Editing History of Germany (section)

==Weimar Republic, 1918–1933==
{{Main|Weimar Republic}}

=== Overview ===
Under the peace terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], Germany's first democracy began its fourteen-year life facing territorial losses, [[World War I reparations|reparations to the victors]] of World War I and stringent limitations on its military. Political violence from those on the Right who wanted a return to the monarchy and those on the Left who wanted a soviet-style regime repeatedly threatened the moderate socialist government through 1923. Ongoing issues with state finances, impacted by war debt and the funding of striking workers in the Ruhr, fuelled the [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation of 1923]] that impoverished many Germans and left them bitter enemies of the Republic. A period of relative political and economic stability that lasted until the onset of the [[Great Depression]] in 1929 was followed by the rapid growth of parties on the extremes – the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communists]] on the Left and the [[Nazism|Nazis]] on the Right – that left the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] (parliament) all but unable to function. In quick succession, four [[Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)|chancellors]] tried and failed to govern by decree before [[President Hindenburg]] named [[Adolf Hitler]] chancellor in 1933. In only a few months he had turned the Republic into a Nazi dictatorship.

=== Treaty of Versailles ===
{{Main|Treaty of Versailles}}[[File:Karte des Deutschen Reiches, Weimarer Republik-Drittes Reich 1919–1937.svg|thumb|right|Germany 1920–1938]]The [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]] ended the fighting in World War I, and on 28 June 1919 Germany reluctantly signed the peace terms laid out in the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Germany had to renounce sovereignty over its colonies<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part IV#Article 118}}</ref> and in Europe lost 65,000 km<sup>2</sup> (25,000 sq mi) or about 13% of its former territory – including 48% of its iron and 10% of its coal resources – along with 7 million people, or 12% of its population.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Aaron |date=21 June 2022 |title=Approximate German territorial losses, and related loss of resources, following the Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086370/territorial-resource-loss-treaty-of-versailles/ |access-date=2 December 2024 |website=statista}}</ref> Allied troops [[Occupation of the Rhineland|occupied the Rhineland]], and it along with an area stretching 50 kilometres east of the Rhine were demilitarized.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part III#Section III. Left Bank of the Rhine}}</ref> The German army was limited to no more than 100,000 men with 4,000 officers and no general staff; the navy could have at most 15,000 men and 1,500 officers. Germany was prohibited from having an air force, submarines or [[dreadnoughts]]. A large number of its ships and all of its air-related armaments were to be surrendered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Treaty of Versailles |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Treaty-of-Versailles |access-date=2 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part V}}</ref> The most contentious article of the treaty, the so-called [[War Guilt Clause]] (Article 231), stated that Germany accepted responsibility for the loss and damage from the war caused to the Allies, and therefore had to pay reparations for the damage caused to the Allied Powers.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Treaty of Versailles/Part VIII#Section I. General Provisions}}</ref>

The treaty was reviled as a dictated rather than a negotiated peace. [[Philipp Scheidemann]], the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic]] minister president of Germany, said to the [[Weimar National Assembly]] on 12 May 1919, "What hand should not wither that puts this fetter on itself and on us?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philipp Scheidemann gegen die Annahme des Versailler Vertrages (12. Mai 1919) |trans-title=Philipp Scheidemann Against Accepting the Versailles Treaty (12 May 1919) |url=https://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/deu/WR_SCHEIDEMANN_GERa.pdf |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=Deutsche Geschichte in Dokumente und Bildern |page=3 |language=de}}</ref>

===The early years===
[[File:Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg|thumb|''Flag of the Weimar Republic 1919–1933'']]The [[Weimar Constitution]] established a federal [[semi-presidential republic]] with a [[Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)|chancellor]] dependent on the confidence of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] (parliament), a strong president who had considerable [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|powers to govern by decree]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Leyser |first1=K.J. |last2=Wallace-Hadrill |first2=John Michael |date=2 December 2024 |title=The Weimar Constitution |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Weimar-constitution |access-date=3 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> and a substantial set of individual rights.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Weimar_constitution#Chapter_II:_Fundamental_Rights_and_Duties_of_Germans}}</ref> The Social Democrat [[Friedrich Ebert]] was the Republic's first president.

