German History - 1890-1945

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The Weimar Constitution

Weimar Germany (1919-1933) - the name of the new democracy in Germany after the Kaiser abdicated.

A new government

The biggest political party in Germany was the Social Democrats (SPD). Their leader, Friedrich Ebert, took on the job of running Germany and became President. He tried to improve people’s lives by giving them better working conditions and freedom of speech.

The Social Democrats won the January 1919 elections. They held the first meeting of their new government in a town called Weimar, which gave it the nickname "the Weimar Government". Their first job was to write a new constitution (a set of rules for how the country is run, e.g. who leads, who makes the laws and how they are chosen), based on democratic principles.

The German political system in 1919

President	Elected every 7 years. Chose the Chancellor and controlled the army. Under Article 48 he could rule without the Reichstag in an emergency.
Chancellor	Head of the government, chosen by the President. Needed the support of at least half the Reichstag to pass laws.
Reichstag	Parliament, elected every 4 years using proportional representation. Suggested and voted on new laws.
Reichsrat	Representatives from each German state. Could delay laws.
Voters	Everyone (men and women) over the age of 20.

Key features explained

Proportional representation (PR) - the % of votes a party gets equals the % of seats it gets in the Reichstag. e.g. in 1919 the SPD got 39% of the votes; 39% of the 421 seats = 164 seats. But this led to lots of small parties, and no one party had 50%, so parties with different beliefs had to join together in coalitions.
Article 48 - in an emergency the President could rule without the Reichstag. This was useful for events like war, BUT "emergency" was vague, so it could be abused. It eventually helped Hitler take control in 1933.
The Bill of Rights - gave everyone over 20 the right to vote and freedom of expression. But this also let extremists spread their ideas.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Very fair, particularly the voting Allowed lots of people to have their say State governments would make sure local issues were dealt with No one person could take over - the Chancellor and President balanced each other A poor Chancellor or President would only be around for a limited time	PR meant lots of different parties in the Reichstag, so it was hard to get them to agree on anything, and governments were weak coalitions Article 48 could be abused so the President stopped listening to the Reichstag State governments could pass laws that went against what the Reichstag wanted The Bill of Rights let extremists publish their ideas Germany had been ruled by a strong monarchy before 1919, and many Germans did not like democracy

Strengths

Weaknesses

Very fair, particularly the voting
Allowed lots of people to have their say
State governments would make sure local issues were dealt with
No one person could take over - the Chancellor and President balanced each other
A poor Chancellor or President would only be around for a limited time

PR meant lots of different parties in the Reichstag, so it was hard to get them to agree on anything, and governments were weak coalitions
Article 48 could be abused so the President stopped listening to the Reichstag
State governments could pass laws that went against what the Reichstag wanted
The Bill of Rights let extremists publish their ideas
Germany had been ruled by a strong monarchy before 1919, and many Germans did not like democracy

Question tip

Any question on the weakness of the Weimar Republic ALWAYS throws students. Constitution means set of laws, and basically refers to the table above: discuss its positives and negatives. You can also use this if you are discussing the political weaknesses of the Weimar Republic.

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