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The Weimar Republic came to bear for many the humiliation of World War I and the blame for all its accompanying hardships. In many ways, it never shook this association, particularly from the clauses of the Versailles Treaty that reduced the once proud German military to practically nothing and placed all blame for the war on Germany.

But, even before that government could come into being, the German navy chose in November to order a suicidal assault against the British navy in an attempt to salvage some honor. The sailors refused. A massive leftist mutiny began on November 3. On November 9, the Kaiser abdicated and fled the country. Unfortunately, this was too little, too late....

In this moment of great confusion and turmoil, the army under General Wilhelm Groener offered the Social Democratic Chancellor, Friedrich Ebert, a deal. In exchange for a guarantee not to reform the officer corps or reduce the power of the armed forces, Groener promised the support of the military in maintaining order and defending the government. ...

The basic format of the government was based around a president, a chancellor, and a parliament or Reichstag. The President was elected by a popular vote to a seven year term and held real political power, controlling the military and having the ability to call for new Reichstag elections. In a nod to conservatives afraid of too much democracy, the...

The chancellor was responsible for appointing a cabinet and running the day-to-day operations of the government. Ideally, the chancellor was to come from the majority party in the Reichstag or if no majority existed, from a coalition. The Reichstag, in turn, was also elected by a popular vote with its seats distributed proportionally. This meant wh...

However, one of the overlooked successes of the Weimar government was skillfully renegotiating and restructuring its debts and bringing the economy back under control. In fact, Article 48 was used frequently by liberal chancellors to take immediate action to stabilize the economy.

Significant increases in women's rights were another achievement of the period. The Weimar Constitution extended the right to vote to all men and women over the age of 20 in 1919 (the United States did not adopt this standard until 1920, Britain in 1928). German Jews as well experienced a period of increased social and economic freedom. Culturally,...

Weimar also produced great thinkers like Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse. German scientists won at least one Nobel Prize a year from 1918 to 1933, including a physicist named Albert Einstein.

However, the global economic downturn created by the Great Depression in America had devastating repercussions for the Weimar Republic. As the panic hit Wall Street, the US government pressed its former allies, Britain and France, to repay their war debts. Not having the money, Britain and France pressed Germany for more reparations payments, causi...

Economic hardship combined with a general distrust of the Weimar system to destabilize parliamentary politics. Majorities and even coalitions in the Reichstag were difficult to form among an increasing large number of extremist parties, left and right. Elections were held more and more frequently.