The rise and fall of the Weimar Republic
In the last couple of weeks, I have attended a set of two lectures at London’s City Literary Institute on the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic in Germany from 1919-1933 delivered by Alison Appleby. Below are some brief extracts from my notes:
What were the achievements of the Weimar Republic by 1926?
- Attempted putsches by Left and Right successfully foiled
- Hyperinflation dealt with and currency stabilised
- Economic indicators were improving
- Improved relations with former enemies France, Britain and USA
- Allied armies were to withdraw early from occupied regions
- Cultural achievements such as Bauhaus and Expressionism
Why did the Weimar Republic not last?
- Institutions were largely dominated by anti-republicans in military and civil service
- Death of Gustav Stresemann in 1929 who could have diluted the Treaty of Versailles
- Political parties supporting Republic lost majority in legislature
- Continuing depression in agriculture meant growing discontent in rural areas
- Modernism and cosmopolitanism alarmed the traditionalists
- Economic recovery was over-dependent on foreign loans and susceptible to global fluctuations