt towards the political system, decline in voter turnout, exclusion of left wing parties