The Left accused the Social Democrats of betraying the ideals of the labour movement because of their alliance with the old elites in the military and administration, and the Right [[Stab-in-the-back myth|held the supporters of the Republic responsible]] for Germany's defeat in the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World War I: Aftermath – The Undermining of Democracy in Germany |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-i-aftermath?series=20 |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> In early 1920, the right-wing [[Kapp Putsch]], backed by units of the paramilitary [[Freikorps]], briefly took control of the government in Berlin, but the putsch quickly collapsed due to a general strike and passive resistance by civil servants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kapp Putsch |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Kapp-Putsch |access-date=4 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In the putsch's wake, workers in the industrial [[Ruhr district]], where dissatisfaction with the lack of nationalisation of key industries was particularly high, rose up and attempted to take control of the region. [[Reichswehr]] and Freikorps units suppressed the [[Ruhr uprising]] with the loss of over 1,000 lives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wulfert |first=Anja |date=22 January 2002 |title=Der Märzaufstand 1920 |trans-title=The March Uprising 1920 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/maerzaufstand-1920.html |access-date=4 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> The unstable political conditions of the period were reflected in the [[1920 German federal election|Reichstag election of 1920]], in which the centre-left [[Weimar Coalition]], which until then had held a three-quarters majority, lost 125 seats to parties on both the Left and Right.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Deutsche Reich: Reichstagswahl 1920/22 |trans-title=The German Reich: Reichstag Elections 1920/22 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT1.html |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref>

Political violence continued at a high level through 1923. A [[Organisation Consul|right-wing extremist group]] assassinated former finance minister [[Matthias Erzberger]] in August 1921 and [[Walther Rathenau]], the Jewish foreign minister, in June 1922.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sabrow |first=Martin |date=8 February 2010 |title=Organisation Consul (O.C.), 1920–1922 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Organisation_Consul_(O.C.),_1920-1922 |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref> 1923 saw the communist-led takeover attempt known as the [[German October]], the right-wing [[Küstrin Putsch]] and [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Beer Hall Putsch]].

Germany was the first state to establish diplomatic relations with the new [[Soviet Union]] in the 1922 [[Treaty of Rapallo, 1922|Treaty of Rapallo]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 April 2023 |title=Treaty of Rapallo |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Rapallo |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In October 1925, Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Italy signed the [[Treaty of Locarno]], which recognised Germany's borders with France and Belgium but left its eastern borders open to negotiations. The treaty paved the way for Germany's admission to the [[League of Nations]] in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 November 2022 |title=Pact of Locarno |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Pact-of-Locarno |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

