Essay Example on The Weimar constitution was ineffective since the Weimar Constitution

Ineffective constitution The Weimar constitution was ineffective since the Weimar Constitution did not create a strong government A great example is Article 48 of the constitution which gave the president absolute power to make immediate decisions in times of emergency without the agreements or having a discussions with the Reichstag However Article 48 later backfired on the Weimar Constitution since in Article 48 it was not specified what an emergency was later being used by Adolf Hitler to take power legally without the need specify the crisis or emergency Another example of the Weimar constitution failing to create a effective and strong government is when the army led by the right wing General Hans von Seeckt failed in supporting the government during the Kapp Putsch or known as the crisis of 1923 due to the fact that they were not fully under the government's control Another issue was that many government officials and judges were right wing which meant that they wanted to destroy the government This was shown after the Kapp Putsch where around 700 rebels were put on trial for treason but ended with only 1 going to prison Also shown after the Munich Putsch when Adolf Hitler who was the organised of the Munich Putsch went to prison for only 9 months Proportional representation or the system of proportional voting which was practiced by the Weimar Constitution was to vote for a party instead of voting for a member of parliament Each party took place in the Reichstag exactly proportional to the number of people who voted for it this sounded fair on paper however when it was actually applied it lead to a disaster of having numerous tiny parties up to 28 parties This meant that none of the party was strong enough to get a majority virtually impossible to determine a majority in the Reichstag 

This prevented the government from being able to pass laws through the Reichstag which is why there were numerous and frequent changes in the government Division of the weimar government During 1919 1933 there were twenty separate coalition governments also the government that is known to have lasted the longest without being changed was only two years These aspects brought political chaos which eventually lead many to lose faith in the new democratic system Due to the Weimar constitution not creating a strong government most of the German states had excessive amount of power which lead them to often ignore the government Left wing extremists revolution The new government made by the Weimar constitution could not control the Left wing Rebellions Rebellions happened since the communist KPD hated the new government For example in January 1919 50 000 Spartacists who were a group of radical socialists rebelled in Berlin This group was led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht Additional events of Left wing extremists revolting was in 1919 when the Communist Workers Councils took control all over Germany through power and took control in Bavaria as a Communist People s Government In 1920 after the Kapp Putsch failed the Red Army a paramilitary group rebelled in the Ruhr region Right wing terrorism Terrorism was brought by the Right wing group due to how much hatred they had against the new government for signing the Treaty of versailles 

The Kapp Putsch was a rebellion against the Treaty of versailles led by Dr Wolfgang Kapp and a Freikorps brigade in March 1920 In this rebellion they attempted to bring back the kaiser after taking over Berlin The Nationalist terrorist group rebelled against the new government even more by murdering up to 356 politicians Matthias Erzberger known as a November criminal since he was the man who agreed to the armistice In August 1921 was shot by the Nationalists In 1922 similar to Matthias Erzberger the nationalists assassinated Walter Rathenau known as the SPD foreign minister who angered the nationalists through making a treaty called the Treaty of Rapallo with Russia On November 1923 the Munich Putsch led by Hitler's Nazis who were right wing attempted to take control of Bavaria Invasion Inflation The crisis of 1923 The crisis of 1923 was the trouble caused by the Reparations when the government paid the victors of WWI by printing more money this caused inflation this nearly caused the collapse of the Weimar republic In January 1923 Germany failed to make a payment and France invaded the Ruhr as a compensation for the payment This humiliated the government which is why the government ordered the workers in the Ruhr region to go on a general strike and paid them by printing even more money This caused even more inflation known as the hyperinflation The hyperinflation caused the price to go out of control since Germany's currency became worthless For instance a loaf of bread which cost 250 marks before the hyperinflation in January 1923 rose up to 200 000 million marks in November 1923 due to hyperinflation this lead to starvation and death in Germany since the citizens could not afford any food Due to hyperinflation soldiers led by Bruno Buchrucker that called themselves Black Reichswehr rebelled against the government in Berlin on October 1923 In Saxony and Thuringia the Communist took control because of the hyperinflation which lead them to lose faith in the government Also Rhineland declared its independence after the Communists took over in October 1923