by Matthew Adams

Created on: November 09, 2009   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

The period of 1919-23 is most notable for the establishment of the Weimar Republic, which was a republic with an elected president and chancellor. From defeat in World War One, Germany also agreed to an armistice, which was the post-war Treaty of Versailles that had a number of terms.

In 1918, Germany's army had been pushed back on the western frontier and was all but defeated by the 11th November. As such, Germany's monarchy abdicated and the Weimar Republic was established with the new president Ebert elected in February 1919 along with Scheidemann as chancellor. This was after a brief Spartacus uprising in early 1919, by the Communists, which was soon disbanded.

Overall, the Weimar Republic had a number of parties, which were elected by PR. Overall, the SPD was perhaps the largest party of the Weimar Republic, and was more a Socialist party. However, there were a good number of others such as the KPD, DDP, German People's Party and the Center Party. So it was not always the case that there was a majority party, with a few coalitions. The first coalition of the republic included the SPD, DDP and the Center Party.

With the war lost the Weimar Republic agreed to the armistice proposed at Versailles, the Versailles Treaty, which outlined some of the following treaty provisions:

1.) Germany was required to pay reparations to the Entente nations of Britain and France. This would amount to multiple million marks, although would later be negotiated in 1924, with the Dawes Plan put in place.

2.) Germany's army was reduced to 100,000 soldiers with the navy also much reduced in size.

3.) Territory provisions outlined by the treaty would require that the city of Danzig be a League of Nations protectorate.

4.) Germany was not to unite with Austria.

5.) Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.

6.) Saarland becomes French territory, with a potential plebiscite.

7.) German empire loses colonies.

Overall, these were some of the main terms of the Versailles Treaty. For the most part, the reparations demanded were not easy for Germany to meet. Given that Germany had other debts, it would soon become clear that Germany may not be able to fully meet the reparations.

In 1920 an attempted putsh, the Kapp putsch, was made. This was really a right-wing putsch organized by the Berlin officer of Luttwitz and Wolfgang Kapp, but it was soon disbanded.

However, by 1923 Germany had not fully meet the Versailles reparations. As such, French troops occupied the Ruhr. Germany's currency began an inflationary spiral, which further undermined Germany's economy.

Gustav Stresemann was also appointed chancellor of the republic in 1923. Here, Stresemann pursued an economic policy that would effectively end the inflationary spiral and ensure a degree of German economic recovery. 

As mentioned, in 1924, the Dawes Plan was proposed which reduced the reparations demanded. In addition to this, it was agreed that French troops begin to leave the occupied Ruhr territory. Stresemann and the Weimar Republic supported the plan.

As such, by 1924 Germany's economy began to recover from the post-war period. In addition to this, support for the Weimar Republic gradually increased after 1923. 

Sources: A History of Germany - William Carr

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