Why did the Weimar Republic Fail? Documentary
video description
But economic and political isolation create within them just an uncanny list of similarities in the problems their citizens face. And I always like to think how fortuitous it was for The West and China to open relations in 1971, especially for the communist party in China because after years of isolation on the world stage they got in on the ground floor of the beginning of the global manufacturing and agricultural boom. That one change at that one fortunate moment took one of the greatest failed governments in modern history into the greatest economic miracle in all of recorded time.
Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 19
Arne
I really like your videos and your funny and matter-of-fact take at the motives but as a german history teacher I have to say, this is rather oversimplified, especially concerning the voting system and the reasons for the popularity of the nazis.
The voting system as you described it would be the same as in modern day germany. Proportional representation is a good system in generel, much better than the first-past-the-post voting which was in place before and still is in many countries like Great Britain, since a party has seats in parliament in direct proportion to the proportion of the votes they got instead nof according to the electoral districts the won and thus much better represents all votes. The problems in the political system were that at least three parties were openly against democracy and and the republic (KPD, NSDAP an DNVP, which later got a lot of votes, that there were to many parties, which were mostly rather focused on the interests of a very limited part of the population and, as you said, didn't compromise and work together all that good. That there were to many parties was only possible because every party which gained enough votes for even one seat in the parliament was represented, so that most parties got not much more than 10% of the votes and often three or more parties needed to form a coalition to have more than half of the seats.
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I really like your videos and your funny and matter-of-fact take at the motives but as a german history teacher I have to say, this is rather oversimplified, especially concerning the voting system and the reasons for the popularity of the nazis.
The voting system as you described it would be the same as in modern day germany. Proportional representation is a good system in generel, much better than the first-past-the-post voting which was in place before and still is in many countries like Great Britain, since a party has seats in parliament in direct proportion to the proportion of the votes they got instead nof according to the electoral districts the won and thus much better represents all votes. The problems in the political system were that at least three parties were openly against democracy and and the republic (KPD, NSDAP an DNVP, which later got a lot of votes, that there were to many parties, which were mostly rather focused on the interests of a very limited part of the population and, as you said, didn't compromise and work together all that good. That there were to many parties was only possible because every party which gained enough votes for even one seat in the parliament was represented, so that most parties got not much more than 10% of the votes and often three or more parties needed to form a coalition to have more than half of the seats.
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ryan
You forgot to mention how the British and French kneecapped the Weimar Republic with heavy war reparations at Versallies in 1919 which crippled the German economy and gave it less time to recover enough before the Great Depression began in 1929. The British and French were so focused on getting revenge on Germany for WW1 and all their wartime dead that they failed to realize that propping up the young Weimar Republic would benefit them in the long run as a democratic German republic wouldn't go to war with them and peace would reign in Europe.
I get that the British and French governments were afraid that their revenge obsessed peoples would vote them out of office if they were seen as letting off Germany too lightly but they should've found a balance between appeasing the voters in the short term and keeping Germany economically stable in the long term.
Since even those who were supposed to protect the Republic from Nazis and Communists weren't really into the Republic either, I'd say that the Weimar Republic would gone under even if the Nazis or the Communists hadn't taken control of it, it's just that the Kaiser's supporters would've taken it over and invited the Kaiser and his family back to Germany.
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You forgot to mention how the British and French kneecapped the Weimar Republic with heavy war reparations at Versallies in 1919 which crippled the German economy and gave it less time to recover enough before the Great Depression began in 1929. The British and French were so focused on getting revenge on Germany for WW1 and all their wartime dead that they failed to realize that propping up the young Weimar Republic would benefit them in the long run as a democratic German republic wouldn't go to war with them and peace would reign in Europe.
I get that the British and French governments were afraid that their revenge obsessed peoples would vote them out of office if they were seen as letting off Germany too lightly but they should've found a balance between appeasing the voters in the short term and keeping Germany economically stable in the long term.
Since even those who were supposed to protect the Republic from Nazis and Communists weren't really into the Republic either, I'd say that the Weimar Republic would gone under even if the Nazis or the Communists hadn't taken control of it, it's just that the Kaiser's supporters would've taken it over and invited the Kaiser and his family back to Germany.
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Fermin
Sorry, but I have to point it out: You make it seem like the Kaiser fled the country and the Social Democrats seized power. In reality, the Social Democrats were part of a government led by the Kaiser's cousin, which was meant to deal with the armistice negotiations. That was implemented by the heads of military so THEY didn't have to face the inevitable backlash of such a move. Once democracy was established, the former heads of military started to badmouth the Republic and acted like they were the real victims (as right-wing demagogues like to do. The Social Democrats meanwhile did their best to shape the general upheaval into a Western democracy, with admittedly objectable methods.
