Why did the German People Dislike the Weimar Republic?
After Germany had lost he war and the Keiser banished, the allies set up the Weimar Republic to govern Germany. Many people did not like the Weimar Republic due such as: It was created by the allies, the German people felt that nothing could be accomplished with it because of proportional representation and that they felt that it was responsible for the economic problems that hit Germany. When the allies became victorious over Germany they expelled the autocratic rule of the Keiser and replaced it with a Democracy under the pretence that Democratic countries are unlikely to go to war with each other and that it would stop Germany building up military might. Many Germans served in the war or new someone who served in the war under the Keiser. They were also very fond of the Keisers leadership, so when he was banishing and replaced with this new democracy many were upset. One of the first acts of the new government was accepting the treaty of Versailles. The German people hated the treaty as it pinned the blame of starting the war on Germany even though Austria-Hungary started the war this made the German people feel like they were being used as a scape-coat. The treaty also imposed significant economic reparations on the German people, this severely limited public spending and welfare. The German people hated the treaty so much that they referred to it as Dolchstoss or the Stab in the Back. It was a significant reason into the German people taking a dislike to the Weimar Republic as it hurt their pride through it being created by the allies and that the government immediately accepted the government sanctions. It could be argued that Pride is not as big a reason for the dislike of the Government than physical reasons such as it being fundamentally broken. The Weimar government was a proportionally represented government, this meant that the people would vote for their party of choice and the percentage of the vote would gain that percentage of seats in the Reichstag (parliament). Because of this it meant that there were rarely any majorities in the Reichstag therefore only coalition governments could be formed, this made change hard for the government. Many felt that government made change, reform and decision making impossible thus meaning that they severely disliked the government. Many felt that things were better under the Keisers leadership as decisions could be made more decisively. This reason was more important Roan Khanna
than other reasons as it directly impacted the German peoples ability to
respond to an emergency. In 1923 the Weimar Republic almost collapsed. The Germans could not afford to pay their reparations and pay for the government so they decided to print more money. Because they stopped backing their currency with gold standard hyperinflation occurred. This made nearly all money worthless which greatly angered the German people. The middle class however, were hit the hardest, any savings they may have had became worthless. The hyperinflation was so bad that by the time a man had reached Berlin to buy shoes, he could only afford a cup of coffee and the bus fare home. This eventually lead to rebellions from the both the extreme left and right wing groups. This split Germany in half. A crisis like this literally could not have occurred under the Keisers rule and yet it was the Weimar government who printed the money that lead to hyperinflation. This caused significant problems for the average German and made them hate the Weimar Republic. So to conclude: While the fact that the government was created by the Allies and that this greatly wounded the German peoples pride it wasnt as bad as a physical reason like the lack of progress that could physically occur within the government. While equal representation angered the politically minded Germans, the average working class German probably didnt care about the Government they most certainly did care about the fact that their money became worthless so this was the most important reason that the German people disliked the Weimar Republic was the Hyperinflation caused by the German government.