by Matthew Adams

Created on: October 28, 2009   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

In 1918, the Weimar Republic was established after Kaiser Wilhelm had abdicated. This was a republic, with president and an elected chancellor. Given Germany's defeat in World War One, there were a number of matters that would undermine the Weimar Republic until 1923.

The Weimar Republic first needed to accept the armistice of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles outlined a number of peace terms relating to Germany, most notably:

•  Reparations required by Britain and France.

•  Reduction of German military.

•  Alsace Lorraine returned to France.

•  Danzig became a League of Nations protectorate.

•  Under the terms of the treaty, Germany was not to unite with Austria.

In addition to this, there were further terms of the treaty. Overall, while the Treaty of Versailles was not especially welcomed by Germany, it was accepted at the time, as the war had been lost.

As the republic had accepted the armistice, some felt that it was the republic and not the monarchy that were responsible for Germany's defeat. This was not accurate, however not all supported the Weimar Republic which was largely dominated by socialist parties and the SDP particularly.

Overall, there were a number of parties in the Weimar Republic such as the SPD and Center Party. However, a few of these were very left and right-wing parties such as the KPD. Their propaganda did little to promote the Weimar Republic.

Overall, given the wartime defeat Germany had financial difficulties. This was especially the case as war bonds needed repaying. In addition to this, the expected reparations demanded by Britain and France amounted to multiple millions of marks. As such, Germany had debts and had lost a fair amount of territory under the terms of the Versailles Treaty.

So overall, Germany could not exactly meet their reparations to France. As such, the French would later occupy the Ruhr as a response. Inflation gradually and then swiftly increased by 1923, which further undermined the German economy.

By 1923 the Weimar Republic and socialist parties had seemingly not revived Germany's economy. Given this, certain political parties remained in opposition to the Weimar Republic, which had had a few coalition governments up until 1923.  The abortive Kapp Putsch in 1920 was one such example.

That was until Gustav Streseman became chancellor in 1923. Streseman's economic policies effectively reduced and gradually ended the inflationary spiral. As such, Germany's economy began a steady recovery.

In 1924, the Dawes Plan was also accepted by the Weimar Republic. This provided a plan for Germany to further meet the Versailles reparations, and suggested that French troops leave the occupied Ruhr.

As such, with economic recovery support for the Weimar Republic gradually increased from 1923. The economic difficulties of '23 were largely over. 

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