Edit: Also, you make the voting system sound worse than it is. It's the same system Germany has today, and forming coalitions is a genuine effort to find common grounds between separate parts of the spectrum. The first Weimar coalition was also genuinely pro-republic, but the constant crisis led to a revolving door of governments that didn't last long enough to leave an impression.
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Sorry, but I have to point it out: You make it seem like the Kaiser fled the country and the Social Democrats seized power. In reality, the Social Democrats were part of a government led by the Kaiser's cousin, which was meant to deal with the armistice negotiations. That was implemented by the heads of military so THEY didn't have to face the inevitable backlash of such a move. Once democracy was established, the former heads of military started to badmouth the Republic and acted like they were the real victims (as right-wing demagogues like to do. The Social Democrats meanwhile did their best to shape the general upheaval into a Western democracy, with admittedly objectable methods.
Edit: Also, you make the voting system sound worse than it is. It's the same system Germany has today, and forming coalitions is a genuine effort to find common grounds between separate parts of the spectrum. The first Weimar coalition was also genuinely pro-republic, but the constant crisis led to a revolving door of governments that didn't last long enough to leave an impression.
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Tobias
It was a perfect storm. You avoided to go in depth with the economic factors as both the initial economic crisis following WWI and the hyperinflation were closely linked to reparations which gave very little policy choices to the republic and
also the occupation of the Rhineland discredited it further. All this is in hindsight of course, but the extreme conditions for peace played a role in the rise of the Nazis.
Interestingly, Germany again paid 80% to 100% of GDP in reparation after WWII as well, but because the political system was supported by the West and Germany integrated into the European and western alliances, that issue never played a big role.
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It was a perfect storm. You avoided to go in depth with the economic factors as both the initial economic crisis following WWI and the hyperinflation were closely linked to reparations which gave very little policy choices to the republic and
also the occupation of the Rhineland discredited it further. All this is in hindsight of course, but the extreme conditions for peace played a role in the rise of the Nazis.
Interestingly, Germany again paid 80% to 100% of GDP in reparation after WWII as well, but because the political system was supported by the West and Germany integrated into the European and western alliances, that issue never played a big role.
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UMIR
To be fair the nazis were wrong about most things but not the blame for WWI. All Germany did was honour the blank cheque agreement. Austria Hungary started the war by declaring it against Serbia and Serbia is also maybe partially at fault as they may or may not have had something to do with Princip shooting Archduke Ferdinand. Germany was not at fault for honouring an agreement they made with an ally. They were blamed most likely because they were the strongest member of the central powers. They were punished for being competent rather than any direct cause of war
(This is a repost because some people cant handle opinions)
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To be fair the nazis were wrong about most things but not the blame for WWI. All Germany did was honour the blank cheque agreement. Austria Hungary started the war by declaring it against Serbia and Serbia is also maybe partially at fault as they may or may not have had something to do with Princip shooting Archduke Ferdinand. Germany was not at fault for honouring an agreement they made with an ally. They were blamed most likely because they were the strongest member of the central powers. They were punished for being competent rather than any direct cause of war
(This is a repost because some people cant handle opinions)
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Phelan
So the people in the USA are fiercely loyal to the concept of democracy, . oh really? There are still the Trumpists and there are quite a lot. Just saying.
But the Kaiser did not step down on his own will, it was a condition for the peace treaty with the Allied forces.
AND Germany still has a proportinal representation of parties according to election results, but they have to get at least 5% to get into parliament.
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So the people in the USA are fiercely loyal to the concept of democracy, . oh really? There are still the Trumpists and there are quite a lot. Just saying.
But the Kaiser did not step down on his own will, it was a condition for the peace treaty with the Allied forces.
AND Germany still has a proportinal representation of parties according to election results, but they have to get at least 5% to get into parliament.
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fairyxpony
So I understand how international isolation would be problematic for any country but how did it specifically hamper the Republic? Were democratic aides not allowed into help facilitate or or offer relief for those that needed it? Does any one have any answers as to what them being more engaged with the world would have done to help stabilize them? Thank you
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So I understand how international isolation would be problematic for any country but how did it specifically hamper the Republic? Were democratic aides not allowed into help facilitate or or offer relief for those that needed it? Does any one have any answers as to what them being more engaged with the world would have done to help stabilize them? Thank you
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MasterWooten
At about 1: 50 Proportional Representation. Are you listening Canadians? Look what it did for Germany. This is why I believe that the only Canadians calling for this and other changes to our electoral system are those whose extreme views are never represented in our parliament where your politics need wide and deep support.
