1. Mnemonic Learning I
Problems of the Weimar
Republic
Weimar Germany

2. CROAPOP
 C – Communists
 R – Right wing parties
 O – Officials
 A - Army
 P - Printing money
 O – Occupation of the Rhur
 P – Proportional Representation

3. C – Communists
 Communist movements were a big problem in Germany.
 In Jan 1919 Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by the
Communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.
 The Weimar government was forced to make a deal with
the Freikorps (private armies) to deal with the uprising.
R – Right wing parties
 March 1920, Kapp Putsch. Right-wing rebellion. The army
refused to attack him; he was only defeated when the workers of
Berlin went on strike.
 In 1923 Hitler and his Nazi party attempted to seize control in
Munich (Beer hall Putsch) fortunately for Weimar republic the
police did not support the uprising.

4. O - Officials
 Many government officials – especially judges – were right-wing
and wanted to destroy the government.
 After the Kapp Putsch, 700 rebels were tried for treason; only 1
went to prison.
 After the Munich Putsch, Hitler went to prison for only 9 months.
A - Army
 The Army, led by the right-wing General Hans von
Seeckt, was not fully under the government’s control.
 It failed to support government during the Kapp Putsch
or the crisis of 1923.

5. P – Proportional representation
 The system of proportional voting led to 28 parties. This made it
virtually impossible to establish a majority in the Reichstag, and led to
frequent changes in the government.
 During 1919-33, there were twenty separate coalition governments and
the longest government lasted only two years.
 This political chaos caused many to lose faith in the new democratic
system.
O – Occupation of the Rhur
 The cause of the trouble was Reparations – the government paid them
by printing more money, causing inflation.
 In January 1923, Germany failed to make a payment, and France
invaded the Ruhr.
 This humiliated the government, which ordered a general strike, and
paid the strikers by printing more money, causing hyperinflation.

6. P – Printing Money
 Hyperinflation probably happened because the Weimar government
printed banknotes to pay reparations and the Ruhr strikers.
 Because these banknotes were not matched by Germany's production,
their value fell. Prices spiralled out of control and people with savings
and fixed incomes lost everything.
 Anger at foreigners, and at the rich profiteers who made their fortunes
from the hyperinflation, added to the support of extreme political parties
such as the fascists and the communists.
REMEMBER –
CROAPOP
The Problems facing Weimar Germany