Monday, October 19, 2009
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I find it curious that the Weimar Republic was and is often blamed for the oppressive terms of the Versailles Treaty (and thus the widespread unrest and humiliation that set the stage for Hitler), while the the First German Republic was in fact responsible for Germany’s involvement and strategies during World War One. As Fritzsche points out, it’s even debateable whether or not the terms of the Treaty were a main cause of Germany’s economical and political collapse. Continued military involvement and wartime borrowing during WWI devastated Germany’s economy before the terms of the treaty were drawn; the reparations required by the War Guilt Clause (£6,600 million) were small potatoes compared to the money used to finance the German army. Germany lacked the resources to stay in the war as long as they did, and was able to extend their involvement by years through borrowing from banks – a move that had already left them deeply in debt before the close of the war. Before the depression, Chancellor of Germany Gustav Stresemann was able to greatly ameliorate the inflation problem by using foreign loans to fund national development and pay off war reparations. It was only a matter of time, however, before the fiscal irresponsibility of the preceding government caught up with Germany, and theGreat Depression hit the nation especially hard despite Stresemann’s successful efforts to help the economy. It’s true that the Weimar Republic is the government that had a hand in drawing up the Versailles Treaty, but Germany was ultimately one of the losing parties in the war, and the new Weimar Republic had to accept resposibility for the decisions made by their predecessors. It’s interesting that so much blame was placed upon the Weimar Government for the failure of the German economy, while the wartime government had made the collapse almost inevitable.
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i like how you show that Germany's economy was already devastated prior to the treaty of versailles, but doesn't that just make the 6,600 million pound reparations that much more ridiculous? For the time that figure by itself is unprecedented, and given Germany's already screwed up economy the number is wholly unrealistic. Furthermore, whether they deserved the blame or not, the perception amongst the people was that the Weimar Republic was at fault, and in the end, thats all that matters.
ReplyDeleteI like your point.. The war was lost by Wilhelm II and his croneis, not by Weimar.. Weimar had to take the government out of Wilhelm's hands because of his stubbornness and lack of realization that the war was lost well before 1918... Nobody in Europe really knew how to fight a modern war which is why the overall casualty figure was so high.. To start off, the Schlieffien Plan? Retarded, any military commander with any sense knows never to count on failures of his enemies, the first major flaw of Wilhelm's regime.. Second, when both fronts got bogged down as well as a significant blockade, stubborn heads in the government overlooked obvious defeat.. Third, Wilhelm's regime decided to throw the country in debt for years to come for a war that had no chance of victory.... These are stupid mistakes, beyond blunders... What Weimar did was take control away from the fools that would send Germany into complete destruction.. the Allies never set foot on German soil, that is a supreme military victory in its own right... Though Weimar signed the Versailles Treaty, the war was not necessarily its making.. Weimar succeeded in keeping the allies out of German territory except for small portions.. The main responsibilities for failure should ride with Wilhelm II's regime oust.. It was completely emotional and inept for conducting a real war, and it was Weimar that saved German territory from suffering the effects of modern war that France and Belgium had to suffer.. They should have been applauded, yet divisions in society and focus on selfish individual issues destroyed any chance for legitimacy for Weimar... In the end, Weimar signed the Treaty of Versailles, though Germany could have in time filled its obligations, yet society was fed garbage politics from the skirmishing of the splintering interest-group-parties and didn't know what to think.. Weimar saved Germany from utter destruction, far worse retribution from the allies, and renewed chances to hold its own in the world, yet the division in society and the politics of Weimar undermined these opportunities.. Wilhelm II's regime in my eyes deserves the full credit for Weimar's fall and in some respects, the rise of Nazism
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct in pointing out that the problems the Weimar government faced were hardly of its own making and it received precious little support from those who caused the problems. Yet, in many ways, perception was reality and many people argued that the Weimar Republic had disgraced the German nation by signing such a humiliating treaty (as if they had much choice). In some ways, these considerations support Bessel's claims that Weimar was hindered by the refusal of Germans to accept that the war itself (not just the loss of the war) had hurt Germany's economy and world-power position.
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