Latest PoD for saving the Weimar Republic? (poll)

What is the latest PoD for saving the Weimar Republic?

  • Prior to 1919 -- it was doomed from the outset

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • 1919-23 -- it was doomed after the chaos of 1923

    Votes: 5 8.5%
  • circa 1920 -- killing Hitler prior to fame would do it

    Votes: 3 5.1%
  • 1925 -- Hindenburg has to lose this election

    Votes: 4 6.8%
  • circa 1924 -- killing Hitler during or right after the Putsch

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • 1926-29 -- after the 25 election, before the Depression

    Votes: 6 10.2%
  • 1930-31 -- early years of the Depression

    Votes: 5 8.5%
  • 1932-33 -- Hindenburg doesn't run or doesn't appoint Hitler

    Votes: 26 44.1%
  • After 1933 -- Hitler's elevation isn't the end of Republic

    Votes: 4 6.8%
  • Something I'm not thinking of (please explain)

    Votes: 3 5.1%

  • Total voters
    59
OK, I've been brushing against this point in recent threads, so I thought I'd ask it outright -- what is the latest PoD that can save the Weimar Republic? (By "save", say Germany remains a democratic republic until at least 1940.) I've got some ideas --

Prior to 1919 -- the Republic was doomed from the offset
1919-23 -- after the troubles of 1923 (hyper-inflation, French occupation, the Putsch, etc), the fall was inevitable
1920 -- the Republic might have survived, but you have to kill Hitler early, prior to his rise to party prominence
1925 -- the Republic was doomed the when Hindenburg won the election of this year (or has to die prior to the next election in 1932)
1924 -- killing Hitler around this time (after the Putsch, before Mein Keimf) would save the Republic (assume Election of 1925 goes as OTL)
1926-29 -- a PoD after said election, but the fall became inevitable the moment the Depression hit
1930-31 -- the early years of the Depression were the last chance for the Republic to save itself
1932-33 -- Hindenburg could still have saved the Republic by either not running for re-election or not appointing Hitler to the Chancellorship
After 1933 -- even with Hitler's elevation, the Republic was plausibly salvageable (to keep things clear, assume the Chancellorship lasts at least a year)
 
Early 20's is probably the best way to get a democratic Germany back on the path to prosperity of that is the desired goal, if we can get the British to put forth their plan to tone down Germany's reparations, or better yet, to pressure the French out of the most extreme actions it took, then the Weimar Republic has a better chance of surviving.
 
I think even 1938 it could be salvaged. Late 1938, Hitler dies, Germany has Austria and Czechoslovakia. Goering takes over, prevents war, and eventually the Nazis are phased out.
 
Early 20's is probably the best way to get a democratic Germany back on the path to prosperity of that is the desired goal, if we can get the British to put forth their plan to tone down Germany's reparations, or better yet, to pressure the French out of the most extreme actions it took, then the Weimar Republic has a better chance of surviving.

Ah, but would later PoDs also work -- would they also give the Republic a "better chance"? Remember, we're looking for "latest" PoD, not "best"...

I think even 1938 it could be salvaged. Late 1938, Hitler dies, Germany has Austria and Czechoslovakia. Goering takes over, prevents war, and eventually the Nazis are phased out.

I think at this point we're talking more about resurrecting the Republic, seeing as the choices in the 36 and 38 "elections" were "yes or no"...
 
I think even 1938 it could be salvaged. Late 1938, Hitler dies, Germany has Austria and Czechoslovakia. Goering takes over, prevents war, and eventually the Nazis are phased out.

The republic as we know it simply doesn't exist at this point for change to be made. Democracy will come back over the dead bodies of the majority of the Nazi Party, and every other group that would spring up to take over if the Nazis couldn't keep a hold on things any more.

Goering isn't going to let the Nazis be phased out, mostly because he IS a Nazi.
 
Ah, but would later PoDs also work -- would they also give the Republic a "better chance"? Remember, we're looking for "latest" PoD, not "best"...

Yep, I think the argument can be made that even by the time of Hitler's appointment to Chancellor there was a possibility of the Nazis failing to seize power and that, had that appointment at the peak of their strength not been made, they may have lost momentum and eventually died to be a reminder of what may have come to pass.
 
I picked 1932-1933, assuming that the country doesn't get destroyed by a war that it didn't start.
 
^^Ah -- gotcha...

Indeed, I think the Hitler appointment is kind of the end barring a full-scale uprising though. Once things like the Enabling Act are in, then the journey to the dark side is complete.

And the problem is, once you get to something like a full-on civil war in Germany, the shit is going to hit the fan in a way the Republicans may not have a chance at coming out on top. At that point let's face it, the Republicans failed against the Nazis, the Nazis failed against the rest of Germany, the only people who have yet to be unsullied by failure and who are in very significant numbers are the communists, that's more likely to end in a Red Germany than a restored Weimar Republic.

Stalin will of course, be happy, if that's any consolation.
 
And the problem is, once you get to something like a full-on civil war in Germany, the shit is going to hit the fan in a way the Republicans may not have a chance at coming out on top. At that point let's face it, the Republicans failed against the Nazis, the Nazis failed against the rest of Germany, the only people who have yet to be unsullied by failure and who are in very significant numbers are the communists, that's more likely to end in a Red Germany than a restored Weimar Republic.

JTBC, this is only a plausibility in the event of Hitler's appointment, no?
 
The trouble is that the camarilla would have had to counsel Hindenburg not to run in 1932. They were possibly the only ones he was willing to listen to, by that point. As it stood, he was the last thing approaching a consensus candidate in OTL (SPD campaigned for him in 1932).
Just basically someone, probably either Hitler or Hindenburg has to die by 1932. To paraphrase Evans, there were numerous possible outcomes, all of them bad.
 
It comes to what you define as still "Weimar Republic":

I would say the latest PoD would be the passing of the "Ermächtigungsgesetz" - afterwards the republic is pretty much no longer existent. If the Zentrum and other democratic parties hasd voted with the SPD against that law it would have failed in the Reichstag. A 'legal' coming into opwer is than pretty much out of the question - but the Nazis have still a comfortable power base and can always resort to violence. How that will end is difficult to predict.

If you can accept a break or have a loser term than me to define the republic than as others mentioned even 1938 might still suffice.

Kind regards,
G.
 
You have to prevent Hindenburg's second term, but probably have to avoid his first term to do that effectively.
 
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