The main threat to the stability of the Weimar Republic in the period

1919-1923 came from the political violence of the extreme right

The Weimar Republic was threatened by many different factors, and the extreme
right parties were indeed one of the threats, however to say it was the main
threat is wrong. Greater threats were emerging and other threats had been
around long before the Weimar was even created. The extreme rights political
violence was only short term and was crushed easily before it could create any
instability. Other threats to the stability were; the extreme left, the economy and
the Treaty of Versailles. Nevertheless the old elites posed the greatest threat of
all, the tactics and power that they held meant they were able to undermine the
Weimar republic and therefore make it unstable.
There was a growing threat that was coming from the extreme right. One of the
greatest threats that the extreme right had was Freikorps, a group of military
men who were opposed the treaty of Versailles. They undermined the Weimar
republic when they refused to disband in 1920 because of a scaling down of
armed forces, then in March of the same year they marched on Berlin and seized
the government district of the city. The reasons for this being such a big threat
was because they were able to take power of government through there violence
and they were backed by the army. General von Seeckt, Chief of the Army
Command, declared Reichswehr do not fire on the Reichswehr. As we can see
in past events the army was key to maintaining power. The fact that the Weimar
republic did not have the backing of the army meant they became very
vulnerable from extreme parties. Although what seemed to be a great threat was
the response of the workers, after an appeal by the government for a general
strike the workers responded immediately. In doing so it paralyzed the city and
after four days the Kapp regime failed and the Weimar republic came back in
power again. How can this be seen as the main threat to the stability of the
Weimar republic if it can be crippled so easily by a general strike? And it is not
only this threat that was rendered as a failure, the Munich Putsch was defeated
in a day because the army had backed them. After Freikorps had failed to keep
power in Berlin many of its members had fled and the army become weak. These
threats were only short term, and were dealt with quickly either by the army or
the workers. The Weimar republic had been challenged by the extreme right,
however they had been able to maintain stability. Therefore although the
extreme right did use political violence to try and make the Weimar republic
unstable it failed and consequently cannot be called the main threat.
A much greater threat to the Weimar republic than the extreme right was the old
elites. Ludendorff, Hindenburg and the Judiciary made up the old elites and all
three played their parts in making the Weimar republic unstable from its
creation. The Weimar republic was created in 1919, Ludendorff had stepped
down from power and allowed the new government to be created. However
today can see when Ludendorff steps down he is setting up the Weimar republic
to fail. He steps down at the right time so that the Versailles treaty is not signed
by him but the government. Many people saw this a stab in the back, as many
saw the war as the fault of the Austrian-Hungarian and not that of their own.
Because of this many far right and far left groups were created which created
instability in the Weimar republic. These extremist groups started to try and
revolt and over throw the republic. The Munich putsch shows how the elites were
so strong and where a big threat to the Weimar republic. Ludendorff had

collaborated with Hitler in the putsch and had spurred it on. Although the putsch
was a failure and did nothing to unstable the Weimar republic it was the
aftermath that truly showed who was in charge. The judiciary, a part of the old
elites, showed their power when they were in court with those in the Munich
putsch. Hitler should have been sentenced to death for the Munich Putsch,
however the judiciary favoured him and what he stood for, they allowed him to
take over the court in one of his speeches centering his defense on his selfless
devotion to the good of the people and the need for bold action to save them,
and only gave him 5 years in jail of which he only spent 10 months in before he
was released. Ludendorff was dismissed of anything to do with the Munich
putsch. This is not the only time the judiciary back the extreme right, the Kapp
putsch is a prime example of the favouritism. 705 people were prosecuted for
the Kapp putsch but of these only 1 was found guilty and was sentenced to 5
years in prison. We all see that the judiciary are biased towards the left-wing, out
of 354 right-wing assassins 28 were found guilty and punished but not executed,
however out of 22 left-wing assassins 10 were sentenced to death. The Judiciary
held power over who they could keep in opposition to the Weimar and who they
could remove. This power and the way in which they used it meant the Weimar
republic would become unstable. We can see this through the fact that when
Hitler was sentenced to jail he was able to sort out his parties values and
became much stronger. Therefore the main threat that to the stability of the
Weimar republic was that of the old elites, they had set up the Weimar republic
to fail right from the start. The way in which they controlled who had opposed
power meant, that in time the, Weimar republic would find it hard to maintain
stability.
Although there was a threat from the extreme right it was not the biggest
political threat, the extreme left was far more threating to the stability of the
Weimar then that of the right. The reason for the extreme left creating instability
to the Weimar republic is because of what they wanted. They were radical
communists who wanted a revolution similar to that of Russias. Within 1919-23
three extreme left revolutions had taken place. The separatist revolt happened in
January 1919 not long after the creation of the Weimar republic, it was poorly
planned and was crushed easily by Freikorps troops. However it was the first
challenge the Weimar had had to come across, it cant be seen as the main
threat because the Weimar republic was able to stop it before it could spread, if it
had of spread they may have been wide spread communism. Another revolution
that challenged the stability of the Weimar republic was Red Bavaria, an
assassination of the USPD leader triggered a revolution. The left-wing extremist
created the Baverian Soviet Republic which created a number of radical reforms
that included seizing wealthy peoples properties and rounding up right-wingers
and executing them. Although again Freikorps did stop the revolution with its
troops the revolt showed that a revolution could be triggered easily from the left.
The third revolution was in response to Freikorps. In 1920 the Ruhr was seized
by the left, it showed that Germany was facing a red threat. At the beginning of
the revolution many Germans feared it could be an impending revolution.
However again due to poor planning a coordination the extreme left proved
incapable of mounting a unified attack on the Weimar republic. Freikorps again
crushed the revolt so calling it the main threat is wrong, however it was a threat
because it created fear among the German people that a revolution like that of
Russians is possible and could soon happen. Therefore the extreme left cannot

