Weimar Republic

After the Great War a republic was set up in February 1919 at. It was a democratic government. The Weimar republic had many problems:

Thousands of people were poor and starving. The society was divided, they did not accept losing the war and they thought that the conditions of the Peace Treaties were very unfair for Germany

In 1919,  Communists tried to take over Berlin in the Spartacist Revolt, but they were defeated. •

In 1923 Germany suffered a hyperinflation. This happens when production can´t keep up with the amount of money there is, so money keeps losing its value. As result of this, prices could increase every day, middle classes lost their savings and the German market became worthless.

In 1923 there was a new chancellor, called Stresemann, and Germany was starting to recover. The National Socialist German Worker ´s Party (Nazis), created by Adolf Hitler tried to take over Munich (Munich Putsh). They were defeated and Hitler went to prison for nine months.

 Stredemann´s efforts to improve the life of Germans were getting results. Germany joined the League of Nations (1926) and became one of the permanent members of the Council. Reparations would be reduced by one-quarter of the amount, and Germany was given 58 years to pay them. Stresemann won the Nobel Price for his efforts. He died in October 1929, just before the disaster of the Wall Street Crash. His plans would only work with some help from the USA.

So everything got worse ... and Hitler came back. He was born in Austria; he was a soldier in the Great War. He couldn´t accept that Germany had lost the war. The Nazis became popular among several groups:

• The military, because of the war and the small army Germany kept after the war.

• Middle class and business people who suffered financially after the war and were afraid of communism.

• Farmers, because food prices were low.

• People who disliked Jews (anti-Semites)

 • People that thought the government was weak.