Unrest, Reparations Instability To study the sections of German society that did not support the new regime To examine the different problems that the Weimar Government had to deal with between 1920 and 1922.

Do you agree with the view that ‘the Weimar Constitution was flawed from the start?’

We are now going to look at the years 1920-22 and the problems the government faced

Weimar Political Instability and Economic Problems The National Assembly passed the Constitution by 262 votes to 75, but it pleased no-one entirely. At best it was a compromise between the different parties representing what most people found tolerable rather than what people really wanted. Nevertheless, only the DNVP (German National people’s Party) and the DVP (German People’s Party) voted against it. This shows that most of the other parties were willing to accept this new democratic experiment. However the Reichstag Election of 1920 showed a fall in the support for the pro – Weimar parties, whilst support for the anti-Weimar parties such as the DNVP grew. Historians agree that the period 1920-23 was a time of crisis for the new Weimar Republic. The government faced a number of problems:

Threat from the left Who were the key groups on the Left How significant was the role of KPD? How serious was the opposition of the extreme left to the Weimar Republic? When and where were the major communist uprisings?

Extreme Right What were the key ideologies of the right? Which were the most significant key organisations of the right and why?

The threat from the extreme right – The Kapp Putsch 1920 Who was Wolfgang Kapp and what did he want? From where did he draw his support? What were the key events of the Putsch? Why did the Putsch collapse? What were the key features of the aftermath of the Kapp putsch? How significant was the Putsch (was it a success for the Weimar government)?

Beer Hall putsch Who were the plotters and why did they fail? What was the aftermath of the failed putsch? Was the beer hall putsch significant?

Weimar Republic- Doomed to fail? To what extent did votes fall for democratic parties? Why might consistently changing governments changed, who were the chancellors?

Which was the greater threat to the Weimar Republic in the years 1919-1923- the extreme left or the extreme right? Answer the question constantly refer to the ‘real threat’ You should use a comparative approach Para 1- Introduction- Context of events…(ToV, Constitution, changing gov) Para 2 and 3- Strengths direct opposition (Sparticist uprising), influence (high party membership) and limitations of the Left (poor leadership, lack of coordination) . Para 4- Strngths of the extreme right (Kapp uprising, Munich putsch) influence through key vested interests and conservatives Para 5 Limitations of right Para 6- Conclusion- Position of threats not constant, left and right constantly changing- The atmosphere generally weakened the Weimar Republic, alongside the Treaty of Versailles and the weak Weimar constitution - You need to decide which threat you think was the most significant.