Weimar Republic, Collapse & Rise of the Nazi State

Final Months of WW I and Immediate Collapse of Imperial Germany

• $100\;\text{Days Offensive}$ (late $1918$) broke the previously static Western Front; Allied advance showed German High Command that a march on Berlin was now possible.
• German Navy: built to rival Britain, fought only once (Battle of Jutland, $1916$ – tactical stalemate).
  • Early $\text{Nov}\;1918$ admirals planned a "suicide sortie" to preserve honor.
  • Sailors’ mutiny at Kiel spread across northern ports ➜ nationwide revolt.

Abdication & Birth of the Weimar Republic

• $09\;\text{Nov}\;1918$:
  • Kaiser Wilhelm II forced to abdicate (Allies demanded it for an armistice).
  • Crown Prince also renounced claim.
• Power vacuum in Berlin; socialist deputy Philipp Scheidemann unilaterally proclaimed a German Republic from the Kaiser’s palace balcony.
• Constitution drafted in the peaceful city of Weimar ⇒ historical label “Weimar Republic.”
• Progressive features: universal suffrage for men & women; parliamentary democracy with president & chancellor.

Versailles Treaty & “Stab-in-the-Back” Myth

• Weimar leaders had to sign peace; Allies threatened occupation if they refused.
• Treaty’s territorial, military, and reparations clauses blamed on republicans, not the generals or monarchy.
• Propaganda map/pamphlets showed red-shaded lost territories, feeding rage.
• Myth: Germany was "unvanquished"; defeat blamed on civilian politicians, leftists, Jews.

Early Threats to the Republic

Spartacist (Far-Left) Rising, $Jan\;1919$

• Led by Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht; modeled on Bolshevik seizure in Petrograd.
• President Friedrich Ebert cut a “devil’s bargain” with Gen. Gröner: Army crushes revolt ⇔ politicians leave Army autonomous (anti-democratic officers remain).

Kapp Putsch, $\text{Mar}\;1920$ (Far-Right)

• Wolfgang Kapp + Freikorps tried to seize Berlin.
• Army remained neutral; workers’ general strike brought putsch down.
• Success of strike bred overconfidence on left; would fail against Nazis in $1933$.

Reparations, Ruhr Crisis & Hyperinflation

• Weimar fell slightly behind on deliveries (e.g.
  telephone poles) ⇒ France & Belgium occupied the Ruhr ($1923$).
• Govt. ordered passive resistance; paid idle workers by printing money.
• Result: hyper-inflation $1923$:
  • Marks lost value hourly; wages paid twice a day; middle-class savings wiped out.
  • Images: woman burning currency for heat, children stacking worthless notes.
• Middle class – essential to democracy – radicalized by ruin.

Dawes Plan & “Golden Years” $1924\text{–}1929$

• US banker Charles Dawes: staggered, smaller reparations; foreign loans stabilised currency ⇒ Nobel Peace Prize.
• Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann (DVP):
  • Locarno Treaties ($1925$): Germany accepted western borders, permanent loss of Alsace-Lorraine; gained League of Nations entry ($1926$).
  • Refused to recognise Polish Corridor loss.
• Cultural bloom:
  • Bauhaus (founded $1919$; moved to Dessau $1925$): flat roofs, glass curtain walls, “form follows function,” “less is more.”
  • Film innovations would later migrate to Hollywood.

Great Depression (from $Oct\;1929$)

• Wall St. crash: over-valued stocks + lack of trading curbs.
• US bank failures 🡒 recall of loans to Europe ⇒ collapse of Austrian Credit-Anstalt; domino through Europe.
• Orthodoxy: tighten credit, cut budgets, raise tariffs (Smoot-Hawley, $1930$) ⇒ global trade plunged.
• British economist John Maynard Keynes argued for deficit spending (government spender of last resort) — influence felt only post-WW II.

Hitler’s Background & Early Nazi Movement

• Born $1889$, Linz (A-H Empire); failed art-school applicant in Vienna; modest talent (painting shown).
• Fought WW I; won Iron Cross; gassed $1918$; learned of armistice in hospital – deep resentment.
• Joined small German Workers’ Party (DAP) in Munich $1919$; pushed founder Anton Drexler aside.
• Full name became National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) – misleading mix of nationalism & alleged socialism.
• Modeled SA (Sturmabteilung, brown-shirts) on Mussolini’s black-shirts.

