Lesson video

Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name is Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

Over the next few lessons, we'll be thinking about our big inquiry question, how did war impact Germany? This is the question we will use to investigate what the conditions were like in Germany after the war.

In 1914, Germany stood as a formidable power, modern, industrialised, and led by the commanding Kaiser Wilhelm II, but the First World War brought the nation to its knees.

By 1918, years of brutal conflict, severe hardships and a crippling naval blockade had pushed the German people to the brink.

Starved and weary, they witnessed the unthinkable, their once mighty emperor abdicated and the imperial regime crumbled.

On the 9th of November, 1918, people woke up to this shocking news, followed by the declaration of a new regime, the Weimar Republic.

Two days later, the First World War guns fell silent as the new Weimar leadership signed an armistice which ended the war.

Germany was at peace, but their new leaders held a fragile power and would have to tread carefully to prevent the country from descending into chaos.

It was in this context that German politicians set about deciding how Germany would be ruled and governed.

Would the Weimar democracy survive? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic's constitution.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords that we need to understand.

Proportional representation is a political system in which parties are represented in Parliament according to the number of people who voted for them.

A constitution is a set of laws on how a country is run or governed.

And a coalition is the joining together of different political parties in order to achieve a majority and form a government.

And to be moderate or a moderate is a person whose opinions are not extreme and are therefore acceptable to a large number of people.

Today's lesson is split up into three parts.

We'll first look at the birth of democracy in Germany under the Weimar Republic.

We're looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar constitution, which they wrote up to govern their country.

And finally looking at the balancing act which the Weimar Republic had to manage to keep different groups happy within Germany.

Okay, let's start the lesson with the democratic birth of the Weimar Republic.

In November 1918, Germany teetered on the brink of chaos.

Kaiser Wilhelm II had abdicated and the once mighty German empire lay shattered, humiliated by the defeat in the First World War.

In its place emerged a fragile republic, born amidst revolution and uncertainty.

The photo on the left shows the exact moment that a politician declared that Germany would become a republic from a balcony of the Reichstag building.

And I think this shows us the rather slapdash or hurried way that things were happening with the new republic announced hastily from a balcony to a clamouring crowd of people.

This little ceremonial preparation, Germany leaps from monarchy to democracy with a rushed proclamation.

And this is very symbolic of the fragile and uncertain times that Germany now faces.

It was here in the shadow of collapse that Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party, the SPD, undertook the monumental task of building a new democratic Germany.

A Germany without the Kaiser, led not by generals or aristocrats, but by elected representatives.

Yet even as Ebert and his allies crafted a constitution they hoped would secure stability, the challenges of governing a divided and wounded nation loomed large.

In other words, Ebert and his fellow politicians were trying to create a set of laws on how Germany would now be ruled in a way that would unite Germany again.

The new republic wanted to create an effective democratic system to govern the country, which would also grant new freedoms to the people.

They planned for a constitution in which everyone over the age of 20 could vote, men and women alike.

This was a groundbreaking step for a nation accustomed to entrusting the rule of the country to the Kaiser.

And we get a flavour of this from the magazine cover on the left, which is showing Germans how to vote.

And on the cover we can also see that men and women alike could vote, which is one of the radical changes that had been introduced to Germany.

So what this image reveals to us is that so novel or so new and unusual was the concept of democracy in Germany that citizens had to be guided through the voting process with detailed instructions.

And this really underscores the unprecedented nature of the new political era that the Weimar Republic had introduced.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Complete the following sentence with the correct missing word.

Pause the video, choose your correct missing word, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Let's see how the sentence should have read.

The Weimar constitution allowed all adults over the age of 20 to vote, including women.

Okay, let's continue the story.

In January 1919, Germans headed to the polls to place their vote in the first truly democratic elections of their history.

Germans were voting for the people who would officially write their new constitution.

The result revealed a fractured political landscape with no single party commanding a majority.

Let's have a look at the diagram on the left.

It shows the seats won after the January 1919 election.

And we can see all the different coloured dots which represented the multiple parties in the Reichstag.

