This one incident seemed to have been the catalyst that sparked off total anger in Germany. The navy had been the Kaiser's, and Germany's pride and joy and here were the sailors rebelling against authorityorts and starving out the nation. went on strike. Soldiers did join the protests.
By early November 1918, many cities had been taken over by workers' and soldiers' councils. This was very similar to what had happened in Russia during the communist take over of 1917 and politicians were fearful of another communist takeover in Germany itself.
November 9th, the Social Democrats announced that the Kaiser had abdicated .But there was a general strike in Berlin at that time and the Social Democrats feared that extremists would take over and anarchy would occur.. In March 1919, what was left of the German Communists attempted another takeover. The Free Corps was called in to crush them and within a few days had killed over 1000 people.Free Corps had once again saved the government and restored order. May 1st, 1919, soldiers from the army assisted by the Free Corps took over Munich killing at least 600 people - including children.Weimar Republic faced many problems. Perhaps the greatest danger was 'the weakness within' - the constitution gave the President, the states and the army too much power, whilst proportional voting meant that the Reichstag was divided and weak.The worst crisis occurred in 1923, when the French invaded to try to force Germany to pay reparations.
In spite of the harsh terms, the Weimar Republic accepted the humiliating treaty, thereby making it unpopular amongst the German masses.Weimar government refused to pay. German state was financially crippled due to overwhelming war debts which had to be paid in gold.Weimar Republic came about to be one with huge problems during its infancy.Thus, beset with political and economic problems, the German people lost confidence in the Weimar Republic.
In this way, the Wall Street collapse of 1929 was to prove a disaster for the Weimar republic.
Germany had lost 2 million men in the war. These were the core of Germany's work force and Germany's industrial base could not recover without them. Therefore, it seemed that in December 1918, Germany was condemned to economic weakness. The incompetence of the military leaders was forgotten and the government of the time of the Armistice was blamed.
Food shortages in Germany itself had pushed many civilians to the brink of starvation. Farmers were short of labourers to bring in the harvest as young men had been drafted into the military. supply of potatoes had run out and the only real alternative was turnips. It is thought that nearly 750,000 died of a combination of flu and starvation - this figure included mainly civilians but it also included soldiers who had survived the horror of war, returned to Germany and had died of the disease.WW1 destroyed Germany - the economy was bankrupt , many industries destroyed during war, many young men killed or injured, high unemployemnt rate .DIKTAT so they blamed the Weimar GOVT for this - and called them the November Criminals . they stabbed Germany in the back - betrayed the country and the people THUS - right from the start .
Food shortages in Germany itself had pushed many civilians to the brink of starvation. Farmers were short of labourers to bring in the harvest as young men had been drafted into the military. supply of potatoes had run out and the only real alternative was turnips. It is thought that nearly 750,000 died of a combination of flu and starvation - this figure included mainly civilians but it also included soldiers who had survived the horror of war, returned to Germany and had died of the disease.WW1 destroyed Germany - the economy was bankrupt , many industries destroyed during war, many young men killed or injured, high unemployemnt rate .DIKTAT so they blamed the Weimar GOVT for this - and called them the November Criminals . they stabbed Germany in the back - betrayed the country and the people THUS - right from the start .
Weimar Government was UNPOPULAR with the people and had LITTLE SUPPORT from them.
done~.~
