AP EURO SEMINAR By: ALLEN MANALILI Prompt: Why did Germany’s experiment with parliamentary democracy, between 1919 and 1933, fail?

BACKGROUND One of the main factors of Germany’s experiment with Parliamentary Democracy was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles instigated many problems, for example, The United States of America turned their back on Europe, France was left isolated, Great Britain was not to be trusted, and this treaty was hated by Germany.

THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE Majority of all the political parties in Germany had a negative view towards The Treaty of Versailles. Also, Germany was looked upon by France to pay the war debts due to that nearly all of The Great War was fought on French territories. According to John Maynard Keynes (an English economist), The Treaty of Versailles widened the relationship between Germany and Great Britain, eventually ruining the German economy. Later on, during the 1920’s Germany stated that they were unable to pay for the costly war debts, which resulted in the French occupation of the “Ruhr”(the Industrial District).

FOREIGN INTERVENTION  During the year 1924, Charles G. Dawes (an American banker) created what is called “The Dawes Plan” in order to improve Germany’s unstable economy. The Dawes Plan was also accepted by Great Britain and France and eventually The United States would loan large amounts of money to Germany in order for them to pay off some major war debts. After the German economy shows some improvement in the year 1925, many European countries created multiple agreements. For example, Germany and France accepted a common border, Great Britain and Italy would fight if there were to be any future problems, and lastly, Germany would join the League of Nations in the year 1926.

THE HUNGER FOR DEMOCRACY  During the early 1920’s, the government in Germany was on the verge of collapse. In this case, their government was republican. Eventually, in the year 1923, communists sporadically gained access to the provincial governments. Later on in November, Hitler made his first appearance on top of a table in a beer hall in Munich attempting to achieve a national socialist revolution. This action eventually got Adolf arrested and in prison he created his book called Mein Kampf. After Hitler’s arrest, a man named Gustav Stresemann, German politician and statesman, proclaimed that Economic prosperity demanded good relations with the western powers and supported parliamentary government.

NAZISM AND ADOLF HITLER  The two characteristics that illustrate a Nazi would be their belief in extreme nationalism and extreme racism, which were the two major characteristics depicting Adolf Hitler. Hitler infused Nazism in his beliefs when he first moved to Vienna soaking up the malevolent words of Karl Lueger, Mayor of Vienna. Eventually, in 1919, after The Great War, Hitler was convinced that Germany was defeated only due to the Jews and Marxists who supposedly betrayed Germany. After, Adolf would join the German Workers’ Party, an extremist group, who denounced Marxists, democrats, and especially Jews, but established their unity under national socialism.

THE ADVENTURES OF ADOLF During Adolf’s trial for his unacceptable behavior in the beer hall, he berates the Weimar Republic which draws the attention of many people. Later on in the trial, Hitler explains his stress on anti- Semitism, his vision of conquering territory (War), and his view on a leader with unlimited arbitrary power (The Fuhrer). One big cause that led to Hitler’s ascension in the political hierarchy would be The Great Depression. Since unemployment in Germany was 45% in 1932, Adolf campaigned claiming that there would be economic salvation. As the results came in for the elections of 1930, the Nazis received 107 seats. A significant tactic that Hitler used to gain more votes would be the use of mass propaganda, which even appealed to the youth of Germany. Another factor that led to Adolf’s ascension in the political hierarchy would be the downfall of the democratic government in the year To deal with this downfall of the democratic government, Heinrich Bruning, Chancellor of Germany, instigated even more economic problems which persuaded more citizens to vote for Hitler and his campaign for economic salvation. The remaining political parties, besides the Nazis, were the Communists and the democrats, unfortunately they were unwilling to cooperate with each other, and eventually in 1933 Hitler was declared Chancellor of Germany.

THE FINAL BLOW  While Adolf was establishing his dictatorship, he called for new elections. This led to an instigation of violence. One major case of violence was when the Reichstag building had caught on fire, but Adolf blamed it on the communists. This violence eventually led to the creation of the enabling act. This act gave Adolf Hitler absolute dictatorial power for four years.