And we can imagine what it would be like to be standing in Parliament whilst all these parties tried to agree on how to run the country, it could get quite chaotic.

So what had happened? The Weimar Republic's democratic system included something called proportional representation, and this was a political system in which parties are represented in Parliament according to the number of people who voted for them.

The benefits of this is that it ensured that all political views, no matter how small, would have their voice heard in the Reichstag.

However, the downside is having so many parties with different views, making it impossible to agree on any laws.

To help us understand proportional representation a little better, we can have a look at the system in the UK, which is quite different from this.

So in the UK general elections, they don't use proportional representation, they use a system called first past the post.

And politicians compete to win their individual area, and the winner takes all.

The winner gets the seat in Parliament, meaning your vote only counts if you back the winning politician in your area.

If your politician loses, your vote is effectively wasted as your politician will not go to Parliament.

So if you were from a minority or held a view that was not popular in the mainstream, or if you wanted to vote for a politician who came from a smaller party, it is likely your politician or party will not get elected to Parliament.

The upside of the UK system though is that you often get a clear winner and a party with a commanding majority in Parliament, which enables Parliament to be more decisive as there aren't lots of competing parties and views as it happened in the Reichstag after the 1919 election.

Because with proportional representation in Weimar Germany, every vote contributed to the overall outcome.

People voted for a party and not an individual politician, and all of the votes were counted up across the country, and then each party's share of the vote determined their share of the seats in the Reichstag.

For example, if a particular party got only 5% of the national vote, they were still awarded approximately 5% of seats in the Reichstag.

So that's great for getting smaller parties in, but it often means there is no clear winner of the election.

In the 1919 German elections then, multiple moderate parties gained seats and the Social Democratic Party, the SPD, became the largest party in the Reichstag.

And if we have a look at the diagram, the SPD are the red dots on the left.

So we can see that the red dots don't have a majority in the Parliament, but they are the largest party.

So what this means is that the SPD did not have enough support to form a government on their own.

They needed to recruit the help of other parties so that they could gain a majority in the Reichstag.

So the SPD joined forces with the other moderate parties, the Catholic Centre Party, the black dots on the diagram, and the German Democratic Party, the gold dots in the middle of the diagram.

So by these three parties joining together, they formed what's called a coalition.

They joined together in order to achieve a majority and form a government.

And as long as they could agree amongst the three of them, they could effectively govern the country.

This three-party coalition met in a small town called Weimar, and their goal was to draught a constitution that would define the new republic, hence it became known as the Weimar Republic.

Weimar was chosen as the site for this historic meeting instead of Berlin, which was the traditional place of government, because Berlin was in turmoil at the time with strikes, protests and the threat of violence uprisings.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Why was the inclusion of proportional representation significant in the new Weimar constitution? Was it A, it excluded extreme political parties from gaining power, B, it ensured all political views could be represented, C, it guaranteed a single party majority in government? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was that proportional representation ensured all political views could be represented.

Okay, let's have another check.

What were two consequences of the January 1919 elections in Germany? A, communists won the majority of seats in the Reichstag, B, the German Democratic party won a majority, C, the SPD became the largest party in the Reichstag, D, the SPD needed to form a coalition to command a majority? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that the two consequences of election were that the SPD became the largest party in the Reichstag and D, the SPD needed to form a coalition to command a majority.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to Task A.

What I want you to do here is describe two features of the Weimar constitution that aimed to ensure democracy in Germany? So once you know which two features you want to concentrate on, I want you to use your knowledge from the lesson so far to add some additional detail to those features, a brief sentence or two describing the feature of the constitution and the way it's aimed to ensure democracy in Germany.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done by having a go at that task.

There's many ways that you could have answered that question.

You might have different features from the ones that I have here.

However, your answer may have included the following.

So the first feature of the Weimar constitution that you may have chosen was proportional representation.

And the additional details that you could have come up with for that feature is that this system ensured that all political parties, no matter how small, could have representation in the Reichstag.

It reflected the desire for a democratic system where diverse views were heard.

