Germany in transition 1919 to 1991: the Weimar Republic, the rise and rule of the Nazis, occupation and division, and the path to reunification.

What this dot point is asking

This WJEC period study asks you to explain change and continuity across more than seventy years of German history, from the founding of the Weimar Republic in 1919 to reunification in 1991. You need a confident command of the long sweep (democracy, dictatorship, division and renewal) and the synoptic skill of weighing what changed against what stayed the same.

The answer

The Weimar Republic, 1919 to 1933

• Early crises (1919 to 1923). The Spartacist rising (1919), the Kapp Putsch (1920), the French occupation of the Ruhr and the 1923 hyperinflation (when the mark collapsed to billions to the dollar) nearly destroyed the Republic.
• Stresemann era (1924 to 1929). The Dawes Plan (1924), the Locarno treaties (1925) and entry to the League of Nations (1926) brought relative stability and cultural flowering, but dependence on American loans was a hidden weakness.
• Collapse (1929 to 1933). The Wall Street Crash and Depression brought mass unemployment (six million by 1932), presidential government by decree, and the rise of the Nazi vote (the largest party from July 1932), ending in Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933.

The Nazi dictatorship, 1933 to 1945

The Nazis moved quickly from chancellorship to total power. The Reichstag Fire Decree (February 1933), the Enabling Act (March 1933) and the Night of the Long Knives (June 1934) destroyed opposition and merged party and state. The regime pursued rearmament, autarky and territorial expansion, and persecuted Jews and other groups, culminating in the Holocaust. Defeat in 1945 ended the Third Reich amid total devastation.

Occupation and division, 1945 to 1961

West Germany experienced an "economic miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder) under Adenauer and Erhard, while the GDR built a one-party socialist state under Soviet influence, sealing its borders in 1961 to stop the haemorrhage of emigration through Berlin.

Reunification, 1989 to 1991

The collapse of the Soviet bloc, Gorbachev's reforms and mass protest in the GDR led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Rapid negotiation (the Two Plus Four talks) produced reunification on 3 October 1990, with the political and economic integration of the two states continuing into 1991.

Examples in context

Model paragraph (was Weimar doomed?). The Republic was not doomed from birth, though it was gravely handicapped. The handicaps were real: Versailles and the "stab in the back" myth poisoned its legitimacy, proportional representation fragmented the Reichstag, and Article 48 offered a constitutional escape from parliamentary rule. Yet the Stresemann years (1924 to 1929) demonstrate that recovery was possible; the currency was stabilised, the Dawes and Young Plans eased reparations, Locarno restored Germany to the European concert, and the extremist vote shrank, with the Nazis winning only 2.6 per cent in 1928. What destroyed Weimar was the contingent shock of the Depression after 1929, which revived mass unemployment and extremism, combined with the fatal miscalculations of Hindenburg and von Papen who handed Hitler the chancellorship in January 1933. The Republic is therefore best judged as weakened but viable, destroyed by later crisis and human agency rather than condemned from 1919.

Try this

Q1. Name two structural weaknesses of the Weimar constitution. [2 marks]

• Cue. Proportional representation produced unstable coalitions; Article 48 allowed rule by decree.

Q2. When and how was Germany reunified? [2 marks]

• Cue. On 3 October 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the GDR.

Q3. To what extent was the Weimar Republic doomed from its creation? [20 marks]

• What the marker wants. A judgement weighing the early handicaps against the Stresemann recovery and the later crisis of 1929 to 1933, with dated evidence.