Problem of weimar republic

The people had suffered terribly because of war. All of the country’s resources had been poured into the war effort.

Germany was humiliated by the war guilt clause of the Treaty of Versailles.

This blamed Germany and her allies for starting the war.Germany had to pay reparations of 132 billion marks, which is roughly the equivalent to £284 billion in today’s money, to the countries damaged by the First World War.

The Treaty of Versailles took areas of land containing valuable resources from Germany.

Because of the Treaty of Versailles, many Germans were now living outside the borders of Germany in places like the Sudetenland, Poland and Austria. They felt that their rights were not recognised properly.

The new constitution which created the Weimar Republic was very democratic, but there were problems like the voting system of proportional representation allowed extreme groups to get into power. . It was hard for them to make decisions and there were frequent changes in government.  The President could rule by decree (on his own) at a time of national emergency, something he did often.

Extremist groups, who were discontented with the Republic, tried to seize power by force.Germany got behind with reparations payments, so French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr in 1923. This humiliated the German government who ordered a general strike.

In 1923, German money became worthless when the government printed more money to pay the workers who went on strike in response to the Ruhr invasion. German banknotes were even used as wallpaper.