When people are unemployed, hungry and desperate, as millions were in Germany between and , they often turn to extreme political parties offering simple solutions to their problems. Between and support for the extreme right-wing Nazis and the extreme left-wing communists soared.
By parties committed to the destruction of the Weimar Republic held seats out of a total of in the Reichstag, with many workers turning to communism. A separate treaty authorized the Allies to occupy the Rhineland for 15 years. Even more humiliating, the treaty placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany. The German public strongly opposed the treaty. The National Assembly at Weimar at first refused to sign the Versailles Treaty, but finally did so in June under the threat of a renewed Allied attack.
The treaty incited the radical right. A campaign of political violence began. In the next three years, more than people were assassinated, most by right-wingers.
The first Reichstag election under the new Weimar Constitution took place in January More than a dozen political parties competed for seats.
The strongest of these parties, the moderate Social Democratic Party, won only 22 percent of the vote. The Social Democrats thus had to put together a coalition government with other moderate parties. This set the pattern for the Weimar Republic.
Between and , 14 coalition governments formed and fell. In , Britain, France, Belgium, and Italy settled on a reparation sum that would burden Germany with enormous payments for decades. The United States did not participate in the reparation plan since the Senate had refused to ratify the Versailles Treaty. The moderate German government agreed to cooperate with the reparation schedule, hoping to persuade the Allies to reduce the payments in the future.
Unwilling to increase taxes to make the reparation payments, the German government depended heavily on foreign, mainly American, short-term, high-interest loans. The government began to pay for these loans by printing more marks, the German paper currency. The Allies complained that the Germans were paying their reparations with increasingly worthless currency.
The German people also suffered as prices spiraled upward. In , Germany was late in making reparation deliveries of coal and other products to France. The German government responded to the Ruhr occupation by ordering miners and railroad workers to stop digging coal and transporting it to France.
While the workers were idle, the government paid their wages. To pay the Ruhr workers, the German government again printed more paper money. This severely worsened inflation in the entire country as shown by these exchange rates:. Adolph Hitler hoped to take over the Bavarian government as a first step in a revolution against the Weimar Republic. But Hitler planned badly and was arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison.
In the meantime, a new German government worked to stop inflation. It abandoned the policy of paying the wages of Ruhr workers. It stabilized the mark, tying it to the value of grain and real estate.
In addition, the Allied Powers agreed to reschedule reparation payments, encourage more foreign loans and investments, and end the Ruhr occupation. Thus by , inflation was under control and the German economy was recovering. Even so, the hyperinflation of caused great damage to the German people, especially to the middle class, which had the most to gain in a democratic Germany.
Pensions had been wiped out. A lifetime of savings accumulated before the crisis would not buy a loaf of bread. Extremists of the right and left gained influence. In , the moderate parties persuaded the old Prussian military hero Paul von Hindenburg to run for president. Hindenburg, 78, won easily.
In , an international conference assembled to review the German reparations issue. This time the Germans participated and argued that the remaining payments were far beyond what Germany could pay. Chaired by an American corporation officer, Owen Young, the conference agreed on a plan of nearly 60 years of installments.
The payments would be reduced at first and then gradually increase over time. He and other nationalists put these views before the voters in a referendum. The New York stock market crash signaled the worldwide Depression. Foreign loans to the German government dried up. Without funds, the government could not pay its reparations or sustain its unemployment and other social-spending programs.
Foreign investments in German businesses also stopped, causing many to go bankrupt. Another German government took over in with Heinrich Bruning as chancellor. Hindenburg called a new Reichstag election. In the September election, the moderate parties lost seats, but still put together a weak coalition to form a government. The Nazis gained almost seats in the election to become the second strongest party in the Reichstag. Yet, the Weimar Republic was resilient and survived the challenges.
In part because many Germans feared that it would be replaced by something worse, such as Communism. Despite the hyperinflation and extremist violence, the Weimar Republic survived, and democratically elected governments were able to make significant changes to the German economy and society.
Able politicians like Gustave Stresemann were able to secure amendments to the Versailles Treaty's financial clauses, which helped the economy improve. He was also able to secure loans from the United States to help Germany recover from the war and hyperinflation. The Weimar Republic was also able to improve relations with other countries such as France. German culture also flourished at this time, and Berlin became a famous artistic center at this time.
By , it appeared that the Weimar Republic was a success and would provide Germany with a stable and democratic form of government for many years to come.
During these years, the left and right-wing extremists had been marginalized, but they still had significant popular support. In the Great Depression was triggered by a massive US stock market crash. Counterproductive and damaging economic policies exacerbated it. Financial panics and bank failures slow crept around the world.
The repercussions were felt around the globe and especially in Germany. The United States could no longer provide the loans that the Weimar Republic needed. Furthermore, global trade almost came to a standstill, and many Germans became unemployed. One in three Germans were unemployed at the height of the economic crisis, and poverty and hunger were widespread.
The Republic was in the grip of an economic and social crisis. In , the conservatives won the election. An unpopular government was also put into place because of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to make. The first ever know alliance is dated back all the way to BC. Alliances are also known to be one of the major reason World War 1 was started. This is said because Germany and France had accounter many problems with each other prior to the war Llewellyn.
This was because Germany felt as if France always interfered with everything they did and always stopped them from reaching their goal. There are many reasons why World War II started. To put into a big category, the main cause of the war is the first world war.
The countries reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles, also known as the Peace of Paris, because it did not satisfy any country History.
After World War I, many countries were indebted and economically poor; this is known as the Great Depression. After this war ended on November 11, , leaders from the countries made a treaty called the Treaty of Versailles. After this treaty was made, many things happened and the question in many people 's minds was how did this treaty cause WWII? The Treaty of Versailles helped cause WWII by treating Germany harshly in these three ways: Their army was reduced, they lost territory, and the number one reason is all of the blame Germany got.
One way that the Treaty of Versailles treated Germany harshly was the way that it reduced their army. Some of the short term impacts that happened are, at the time it had reduced the number of effective empires in the world.
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