Beer Hall Putsch (Munich) $Nov\;8\text{–}9\;1923$

• Aim: seize Bavarian govt then march on Berlin; collapsed within $24$ h; $16$ Nazis & $4$ policemen killed.
• Trial made Hitler a national figure; lenient judge sentenced him to $5$ years, served $\approx1$.
• In Landsberg prison wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”): autobiography, ideology, virulent antisemitism; framed defeat as betrayal.
• Lesson learned: “Use constitutional means to destroy constitution.”

Electoral Breakthroughs During Depression

• Reichstag election $14\;Sep\;1930$:
  • Nazis $12→107$ seats ( $18.3\%$ ).
  • Communists $54→77$ seats ( $13.1\%$ ).
• July $31$ $1932$:
  • Nazis $230$ seats ( $37.3\%$ ) – largest party, not majority.
  • KPD $89$ seats ( $14.3\%$ ).
  • >$51\%$ of electorate voted for anti-democratic extremes.
• Stalin ordered German communists to fight Social Democrats (SPD) more than Nazis (“after Hitler, our turn”).

Hindenburg, von Papen & Hitler’s Appointment

• President Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg re-elected $Apr\;1932$ against Hitler; aged $\sim85$, monarchist, lukewarm on democracy.
• Conservative intriguer Franz von Papen:
  • Convinced Hindenburg to name Hitler Chancellor ($30\;Jan\;1933$) believing cabinet of $11$ — $3$ Nazis could “box him in.”
  • Fatal miscalculation; Nazis gained legal power lifeline despite fall to $196$ seats ( $Nov\;1932$ ).

Gleichschaltung (“Coordination”) – Rapid Consolidation $1933\text{–}34$

• Reichstag Fire $27\;Feb\;1933$ blamed on Dutch communist; communists (
  KPD $\approx81$ seats) banned.
• Enabling Act $23\;Mar\;1933$: Reichstag (all parties except SPD) granted Hitler decree powers for $4$ years.
• All parties except NSDAP outlawed by $Jul\;1933$.
• Independent trade unions dissolved $02\;May\;1933$; assets seized; Labour Front (DAF) substituted.
• First concentration camp Dachau opened $Mar\;1933$ for political prisoners; intimidation through beatings, releases of broken bodies.

Night of the Long Knives $30\;Jun\text{–}2\;Jul\;1934$

• SA chief Ernst Röhm ( $\approx3\,000,000$ men) dreamed of replacing Army.
• Hitler purged SA leadership; dozens executed.
• In return, Army swore Hitler Oath of personal loyalty.

Führer Title $19\;Aug\;1934$

• Hindenburg died $02\;Aug\;1934$; offices of President + Chancellor merged.
• Plebiscite confirmed Hitler as Führer; democracy officially dead.

Totalitarian Society

• Strength Through Joy (KdF): subsidised holidays, cruises; sweetened workers’ obedience.

• Religious Policy:

  • Concordat $1933$ with Vatican: Church withdrew from politics (notably silent on racism).
  • Majority of Lutheran & Calvinist congregations formed state-loyal German Evangelical Church; dissenters built Confessing Church (Martin Niemöller, Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
  • Niemöller’s famous warning: “First they came for the Socialists …”

• Propaganda Machine (Joseph Goebbels):

  • Volksempfänger (“people’s receiver”) radios tuned only to state frequencies.
  • Book burnings $10\;May\;1933$ (Berlin university square; $\approx12,000$ volumes).
  • Modern Berlin memorial: underground empty bookshelves sized for lost volumes.

• Art & Film:

  • “Degenerate Art” exhibition $1937$ mocked modernism; regime promoted sentimental realism (Aryan family scenes).
  • Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl:
    • “Triumph of the Will” (Nuremberg Rally $1934$)
    • “Olympia” (Berlin Games $1936$) – pioneered tracking shots, slow-motion, athletic glorification; initiated Olympic torch relay from Olympia to host city.

1936 Berlin Olympics & Racism

• Games intended as Nazi showcase; IOC head Avery Brundage aided propaganda (kept US Jewish sprinters like Marty Glickman off relay team).
• Jesse Owens (USA) won $4$ golds; Hitler avoided congratulating medalists to dodge a photo-op with a black athlete.

Ethical & Historical Implications

• Weimar downfall illustrates fragility of democracy when:
  • Economic catastrophe erodes middle-class security.
  • Elites (Army, judiciary, conservative politicians, churches) appease or ally with extremists, believing they can be “controlled.”
• Propaganda, scapegoating, and incremental legal changes can dismantle freedoms quickly (“it was all legal”).
• Antisemitism, racism, and political violence flourish when unchecked by solidarity — echo of Niemöller’s warning.
• Cultural & scientific brilliance (Bauhaus, film) can coexist with — and be extinguished by — authoritarianism.