There is no such thing in history as inevitability. Just because an event happened in the past does not mean that it was bound to happen. History is full of imponderables and the “what if? world of counter history” makes for some great discussions. The Weimar Republic collapsed. Maybe that means it was meant to collapse. However, the history of the Weimar Republic is so full of its own imponderables to make such an argument difficult to sustain. What if Scheidemann had not declared a republic before the armistice? What if Ebert had not gone along with the Ebert-Groener Pact? What if a stray bullet had hit Hitler in November 1923? And so on.
However, this does not mean that the signs for Weimar’s demise were not already apparent at the beginning of its brief existence. Perhaps the question that should be asked is not “was Weimar doomed from the start” but “how did it manage to last as long as it did?”
Three factors stand out as long-term problems for the Weimar Republic: the failure of the revolution of December 1918/ January 1919, the Treaty of Versailles and the nature of the Weimar Constitution. Each one of these factors would have long-term significance for the republic and each goes a long way to explain the eventual failure of democracy in Germany.
1) The failure of the Revolution of December 1918/ January 1919
At the end of 1918, Friedrich Ebert, the Social Democrat leader who found himself in charge of Germany at the end of the war, was eager for the establishment of a democratic state. He wanted to exercise power; he did not want to see Germany face the convulsions of a full-going revolution as had happened in Russia the previous year. To this end he was willing to do a deal with Army Commander, General Groener. The gist of the Ebert-Groener Pact that followed was that the high command would bring the army home in an orderly manner, protect the young republic against its left-wing revolutionary enemies in return for Ebert’s putting the brakes on revolutionary socio-economic change.
When the Spartacists attempted revolution at the end of 1918 and into 1919, the army and ex-servicemen organised into the Freikorps, supported by Defence Minister Noske, brutally suppressed the attempt. Thousands were killed, including the Spartacists’ key leading figures, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The failure of this left wing revolt ensured the survival of the Weimar Republic and Ebert’s position. The far left in Germany would never get as close to power again.
However, it had two other key results. Firstly, the anti-democratic democratic, conservative elites who despised the concept of a republic, and who would dearly have been happy with a return to imperial rule or perhaps military rule, remained in powerful positions of influence. They controlled the media, education, the economy, the army, the bureaucracy and the justice system. Throughout the 1920s, they tolerated the republic when times were good. When times turned sour during the early 1930s, they manoeuvred to place Adolf Hitler in power.
Secondly, the far left in Germany, the KPD (Communists), never forgave the SPD of Ebert and his successors. During the early 1930s, as the Nazis were making their move on power, a strong, united left might have been able to prevent a Nazi takeover. However, the far left hated the SPD even more than they hated the Nazis, and arguably Hitler gained power by default.
2) The Treaty of Versailles
In September 1918, General Ludendorff handed power over to Germany’s civilian politicians. He had not been converted to democracy; he wanted the opprobrium of surrender and acceptance of a harsh treaty to fall on the shoulders of democratic leaders, not the army. Debate continues on the severity of the Versailles Treaty. 
However, as far as most Germans were concerned, Versailles was a slave treaty, imposed on the nation by revenge-seeking Britain and France and meekly accepted by “the November Criminals” who had stabbed the German army in the back.
The Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, where the treaty was signed.
As the German historian Golo Mann put it, “Versailles hung like a millstone around the neck of the Weimar Republic”. It provided the right with virulent anti-Republican propaganda for a decade and a half, did much to promote the popularity of the Nazis and ensured that long-term German economic strength and stability were impossible.
3) The Weimar Constitution
The Weimar Constitution which came into force in 1919 was arguably one of the most democratic constitutional documents ever constructed. However, it contained major flaws which ultimately would prove to be the Republic’s undoing.
The proportional representation arrangements for the Reichstag (the lower house of parliament) were very democratic. A party would have a seat in parliament for every 60 000 votes it received. However, the end result of this set up was that no party could ever gain a majority in the Reichstag. This ensured political instability. Furthermore, it guaranteed lots of back room dealing and wheeling to form governments which merely served to give the impression of corrupt practice and resulted in compromises that pleased no one. 
Article 48 of the constitution, known as the suicide clause, gave the President emergency powers. Once Bruning became chancellor in March 1930, Germany came to be ruled exclusively on the basis of Article 48. AJP Taylor argues that German democracy ended not in January 1933, but in March 1930. The combination of a failure to achieve government majorities and the use of Article 48 made possible Von Papen’s manoeuvring amongst the conservative elites in January 1933 to have Hitler placed into power.
Communist election poster: “Betrayed by the Socialists”
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