Was the fall of the WEIMAR REPUBLIC and the rise of HITLER inevitable?

Wolfpaw

Banned
were there any popular right-wing parties apart from the Nazis? Did the latter kill off the former?
You had the Harzburger Front from 1931 to 1932. It was basically a coalition of far-right groups united in opposition to Brüning's government. The main members of the HF were:

  • DNVP under Hugenberg
  • Nazis under Old Ade
  • Stahlhelm (technically not a political party, but very influential in right-wing politics)
  • Alldeutscher Verband (not a political party, but lots of influence, esp. in monarchist circles)
  • DVP (Center-right monarchist party)
  • Business Party (yup, they're not even trying to hide it ;))
  • RLB (Agrarian party, mostly farmers and landowners)
  • VvVD (another important group of angry veterans
And the Nazis didn't so much "kill off" their far-right colleagues so much as they absorbed their membership.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
What was their support base, when compared to the Nazi Party?
The Communists had a large support base that was growing in the early 30s. They became the 3rd largest party (with around 14% support) after the Nazis and SPD. If they had been able to monopolize the radical and protest votes, who knows how large they could have become. Of course the Communists had a small change to take over already at Weimar's birth with their revolutions, but they were not very well planned.

The Junkers way to power would probably be the military. They still dominated it during the Weimar years, and a coup would thus not be impossible. But they had allies in politics too. von Hindenburg was a junker, and he had been dictator before. von Papen was closely aligned with them, and general Kurt von Schleicher had a huge influence over the politics of Weimar. Add to that the nationalist DNVP party that wouldn't mind a military takeover, and might get nationalist vote that otherwise would have gone to the Nazis.
 
some fantastic stuff here! Thanks to you all. Sorry about the bump but I found a quote that I'd like someone to shed some light upon if possible :)


The German people had hardly noticed that the democratization had already taken place a few weeks before the armistice with the appointment of Prince Max von Baden.

The source continues on to say...

Full of anxiety for their relatives at the front and sorrow for those who had fallen in action, they were shaken by the approaching disaster, which the army communiqués had up to then concealed....

This is why many people could believe that Republic and Democracy were consequences of the defeat and forced upon them by their enemies, in their enemies' interest and not in that of themselves....

For the democratic forces and parties the situation was depressing. They had looked forward to the democratisation of Germany as the crowning of a brilliant ascendency to political, economic and military prestige in the world, and now they had to accept it at a moment of political impotence and military and economic collapse....

My question is, how was the appointment of Prince Max a sign of democratic movement? and what was the real chance of democratic rule in Wiemar without the circumstances that ended WWI.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
and what was the real chance of democratic rule in Wiemar without the circumstances that ended WWI.

A small chance. Read Holding Out For a Hero by Faelin. However it's generally assumed the Republic was doomed from the start. The Republic lacked legitimacy, and the opposition towards it was too great, and came from too many directions.
 
A small chance. Read Holding Out For a Hero by Faelin. However it's generally assumed the Republic was doomed from the start. The Republic lacked legitimacy, and the opposition towards it was too great, and came from too many directions.

You know, what a lot of people didn't notice about Stresemann's Germany was that it was about as liberal and democratic as Putin's Russia. It only looks good in comparison to the guys putting people in camps, and because it's led by a grandfatherly man.

But gain, I have to point out that in 1928 and 1929, opposition to the Republic was at its lowest ebb. The Weimar Parties smashed the parties of the far right and left at the ballot box. This is hard to square with the idea that the republic was doomed to decay.
 
some fantastic stuff here! Thanks to you all. Sorry about the bump but I found a quote that I'd like someone to shed some light upon if possible :)

True, more people should be aware of these developments.

My question is, how was the appointment of Prince Max a sign of democratic movement?

It was rather a consequence of the October reform. It was decided (from "above"), that in order to please the Entente, a new government should be based on the parliamentary majority. This was a major breakthrough and would have turned the Deutsche Reich into a monarchy more similar to Great Britain and others...

Hertling, the current Chancellor, wouldn't agree to this. The parliamentary parties couldn't agree on a Chancellor so Max von Baden was the compromise.

and what was the real chance of democratic rule in Wiemar without the circumstances that ended WWI.

Well, better. But- without exactly these circumstances, there would be no Weimar Republic.
 
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