Source Area 2

Left Wing Threat Threat Reduced by internal KPD issues Divided over tactics, Luxemburg believes Germany not ready for Revolution. KPD splits with more extreme KAPD emerging. But take members from USPD, 33 newspapers. Perceptions at time Threat seen as very serious by SPD/Ebert, partly due to Bolshevik Revolution – many historians see it as exaggerated. Ebert relied on Army and Freecorps to brutally deal with extreme left.

Left Wing Threat Initial Threat – Reasonably serious? Spartacist Revolt [Jan 1919] 100+dead,leaders dead. Army/Freecorps brutal under Noske. Red Rising on Ruhr [March 1920] Red army of 50,000, 2,000killed. Army/Freecorps brutal. Munich soviet [communists in power March-May 1919] 600 killed. Again brutality. Post 1920 threat reduced – Marzaktion 1921easily defeated in 3 days – tokenistic. German October 1923attempted Revolution in Hamburg easily defeated in 2 days.

Left Wing Threat “half-hearted” Kolb on Spartacists Historians suggest Ebert over played the left wing threat. “implacable opposition” Evans

Right Wing Threat Above surface threat – Extreme, violent,fringe. Kapp Putsch March 1920 – nationalist who had Freecorps support, took control for 100 hours. Army didn’t support Weimar. Workers went on strike and Kapp fled. Munich Putsch Nov 1923 – Hitler tries to take over. Has Luddendorff on his side but the German army stays loyal to Weimar. 350+ murders by right wing assassins.

Right Wing threat Below surface threat – cancer eating at heart of Weimar.Insidious. Army a “state within a state” – only supporting Weimar when they want. Von Seeckt creates ‘work commandos’ – extra soldiers to get round Versailles – he claims they are to build hospitals etc. Old elites hold onto positions of power as judges, civil servants. Industrialists and land owners. Judges treat right wing leniently – Hitler , Kapp and left wing severely.

Right wing threat Weitz – “extreme right protected by well-connected members of the establishment” Josef Wirth [Chancellor] after assassination of Rathenau Foreign Minister “the enemy stands on the right” Weitz “it was the right, not the left who posed the real threat to the very existence of the Republic.” Threat from right reduced as respectable right and lunatic fringe are “divided” Lee and Weitz.

End of Hyperinflation Gustav Stresemann appointed as Chancellor – pragmatic, realistic and responsible. He sets about re-establishing confidence by Ends “passive resistance” in the Ruhr. Germany goes back to work. This antagonises right wing as seen as giving in to France. It provokes the Munich Putsch. Establishes a new currency – Rentenmark. 1 million old marks = 1 Rentenmark. New currency based on land rather than gold to gain confidence. This worked.

End of Hyperinflation Borrowed money from USA. This allowed Germany to spend money on recovery and win people over to the Republic. Stresemann recognised the dangers of this policy – “dancing on a volcano”. In 1929 the loans began to be recalled and Germany was in another economic crisis. Dawes Plan – allowed Germany to repay reparations mainly with loans for next few years. Amount of reparations was less in 1924 then began to increase. This encouraged stability in short term. French left Ruhr in 1925. Long term fear of Hyperinflation recurring meant future governments were limited in their choices in a crisis.

End of Hyperinflation Lee – “Stresemann took a tough and pragmatic line which extricated Germany remarkably quickly from economic collapse” Kolb sums up the precarious nature of Germany’s situation in 1923 “The omens were at best uncertain”