IGCSE REVISION - GERMANY: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC. The Weimar Republic was Germany's government from 1919 to 1933, the period after World War I until the rise of Nazi Germany. It was named after the town of Weimar where Germany's new government was formed by a national assembly after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.

1. DEPTH STUDY
REVISION GERMANY
THE WEIMAR
REPUBLIC
01

2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
INTRODUCTION
• Germany lost the First World War (1914-1918).
• The peace settlement was harsh on Germany – it said Germany
should accept blame for the war and pay 6.6 billion pounds in
reparations.

3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
THE NEW GOVERNMENT TOOK OVER
• The new government took over when the Kaiser abdicated.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II had ruled the German Empire as a monarch.
• At the end of the war there was a period of violent unrest in
Germany, and the Kaiser was forced to abdicate in November 1918.
• In early 1919, a new government took power led by Friedrich Ebert
– it changed Germany into a republic.
• It was set up in Weimar, because there was violence in Berlin.

4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
EBERT
• Ebert became the first President, with Scheidemann as Chancellor.
• Ebert was the leader of the Social Democratic Party, a moderate
party of socialists.
• They believed the people should say how the country was run.
• The new German government was not invited to the peace
conference in 1919, and had no say in the Versailles Treaty.
• At first, Ebert refused to sign the treaty, but in the end he had little
choice – Germany was too weak to risk restarting the war.

5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
THE WEIMAR GOVERNMENT
• The Weimar Government was:
1) Reichsrat (upper house – could delay measures passed by
Reichstag)
2) Reichstag (the new German parliament elected by
proportional representation)
3) President (elected every 7 years, head of army, chooses the
chancellor)
• Proportional representation is where the number of seats a party
wins in parliament is worked out as a proportion of the number of
votes they win. This was the system in Germany and it often led to
lots of political parties in the Reichstag (Parliament) – making it
harder to get laws passed.

6. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC - PROBLEMS
• It was difficult to make decisions because there were so many
parties in the Reichstag.
• It was hard to pick a Chancellor who had the support of most of the
Reichstag.
• The new government had to accept the Versailles Treaty, so they
were hated by many Germans because of the territory loss, the War
Guilt Clause, the reparations,
• Some Germans joined paramilitary groups, such as the Freikorps, a
right-wing group made up of ex-soldiers who saw communists as a
threat to peace .
• The Freikorps were a private organisation not under Government
control and Ebert was happy to use them to suppress communist
uprisings.

7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY – MR. D
HOMEWORK 721
• The Weimar Republic was set up in time of defeat – which made it
unpopular right from the start.
• Don’t forget – many German people did not accept the peace
settlements at the end of the First World War.
• WRITE A PARAGRAPH ON THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND HOW IT
WAS SET UP!