The Weimer Republic failed largely due to Germany never experiencing a democratic system in dire times when the nation is facing the biggest post-World War I crisis. Historically, Germany has always turned to strong, iron-fist leaders such as Bismarck to alleviate the nation's woes. However this time around, no larger than life leader with strong political will could solve the rising unemploment, frustration, and disillusionment among the German people. It can be said as well that the Germans themselves were reality deniers and actually never gave a chance to support the government in harsh socio-economic times.
The Weimer Republic failed to address important problems. It, first, I believe failed to communicate with the people. When Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, he conducted "fire-side" chats with the American people. He was constantly in tuned to the needs and concerns of the American people whereas it seemed that the German politicians did not at once seem to care about communicating via radio or hold mass rallies to get their message across to the Germans. Once again this is largely due to previous 3-tier class system that every German from a wealthy man to penniless hobo knew and conformed to.
Unfortunately, the reason why the Nazis were able to capture power was Hitler's ability to communicate his ideas to Germans. He was able to establish a connection, that in contrast, the leaders of Weimer Republic could not do.
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I agree. The Weimar Republic seemed destined to fail. The trouble they faced after the war and having to deal with the agreements made in the Treaty of Versailles already left the government largely handicapped. When you add in the inability to appeal to a broad base with the troubles of a post-war economy you are destined to fail. Hitler and the Nazi Party certainly was able to uncover and collect a broad base of support.
ReplyDeleteYou make good points here and I like your comparison with Roosevelt. Perhaps part of the problem was that there was not really anyone (other than Hitler) who possessed that sort of charisma and was willing to use it in defense of Weimar democracy rather than against it.
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