Weimar Republic

The WWI Aftermath

• Overwhelming Allied Victory
• German Reich was dismantled
• Versailles Treaty

The Weimar Republic

• Formed in 1919
• First democratic republic in Germany
• Liberal System
• Brutally weak

Political System

• Universal Vote (Direct Democracy)
• Civil Rights granted to everyone
• High degrees of political liberties
• Freedom of speech, assembly and privacy
• Religious Tolerance/ Gender Equality
• Gender Equality
• Welfare System

Political Weakness

• Disproportionate division of power
• Parliament (Reichstag)- centered
• Lack of a central authority

Too many democratic provitions

• 6 main political parties
• No real majority
• Direct representation
• Article 48

Economical Unrest

• 50 billion US Dollar in War Reparations
• Key Industrial Areas Occupied
• Foreign Monopoly of Outputs
• Hyperinflation

The Crisis of 1923

• Halt in War Reparations Payment
• France Occupied German Territory
• Forced to pay at any cost
• Germany payed with Gold

Hyperinflation

• Weak currency (Mark)
• Gradually lost its value
• Prices went dramatically up
• By November 1923, the American dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German marks