As some on this site and elsewhere have pointed out, 1920s Weimar Germany and 1990s Russia had numerous parallels-economic disaster, hyperinflation, a sense of national humiliation, popular extremnist movements of the right and the left, and violent internal conflict. One could even argue for some parallels between Hindenburg and Putin given both were conservatives and nationalists who nonetheless were hailed as stabilizers in a nominally democratic system. Of course, Hindenburg's age and the rise of the Nazi movement made the situation untenable there, but could it have been otherwise? How could we get a semi-authoritarian strongman in power who nonetheless refrains from totalitarianism and pursues a relatively cautious revanchist strategy? Would Kurt von Schleicher been a plausible candidate for such a scenario?
But only - to some degree - until 1919/1930 (the in-famous rise of the NSDAP in the RT-election).
After the RT-election of 1928, due to party-internal as well as political-propagandistical (once again Gregor Schleichers) reforms, the NSDAP managed to become in just two years the third-most-important political party and power in the german empire (as the "Weimar Republik" was official still called).
A political power Putin never had to face ... as an opposition, like i.e. Schleicher had.
Schleicher also started to become "important" only after 1928, when his mentor Groener became Rechswehr-minister, "elevating" his "junior" with him as well as making him "well known" to Hindenburg.
Some other IMO important difference between 1990ies Russia and the Weimar republik :
- established political parties , that have a
- parlaimentary tradition, including parliamentary fights
Something Russia IMO lacked after the end of Gorbachev.
The IMO decisive "role" in getting a
...
semi-authoritarian strongman in power who nonetheless refrains from totalitarianism and pursues a relatively cautious revanchist strategy?
...
into power is the office of presidency, as the office of the Chancellor in the Weimar constitution depends on parliamentary support OR presidential support ... if the president isn't a man "claiming" the leading/leaders role by himself (as Hindenburg actually never was and never intended).
Therefore my "best bet" would be someone else instead of Hindenburg gains the conservatives ticket for the 1925 presidential election.