Alternatively, you might have mentioned democratic feature that the constitution included voting rights for all adults over 20, including women.

And this extended political participation to a larger segment of the population than ever before, marking a significant shift from the rule under the Kaiser.

Okay, great, let's move on to the second part of the lesson, strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar constitution.

The Weimar constitution introduced a system of checks and balances, dividing power and authority between the president, the chancellor, and the Reichstag.

At its heart, the aim of the constitution was to guarantee democracy and prevent the abuses of power that had characterised the imperial system under the Kaiser.

So let's see how the constitution achieved its goal of dividing power, and I'll create a diagram on the left here to illustrate that.

So at the top of the diagram here we have the president, and the president held significant power, serving as head of state and commander of the Armed Forces.

The president carried considerable legitimacy as he was elected directly by the people.

So this gives the president a sense of rightful power and credibility, but the constitution stipulated that the president mainly stayed out of the detailed running of the country, and instead the president appointed the chancellor.

The chancellor is a similar role to the prime minister in Britain.

So since the president stayed out at the detailed running of the country, the chancellor was responsible for conducting the day-to-day governing of Germany.

So we can see our first division of power there between the president and the chancellor.

But in turn, the chancellor required the support of at least half of the Reichstag, German Parliament.

And we can see another division of power that the Weimar constitution is stipulating.

And this is important because this means that the chancellor needed the support of the Reichstag in order to pass any new laws.

And of course, the real power within a democracy lies with the people who elected the Reichstag and the president.

This division of power between the president, the chancellor and the Reichstag was meant to ensure stability and accountability, system of checks and balances so that no one person or group became too powerful or could act without someone else to balance or check their actions.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What did the division of power between the president, chancellor and Reichstag aim to achieve? A, a government with faster decision-making in times of crisis, B, a government with no need for checks and balances, C, a system that prevented any single person or group from becoming too powerful, or D, complete control by the president over all branches of government.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that the aim of the division of power was to create a system that prevented any single person or group from becoming too powerful.

Okay, let's continue the story.

The republic knew that this division of power in government often caused disagreements and delays during crises, with the president, the chancellor and the Reichstag potentially disagreeing over a particular course of action.

Because the power had been divided to avoid an all-powerful leader, like they had had with the Kaiser, there was now no one person or group which had enough power to drive through decisions in a disagreement.

The republic wanted to avoid this as Germany faced turbulence and unstable conditions following the First World War, meaning that decisions and actions needed to happen.

Therefore, the constitution included a provision known as Article 48.

Article 48 provided that's in a crisis, the presidents had emergency powers to directly rule the country without having to consult the Reichstag.

This enabled the country to respond swiftly to emergencies, and many people appreciated this type of decisive leadership as they were accustomed to strong centralised authority under the Kaiser.

This was seen as a safer option when compared to democratic ideas.

Therefore, to overcome delays in government, the president often had to step in with the emergency powers of Article 48.

However, whilst Article 48 was intended as a safeguard against crises, it created the risk of misuse.

In the hands of an all-powerful leader, Article 48 could become a tool for enforcing strict control and overriding the freedoms and democracy that the constitution aimed to achieve.

Okay, let's have a check.

What I want you to do here is complete the sentence with the correct missing word.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's see how that sentence should have read.

Article 48 was a clause giving the president emergency powers to rule without consulting the Reichstag.

Okay, let's have another check.

Why was Article 48 introduced in the Weimar constitution? A, to allow the Reichstag to pass laws more quickly and democratically, B, to limit the power of smaller political parties in a coalition, or C, to overcome delays caused by the division of power in government? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was that Article 48 was introduced in the Weimar constitution to overcome delays caused by the division of power in government.

So we see now how Article 48 can be considered a weakness of the Weimar constitution, and the system of proportional representation can also be seen as a weakness as it had unintended consequences.

Allocating seats based on the percentage of votes received meant that many small parties gained seats in parliament.

This caused fragmentation in the Reichstag and made forming stable governments exceedingly difficult because no single party had a majority.

