One of the major struggles the German Nation had to over
come in recent years was the devastation after World War I. While the country
had lost many lives, had destroyed cities, and lacked supplies, they were ordered
to pay reparations to the Allied Forces. The Treaty of Versailles had a lasting
and devastating impact on the German economy. While the German people where
frustrated with the Allied forces and their financial woes, they were able to
flourish in the arts and sciences.
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| The Treaty of Versailles, viewed by the German people as the "dictate of Versailes" (204). |
After World
War I, Germany was left with “three different factions vying for power” (198).
Remainders of the old state, the army and bureaucracy, and moderate forces of
the “Reichstag majority” where hoping to establish a new German government. The
moderate forces of the “Social Democrats and the more left-wing Social
Democrats (USPD)” won the power struggle (200-1). In order to draft a
constitution for the new assembly, for the first time “both men and women were
brought the polls” (202). The progressive move of allowing women to vote
recognized that women were responsible for keeping the industrial productions,
civil administration and transportation system alive during the war. Therefore,
they could not deny women that equal right to vote for the new
constitution. This election resulted in
the “first democratically elected national government” with a large foundation
of support. I find it interesting that during a time of crisis, the forming
German government saw the importance of granting women the right to vote. I
think that the Weimar republic was created by a true democracy because the formation
of the constitution included the votes of women.
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| German women voting in 1919. |
When the Allied Forces announced their conditions,
the “German reaction was almost universal opposition to the term” (203) The
German people felt that the demilitarization and the reparations demanded were
unjust and would leave the nation defenseless and bankrupt. The German
government tried to demand lighter and fairer conditions of a peace treaty, yet
they failed to change the minds of the allies who threatened to cut off the
nations necessary supplies. The inability of the German government to
renegotiate with the Allied forces accounted for the “dwindling respect
accorded it by the population and thus also the undermining of the republic’s
legitimacy” (208).
With a weak government and large
sums to pay to the Allied forces, the government resorted to disastrous
economic policy to pay off their debts. The government began printing money to
pay off the deficit, which sent the government into a period of enormous
inflation. A 2-pound loaf of bread which cost 2.80 marks in December of 1919,
cost 399 billion marks in December of 1923 (212). This caused the collapse of
the economy and forced the citizen to resort to a barter system of exchanging
good and services. The country was also left with stagnating productivity and
unemployment. Though the implementation of the 8-hour workday was a progressive
social policy of the Weimar Republic, it caused a decrease in overall
production of the country. The German nations inability to lower cost of wages
lead to an increase in foreign competition and a “reduced companies willingness
to invest” in German workers. In order to battle inflation, the government also
decreased government spending which lead to greater unemployment. This failure
of economic policy lead to the people seeing the government of Germany as weak
and unsuccessful and left them susceptible to the revolutionary and radical
ideas of Adolf Hitler.
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| Piles of bank notes waiting to be given out during the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic. |
Though the people of German dealt
with a failed economy and a radically changing government, they experienced a
growth in culture and scientific development. I find it extremely compelling
that Erwin Schrodinger developed quantum mechanism in the Weimar Republic.
Quantum mechanics in the foundation of modern physics and is one the most
important and paradigm challenging theories of physics. Germany can identify itself
as one of the pioneers of modern physics and a major influence in changing the
way physicists gather information about electrons.
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| Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) who developed the wave-equation which can be solved to find information about electrons in atom. |
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