4.1 The emergence of the authoritarian state in Germany, 1919-1934

stabübergabe

passing of baton, handover of power to Nazis - vested interests against communism

conditions in which the authoritarian state emerged

• high disillusionment and frustration as a result from instability and policy errors of discredited parliamentary system

• dislocation of WWI and Paris Peace Settlement

  • revisionism - altering unjust treaty settlement

  • revanchism - revenge

  • nationalism

• political extremism resulting from economic instability

• fear of left/growth of socialist/communist movements

• vested interests - groups or individuals resisting disadvantageous change

• semi-legal assumption of power

appeal of movements/leaders

• pragmatism - willingness to adapt to circumstances

• milleniarianism/chiliastic programs - promise of future prosperity

• propaganda

• paramilitary force

Weimar Republic (1918-1933/34)

• November Revolution (November 9, 1918) - declaration of republic based on popular sovereignty by SPD, removal of Kaiser Whilhelm II from power

• Spartacists - radical socialists attempting to establish Bolshevik-type state in Germany, unsuccessful revolt on January 1919 prompted the constitution for hte new republic

stage 1: 1918-1919

• stab in the back

• lack of revolution from below - German deference to authoritarian state

• Treaty of Versailles’s dictated peace

stab in the back

German military leaders claimed that Germany’s defeat in 1918 was due to internal enemies and should not have surrendered, despite General Erich Ludendorff realizing that defeat was inevitable

Treaty of Versailles/Diktat (dictated peace)

• Article 231 - War Guilt Clause, referred to as Kriegsschuldüge, War Guilt Lie

• territorial loss, financial penalties, demilitarization

stage 2: 1919-1923

• Friedrich Echbert and pact with Whilhelm Groener

• Article 17 and article 48 of the constitution

• many political parties

• reluctant republicans

• economic crisis of 1923

• Beerhall Putsch (November/Munich Putsch) and NSDAP’s 25-point programme

Friedrich Echbert’s pact with Whilhelm Groener (1919)

• leader of new republic under Social Democratic Party and chief of staff of German military respectively

• agreement that army remained a state within a state, conditional military support for Republic, refusal to act against “Good German nationalists”

• Spartacist uprising (1918-1919) - Communists willingly suppressed by army

• Reichswehr - German army during Weimar Republic

provisions of the constitution

• Article 17 - proportional representation → political parties unable to form stable long-term governments

• Article 48 - president was entitled to suspend principles of the constitution if public order or security was endangered

parties of the Weimar Republic

• KPD (Communist Party) - hostile to democracy, wanted government modeled after Soviet regime; paramilitary organization: Red Veterans’ League

• SPD (Social Democratic Party) - Marxist rhetoric, non-revolutionary socialism; paramilitary organization: Reichsbanner

• DDP (Democratic Party) - committed to Weimar democratic system

• DVP (German People’s Party) - right side of political spectrum, largely committed to democratic system

• DNVP (German National People’s Party/Nationalists) - well funded, linked to business and landowners in support of renewal of German empire; paramilitary organization: Stahlhelm

• NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) - hostile to democracy, favored extreme right single-party state, ultranationalism, militarism, racism

• Centre/Zentrum Party and BVP (Bavarian People’s Party) - ambivalence towards Weimar, initially significant contributor to coalition government, willing to collaborate with parties/individuals not sympathetic to democracy

Vernunftrepublikaner

reluctant Republicans due to lack of practical alternatives in democratic government, not ardent supporters in governments’ success

• hasty establishment of the Weimar republic led to inherited Whilhelminian structure

economic crisis of 1923

• currency delirium - hyperinflation as government attempted to pay workers of the Ruhr by printing more money; destroyed confidence in Germany’s currency, growth of anti-republicanism

• Gustav Stresemann - led centrist coalition of DDP, SPD, Zentrum, and DVP into Golden Era (1924-1929)

• recovery with the help of Dawes Plan (1924) - preventing growth of communism in Germany, allowed Germany to make economic improvements and reduce annual reparations payments, restored confidence in new Reichsmark currency

attempted Nazi uprising

• Beerhall Putsch (November/Munich Putsch) - Adolf Hitler and Nazi Party’s failed attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic whose arrest allowed for national articulation of Nazi ideology

• NSDAP’s 25-point programme - failed attempts to garner mass support through combined racism, socialism, and nationalism

stage 3: the Golden Age, 1924-1929

• Reichstag elections 1924-1928 - reflective of faith in Stresemann’s government: parties hostile to republic (KPD, NSDAP) made little progress, parties committed to parliamentary system (SPD) received support

• Young Plan (1929) - proposal/negotiation to reduce reparation payments and extend period of repayment

  • seen by nationalists as pandering to diktat, overreliance on U.S. loans

stage 4: decline, 1930-1933

• Wall Street crash (1929) - foreign aid recalled, Germany plunged into depression, high levels of unemployment, support for political extremism grows

• Paul von Hindenburg - president making appointments based on circle of interest, shift in power from elected representatives to presidential cabinets

• chancellors

chancellors 1930-1933

• Heinrich Brüning - appointed chancellor (1930), also known as Hunger Chancellor for deflationary economic policies (increased taxation, reduced welfare) which led to a period of economic distress

• Franz von Papen - failed to deal with economic and political unrest, Baron’s cabinet, no wide Reichstag support

• Kurt von Schleicher - resigned January 1933

• Adolf Hitler

stage 5: democracy to dictatorship, January-March 1933

Hitler allowed to use power due to his influence being underestimated, fighting between SPD and KPD

stage 6: establishment of Führer state, August 1934

• steady build of NSDAP, financed by magnates

• Alfred Hugenberg - leader of DNVP, allied with Hitler, vehicle of Nazi propaganda

• Mein Kampf - package deal of National Socialism, racism, nationalism, socialism