Therefore, the agreement of multiple political parties was needed to pass laws, and these coalitions were often made up of people with competing agendas and conflicting views.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was one major challenge of the proportional representation system? A, it caused fragmented coalitions and unstable governments, B, it excluded smaller political parties, or C, it made voting mandatory for all citizens? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew it was A, proportional representation could cause fragmented coalitions and unstable governments.

Okay, great, let's move on to Task B.

What I want you to do here is working with your partner, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar constitution.

So you can hold this as a discussion or you can write your thoughts down on a piece of paper.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great, well done for having a go at that task.

But there's many things that you may have discussed or written down, but you may have discussed the following strengths.

So the constitution was democratic, giving voting rights to all adults over 20, which was very progressive for its time, and Germans could also vote for who they wanted to be their president.

And another strength that could be considered was proportional representation because this system ensured that all political opinions, even minority ones, were represented in the Reichstag, making the system more inclusive than previous governments.

And another strength that you might have discussed was checks and balances.

The power was divided between the president, chancellor and Reichstag, preventing any one individual or group from gaining unchecked control.

And that a chancellor required the support of at least half of the Reichstag to pass any new laws.

And if we move on to the weaknesses, we could also see that proportion representation as well as being a strength was also a bit of a weakness to the constitution.

And this was because it caused fragmented governments as no party could achieve a majority, and coalitions had to be made in order to pass laws.

And then finally, to overcome delays in government, the president often had to step in with the emergency powers of Article 48, and this created the risk of authoritarian rule, undermining the democratic principles of the constitution.

Article 48 kind of made the claimed democracy that the Weimar Republic was saying it wanted to be a bit silly because with the president using Article 48, people wondered, "Isn't that exactly what the Kaiser used to do? Wouldn't it be better to just return a system of government that was similar to a monarchy?" Which they had under the Kaiser.

Okay, great, let's move on to the final part of the lesson, a balancing act.

In February 1919, Friedrich Ebert was elected Germany's first president and faced a delicate balancing act.

Though his position carried significant prestige and importance, he had far from absolute or total power.

The Reichstag was divided with no single party commanding majority.

He had built a fragile coalition which reflected the spirit of compromise.

However, the coalition partners differed in ideology and priorities, and maintaining unity within his coalition would prove an ongoing struggle.

As the constitution took shape, Ebert faced a delicate balancing act.

He was a moderate by nature, meaning on many issues he was on the fence or in the middle, and he was willing to find a middle way between two opposing viewpoints.

Therefore, Ebert sought to bridge the gap between those who wanted radical change and those who wanted to conserve Germany's traditional system of government.

As you can imagine, this is quite a tricky balancing act because to conserve something and to change something are two completely opposing actions.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

I want you to complete this sentence with the correct missing word.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct sentence read Friedrich Ebert was elected president of Germany in February 1919.

Okay, let's have another check.

Who did Friedrich Ebert need to bridge the gap between after becoming president in 1919? A, military leaders wanting to sign an armistice and business owners needing stability, B, the Reichstag which had been over decisive and the Chancellor who wanted more discussion, or C, those seeking radical change and those wanting to conserve Germany's traditional system? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew that Ebert needed to bridge the gap between those seeking radical change and those wanting to conserve Germany's traditional system.

Okay, let's continue.

So Ebert attempted his careful balancing act by retaining many of the old establishment figures, but also introduced reforms or change to improve the lives of the workers he represented.

So the photo on the left shows the Reichstag in Berlin, and let's add some labels to the Reichstag to show you the careful balancing act that Ebert and the Reichstag had to carry out.

And to keep conservative people happy, Ebert retained many figures from the old order under the Kaiser in their positions, including civil servants, judges and military officers.

He also sought the support of business owners, assuring them that the new republic would not allow those who wanted radical change, such as the communists, to destroy industries.

So in this way, Ebert is showing that he's willing to keep or conserve the traditional systems that many people appreciated, the tried and tested systems that people knew worked.

In other words, the safe and experienced people to steady the ship.

