The Weimar Constitution: The Stability Of The Weimar Republic

After the abdication of the Kaiser in 1918, Germany became a republic led by President Ebert of the SPD, with its new constitution designed to avoid a dictatorial style leadership. However, elements of the constitution such as proportional representation, the army oath, Article 48 and democracy made it difficult for the Republic to succeed.

According to the Weimar Constitution, the franchise was based on the principal of proportional representation. This meant that each party was allocated seats in the Reichstag proportionally to the number of people who had voted for them. To another extent, this implied that a lot of parties had a right of implication in governmental decisions. To this, dozens of tiny parties had a voice and no party was

He could now pass any laws without consulting the Reichstag and the only person in his way was the President. When the president died, he was able to combine the post of chancellor and president. His totalitarian regime was not far.

In the end, article 48 was significant because it weakened a system already put under numerous tensions and which lacked people 's confidence in it. It nourished the hatred people had for Weimar and helped Hitler rise and gain power. It was part of many factors, which slowly destroyed the Weimar Government and the values it defended.

It was stipulated that in the Weimar constitution, before Hitler became president, that the army had to swear an oath of loyalty to the president and republic. This meant that the army had to follow the orders appointed by the President. The Weimar’s military leadership was mostly composed of conservatives who did not support the new Republic. This was already a negative start. How could soldiers who were against the republic swear to protect it? The biggest problem of the army oath was that it let anyone who was President in direct control of the armed forces. This meant that if someone with bad intentions came to power, he had under his control, the whole military.Of course this worse-case scenario came

The Social Democrats took control and a few months later, established what would be known as the Weimar Republic. For the first time, Germany lived under a democratic government. The new constitution established let the people vote for the president. The president was in charge of exterior policies and appointed a chancellor- who needed the support of half of the Reichstag. The Reichstag and the chancellor were, on the other hand, in charge of interior policies. This shift in government and constitution was in any case, not mundane. It was, indeed, very significant because for the first time, the people could choose who their leader