Roan Khanna

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.