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At about 1: 50 Proportional Representation. Are you listening Canadians? Look what it did for Germany. This is why I believe that the only Canadians calling for this and other changes to our electoral system are those whose extreme views are never represented in our parliament where your politics need wide and deep support.
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Louis
For a longer version, I recommend searching for How to fail at democracy 101, whose creator's name escapes me now. I think I heard another reason for the Weimar Republic's political instability was so many left-wing parties, even those of similar ideologies, refused to work with each other. Or, in 1 word, SPLITTERS!
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For a longer version, I recommend searching for How to fail at democracy 101, whose creator's name escapes me now. I think I heard another reason for the Weimar Republic's political instability was so many left-wing parties, even those of similar ideologies, refused to work with each other. Or, in 1 word, SPLITTERS!
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Derek
The Reichsmark was literally reduced to wallpaper by 1924. The Treaty of Versailles was pretty much ineffective. All it did was kick the proverbial can down the road giving us the Third Reich and World War II. The dismal failure that was the League of Nations didn't help matters whatsoever either.
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The Reichsmark was literally reduced to wallpaper by 1924. The Treaty of Versailles was pretty much ineffective. All it did was kick the proverbial can down the road giving us the Third Reich and World War II. The dismal failure that was the League of Nations didn't help matters whatsoever either.
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Nygoth
I seriously thought that he wasn't going to say James Bisonette (sp) at the end of the video. I wonder if he said his name toward the end of his special thanks just to mess with us since James Bisonette has become a sort of running joke\celeb for the History Matters comment section.
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I seriously thought that he wasn't going to say James Bisonette (sp) at the end of the video. I wonder if he said his name toward the end of his special thanks just to mess with us since James Bisonette has become a sort of running joke\celeb for the History Matters comment section.
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Thor
Never underestimate the effects of economic ruin, and the appeal of the strongman populist.
Also: Never assume that a strongman who gains power will ever be content and stop trying to use violence/war to gain even more power.
see - every dictator ever.
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Never underestimate the effects of economic ruin, and the appeal of the strongman populist.
Also: Never assume that a strongman who gains power will ever be content and stop trying to use violence/war to gain even more power.
see - every dictator ever.
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Lalehian
More telling was the ancient Roman Republics fall. Democracy sounds great on paper, but it hinges entirely on people being able to get along, which is a fools belief given literal millennia of constant warfare.
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More telling was the ancient Roman Republics fall. Democracy sounds great on paper, but it hinges entirely on people being able to get along, which is a fools belief given literal millennia of constant warfare.
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Ragnar
Germany didn't have a history of direct democracy and as such didn't support the government. Translation: Germany didn't have the government it wanted and as a result the content creator is butthurt.
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Germany didn't have a history of direct democracy and as such didn't support the government. Translation: Germany didn't have the government it wanted and as a result the content creator is butthurt.
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Affable
I feel like I learned more about the conditions that allowed the 3rd Reich to come into power from this three and a half minute video than all my years in school and dicking around on the internet.
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I feel like I learned more about the conditions that allowed the 3rd Reich to come into power from this three and a half minute video than all my years in school and dicking around on the internet.
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Big
I like these, but I have to pause them at times because the lack of inflection makes it hard to comprehend what is being said. it's his gimmick, but it's not a great way to pass along information.
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I like these, but I have to pause them at times because the lack of inflection makes it hard to comprehend what is being said. it's his gimmick, but it's not a great way to pass along information.
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C.
I pose this question to my advanced US History students: Did the Treaty of Versailles make World War II Inevitable? This video game me a few more ideas to throw in for them to think about.
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I pose this question to my advanced US History students: Did the Treaty of Versailles make World War II Inevitable? This video game me a few more ideas to throw in for them to think about.
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Vedant
Can we take a moment to appreciate how well he explained how the Weimar republic failed so simply in just a 3 minute and 40 second video? Not just appreciate how well he said Mr Mustache
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Can we take a moment to appreciate how well he explained how the Weimar republic failed so simply in just a 3 minute and 40 second video? Not just appreciate how well he said Mr Mustache
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Jacob
Communists and Germans are natural enemies, like the Jews and Germans, or Frenchmen and Germans, or Slavs and Germans, or Germans and other Germans. Damn Germans, they ruined Germany
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Communists and Germans are natural enemies, like the Jews and Germans, or Frenchmen and Germans, or Slavs and Germans, or Germans and other Germans. Damn Germans, they ruined Germany
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