Germany and the Weimer Republic

The Kaiser abdicated after WW1 due to the fact that he had no support from the people of Germany and not even from his army generals.  In the Kaisers place came the Weimar republic which was established in 1919. Eber was the first president of the Weimer republic however the Weimar republic was disliked by the German people and they were referred to as the “November Criminals”.  The reason for this was because the Weimar Republic signed the Treaty of Versailles and the terms of this treaty were harsh. Because the Treaty of Versailles was signed it made the Weimar Republic very unpopular and they hadn’t even been in control for long.

There were many attempts to overthrow the Weimar Republic and the Sparticists league was one of the first to act. The sparticists league was led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebkriencht, they wanted to make Germany a communist state like Russia and they were prepared to use violence to do so. Because the sparticists were communists they disliked military, land owners, the Kaiser and powerful businesses. On the 15th January the sparticists came to an end 100 were members were killed and the leaders were brutally murdered.

The Freikorps/Freecorps were another group who protested against the Weimar Republic. The members mainly consisted of German people who used to be in the army but because the army had to be reduced due to the Treaty of Versailles they decided to join the Free Corps. The Free corps were led by Wolfgang Kapp, and  this is were the Kapp Putsch got its name from. In 1920 the Free Corps marched into Berlin and tried to seize power. This is called a putsch which means trying to take over by force. The Weimar Government called out to its workers to try and get them to help, the workers supported the government and went on strike. Within only a day there was no water, gas or coal in Berlin. This stopped the putsch and it collapsed as Kapp fled to Sweden.

At the end of 1923 the Weimar Government began to get back into control of Germany this was mainly because of a man called Gustav Stresemann. Stresemann was a chancellor in 1923 but from 1924 he became a Foreign Minister. He helped build up Germany and even signed them up to the Dawes Plan in 1924.  Even though Germany recovered after 1923 there were still some serious problems amongst Germany. These problems can be split up into 3 main groups, Socially, Economically and Politically.  Thankfully Stresemann was there to help out once again.