The Violence Of The Early Weimar Years

It is vital to understand that the new Republic and its constitution was formed amidst a backdrop of political and economic problems. But perhaps more immediate was the problem of political violence. Here are 3 examples of problems the Republic was facing:

1. There was a lot of violence in broad daylight. In March 1919 1,000 people were killed in street fighting between rival political factions in Berlin alone.

2. In April 1919 in Bavaria (southern Germany) a communist uprising had taken control and declared it to be a separate country: The Bavarian Soviet Republic, in essence splitting off entirely from Germany and making itself a dependent state of Russia. The new Bavarian Soviet Republic intended to implement communist political and economic doctrine. Though it was quickly crushed by troops loyal to the new Republic, it gives you some idea of the chaos Germany was in. This matters because it was clear, right from the outset, that there was a vocal minority of people on both the left (communists) and the right (Nazis, Freikorps) who despised everything the new Republic stood for, but it should be stressed that at this stage, they were a distinct, if noisy minority.

3. A year later in March and April 1920, another communist led uprising occurred in the Ruhr industrial region. A so called Red Ruhr Army of 50,000 communist workers rebelled against the government demanding changes to working conditions and a greater role in creating economic policy. Over 1,000 communist workers were killed in the violence, which was eventually suppressed by the army.

So the key point to takeaway: the new Weimar Republic was born amidst a backdrop of constant violence on the streets between rival political factions + real economic hardship for ordinary people (inflation, lack of food and goods, unemployment) as a result of the war.