be the main threat to the stability of the Weimar republic because they were
crushed easily, but they did create a sense of fear with the German people that a
revolution could occur, and this may be a threat to the Weimar republic.
In 1919, the Weimar republics first action was to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
This action would cause a threat from the people of Germany which would
ultimately challenge the stability of the Weimar republic. The citizens of Germany
saw the signing of the treaty as a stab in the back from the Weimar politicians,
many people felt that they should not take full responsibility in starting the war,
and many felt that they still had not lost it until the treaty. The reason for this
affecting the stability of the Weimar republic is because it happened so soon
after it establishment. They needed the support of the people because it was a
democratic government. The other reason why the Weimar was becoming
unstable is because the people saw them as a weak government. The treaty
meant that the Kaiser would be rid of and people saw, what they thought to be, a
strong autocracy turn into a weak democracy. They thought that the Weimar
should have stood up to the Versailles treaty and made their own terms and not
be forced into signing it. What made the people so fearful of the treaty was the
economy after signing it. The amount of money that Germany had to owe was
not written on the treaty, the people felt that they would now be handed a blank
cheque which they would be forced to sign no matter how much. This weakness
of the Weimar from the people was a big threat to the stability of the republic.
However if we look at the Kapp putsch we see that the workers go on strike
because of the appeal from the government. If the people did not want the
Weimar republic to stay then surly they would have allowed the Kapp putsch to
succeed. However this is not the case, the people help the government to render
the Kapp putsch as a failure. Therefore we can see that although the signing of
Treaty of Versailles did create a lot of tension from the people towards the
Weimar, it did not create instability to the Weimar, so cannot be seen as the
main threat to the stability of the Weimar republic.
The economy was becoming a large problem within Germany. The sum that the
IARC (Inter-Allied Reparations Commission) had fixed for Germany to pay was
6,600 million (132 billion gold marks). They were able to pay this in marks as
well as materials, and by 1921 Germany had paid off 2 Billion marks and most of
this was in coal, oil and wood. However by 1922 Germany said they could not
pay another instalment, the French did not believe this so in turn, with the
Belgians, invaded the Ruhr. This challenged the stability of the Weimar because
of what they did next, they told the workers in the Ruhr to go on strike. The Ruhr
is what powers the Germans economy and with no money coming out of it due to
the strike he whole of German was crippled. The Weimars solution to this was
what ultimately created such a threat to its stability; they started to print more
money. Inflation shot up and money started becoming worthless, this was the
start to the great inflation. From doing all this the Weimar had made the lives of
many German citizens awful. The poor became poorer and the rich were
unaffected, this challenged the stability because we see more poor people voting
for left wing extreme parties because of the big gap between the poor and the
rich. The social effects also created instability, crime rates increase as well as an
increase in prejudice, which will fuel right wing parties later on in Germany. All
these outcomes from the Weimars actions all threatened the stability of the
Weimar. However it cannot be seen as the main threat because a lot of the anger
from the people was directed toward the French and no the Weimar. So we are

able to see that the poor economy was mainly blamed upon the French and not
the Weimar republic, so would not have been the main threat the stability of the
Weimar republic.
Therefore in conclusion from this we are able to see that the main threat to the
Weimar republic was that of the old elites and not of the political violence from
the extreme right. The old elites had been in the shadows of the Weimar republic
since its creation, Ludendorff had set it up to fail and the judiciary was allowing
those it favoured, the right-wing extremist, to stay alive and keep challenging the
Weimar. Without the judiciary the extreme rights political violence would have
been less of a threat to the Weimar then it already had been. The old elites also
were part of many of the putsches caused by the right-wing. Ludendorff had
been involved in both the Kapp putsch and the Munich putsch; he was pushing
for these putsches to weaken the Weimar republic. What made the elites even
more of a threat was that the Weimar did not see the threats that they were
causing. The judiciary was allowing removing left-wing opponents and keeping
right-wing members but the Weimar did not at the time see this as a threat.
When Hitler was given 5 years imprisonment at the time it was not a threat, but
an overview of the period shows that allowing Hitler to spend time in prison
meant he could create an even stronger Nazi Party. Therefore the reason for the
old elites being such a threat is because the threats they created could only be
seen in an overview and not at the time it happened. Therefore I do not agree
that the extreme right was main threat to the stability of the Weimar republic
because they were crushed to easily to many times, whereas the old elites were
never challenged as they held their own power which ultimately did threaten the
Weimars stability.