Question

In what ways and to what extent did the conditions of the Weimar Republic lead to the rise of the Nazi party?

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

WEIMAR REPUBLIC WAS IN A VERY BAD STATE AFTER WORLD WAR ONE AND WAS NOT GETTING ANY BETTER

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HYPERINFLATION

The occupation of Ruhr by Belgium and France had treated Germany terribly as the Ruhr was considered the industrial heartland of Germany. The Germans heavily depended on these resources from the Ruhr to pay the reparation but now they were unable to. To combat this, the Weimar Republic printed mass sums of money and paid the workers in the Ruhr as they were striking. If you know why the printing of money is bad, it is because the more money you print, the less the value of that currency. This meant that this caused Hyperinflation and at its peak, a loaf of bread had cost 200,000,000,000 marks. This showed the weakness of the Weimar Republic and this had just increased the support for extremist parties like the Nazi Party as the German people believed this is the only way.

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PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The German Parliament (Reichstag) was elected using proportional representation. It is the fairest way of democracy as a certain amount of votes had equalled one seat. This was in my opinion, pure democracy BUT it carries a lot of weakness. The main one was the fact that not a single party is able to gain a majority in the Reichstag meaning coalition parties had to be created. This led to an unstable government that is unable to actually make any decisions due to the variation of parties in the Reichstag.

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ARTICLE 48

To combat proportional representation, the President of the Weimar Republic were given special control but can ONLY BE USED IN AN EMERGENCY. For example, article 48 could pass any laws and make any decisions as long as it is AN EMERGENCY. However, even though this has combated proportional representation, it had also created a dictatorship as anyone who had this type of power could abuse this power. Yes, it had to be used in an emergency BUT 'EMERGENCY' WAS NEVER EXPLAINED ENOUGH meaning any dictatorships could abuse Article 48 to get what they want which may give rise to the Nazi party.

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'NOVEMBER CRIMINALS'

Many nationalists believed that the people who had signed the Treaty of Versailles (the Weimar Republic) had stabbed Germany in the back and had the capabilities to win the war. They were branded the 'November Criminals' for signing the Treaty of Versailles as the Treaty of Versailles had left Germany destroyed as the harsh conditions had made sure Germany can never be able to be strong enough to even think of attacking the Allies. Resentment towards the Treaty of Versailles grew and this had given rise to extremist parties like the Nazi Party who had promised to get rid of and undo the Treaty of Versailles.

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