At the same time, Ebert was deeply committed to reforming Germany, to change Germany to improve the lives of the workers he represented.

For instance, he promised trade unions that he would strive to secure a maximum eight-hour working day, a landmark pledge aimed at addressing workers' demands and improving labour conditions.

Furthermore, the fact that the Kaiser had stepped down, meaning there was no monarchy that had been replaced with a democracy, represented a radical change from the traditional system of government that Germany was used to.

So in this way, Ebert was showing that he is willing to change some of the old system to bring in necessary improvements to address the criticisms of the old order and to help working people, et cetera.

However, Ebert's balancing act also faced heavy criticism and the republic faced enemies on all sides.

Communists who saw the republic as a half measure that betrayed the working class, in other words, the republic wasn't going far enough to bring in change.

And there were the conservatives who saw it as dangerous reform and longed for the return of the monarchy and the Kaiser.

And then there was the nationalists who decried the republic and their politicians as symbols of defeat after the First world War.

Overall, the Weimar constitution with its divisions and coalitions seemed weak as few decisions were made.

Many felt Germany would be better with a strong single leader like the Kaiser.

As Ebert took office, he carried the hopes of millions who yearned for a new beginning, yet the challenges ahead were daunting.

Weimar constitution with its strengths and flaws was a bold experiment in democracy, but its success depended on cooperation and the willingness to compromise.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

How did Friedrich Ebert attempt to bridge the gap between opposing groups after becoming president? A, by abolishing the military and creating a new civil service, B, by excluding conservatives and nationalists from government, or C, by retaining old establishment figures and promising reforms to workers? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done If you need the correct answer was by retaining old establishment figures and promising reforms to workers, Ebert attempted to bridge the gap between the two opposing groups.

Okay, great, let's move on to Task C.

And I've got an interpretation here for you.

The Weimar constitution created a government that was too fragmented and faced opposition on all sides.

So what I want you to do here is using your knowledge from this lesson, explain how this interpretation could be viewed as correct.

Now, obviously we know in history that interpretations differ and we can make arguments for and against this interpretation, but I want you to concentrate on how this interpretation could be viewed as correct.

And I want you to consider using these terms in your answer: law-making, Article 48, and pleased neither extreme.

So use all the knowledge you've gained from today's lesson to provide me with a nice detailed answer packed full of knowledge and explanation as to how the Weimar constitution created a government that could be considered too fragmented.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done for having a go at that task.

There's many ways that you could have answered that question, but compare your answer with the one I have here.

"After Ebert became president in 1919, his power was limited by a divided Reichstag, where no party held a majority.

To govern, he built a fragile coalition of moderate parties with differing ideologies and priorities.

This constant need for compromise slowed law-making.

During times of crisis, the President often used Article 48 to bypass the Reichstag and rule by decree.

These structural weaknesses made the constitution look weak with few decisions being made.

Many felt Germany would be better with a strong single leader like the Kaiser.

Furthermore, Ebert's balancing act alienated many groups.

While he retained old establishment figures and promised reforms for workers, these efforts pleased neither extreme: communists felt betrayed, conservatives longed for a monarchy, and nationalists resented the republic as a symbol of defeat." Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson, The Weimar Republic.

Weimar constitution introduced democratic advancements, including proportional representation, to ensure diverse political voices and voting rights for all adults over 20.

Power was divided between the president, chancellor and Reichstag to prevent authoritarian rule.

However, structural weaknesses emerged: proportional representation caused fragmented coalitions and Article 48, while useful in crises, risked misuse by bypassing the Reichstag.

The republic faced opposition from communists, conservatives and nationalists, all dissatisfied for different reasons.

Ebert's moderate balancing act alienated many groups, and slow decision-making made the government appear weak, leading some to prefer a strong, centralised leader like the Kaiser.

Well done on a brilliant lesson, and thank you for joining me as we uncovered the story of the birth of the Weimar democracy and their attempts to hastily construct a working constitution in the midst of turmoil.

I'll see you next time when we continue our inquiry.

See you in the next lesson.