In May 1921 the Allied Powers set Germany's reparations liability under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles at 132 billion Reichsmarks, to be paid either in gold or commodities such as iron, steel and coal.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019">{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=24 September 2019 |title=War reparations and Weimar Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/reparations/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> After a series of German defaults, French and Belgian troops [[Occupation of the Ruhr|occupied the Ruhr]] in January 1923. The German government responded with a policy of passive resistance. It underwrote the costs of idled factories and mines and paid the workers who were on strike. Unable to meet the enormous costs by any other means, it resorted to printing money. Along with the debts the state had incurred during the war, it was one of the major causes of the 1923 peak in [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|Germany's post-war hyperinflation]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=25 September 2019 |title=The Ruhr Occupation |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/ruhr-occupation/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> The passive resistance was called off in September 1923, and the occupation ended in August 1925, following an agreement (the [[Dawes Plan]]) to restructure Germany's reparations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDougall |first=Walter A. |date=6 September 2024 |title=Allied politics and reparations |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/20th-century-international-relations-2085155/Allied-politics-and-reparations |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> In November 1923 the government introduced a new currency, the [[German rentenmark|Rentenmark]] (later the [[German reichsmark|Reichsmark]]). Together with other measures, it quickly stopped the hyperinflation, but many Germans who lost their life savings became bitter enemies of the Weimar Republic and supporters of the anti-democratic Right.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Latella |first=Luisa |date=7 December 2023 |title=Hyperinflation Weimar |url=https://americangerman.institute/2023/12/hyperinflation-weimar/ |access-date=6 December 2024 |publisher=American-German Institute}}</ref> During the following six years the economic situation improved. In 1928 Germany's industrial production surpassed the pre-war level of 1913.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The recovery of the Republic, 1924–29 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9y64j6/revision/6 |access-date=6 December 2024 |publisher=BBC Bitesize}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C06886, Paul v. Hindenburg.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Paul von Hindenburg]], German president 1925–1934]]
In 1925, following the death in office of President Ebert, conservative Field Marshal [[Paul von Hindenburg]] was [[1925 German presidential election|elected]] to replace him. His presidency, coming after a campaign that emphasised nationalism and Hindenburg's ties to the fallen German Empire, was the beginning of a significant shift to the right in German politics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inauguration of Paul von Hindenburg as President of Germany |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/before-1933/inauguration-of-paul-von-hindenburg-as-president-of-germany-1 |access-date=8 December 2024 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref>

===Economic collapse and end of the Republic, 1929–1933===
The [[Wall Street crash of 1929]] marked the beginning of the worldwide [[Great Depression]], which hit Germany as hard as any nation. In 1931 several [[European banking crisis of 1931|major banks failed]], and by early 1932 the number of unemployed had soared to more than six million.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dimsdale |first1=Nicholas H. |last2=Horsewood |first2=Nicholas |last3=Van Riel |first3=Arthur |date=September 2006 |title=Unemployment in Interwar Germany: An Analysis of the Labor Market, 1927&ndash;1936 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/216448809 |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=66 |issue=3 |page=778 |id={{ProQuest|216448809}} |via=ProQuest}}</ref> In the [[1930 German federal election|Reichstag election of September 1930]], the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) gained 23 seats, while the [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (NSDAP, Nazi Party), until then a minor far-right party, increased its share by 95 seats, becoming Germany's second largest party behind the Social Democrats.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagswahl 1930 |trans-title=Reichstag Election 1930 |url=https://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT5.html |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The Nazis were particularly successful among Protestants, unemployed young voters, the lower middle class in the cities and the rural population. It was weakest in Catholic areas and in large cities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard F. |url={{Google books|dcX_AwAAQBAJ|page=3|plainurl=yes}} |title=Who Voted for Hitler? |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-400-85534-6 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=3 ff}}</ref> The shift to the political extremes made the unstable coalition system by which every Weimar chancellor had governed increasingly unworkable. The last years of the Weimar Republic were marred by even more systemic political instability than previous years, and political violence increased. Four chancellors ([[Heinrich Brüning]], [[Franz von Papen]], [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and, from 30 January to 23 March 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]]) governed through [[Presidential cabinets of the Weimar Republic|presidential decree]] rather than parliamentary consultation.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> It effectively rendered the Reichstag powerless as a means of enforcing constitutional [[checks and balances]].

Hindenburg was [[1932 German presidential election|re-elected president in 1932]], out-polling Hitler by almost 6 million votes in the second round.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Deutsche Reich. Die Reichspräsidenten 1919–1934 |trans-title=The German Reich. The Reich Presidents 1919–1934 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/Praesidenten.html |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The Nazi Party became the largest party in the Reichstag following the [[July 1932 German federal election|election of July 1932]]. It received 37% of the vote, with the SPD second (22%) and the Communist KPD third at 14%. The Nazis dropped to 33% after another [[November 1932 German federal election|election four months later]], but they remained the largest party. The splintered Reichstag was still unable to form a stable coalition. On 30 January 1933, seeing no other viable option and pressured by former chancellor [[Franz von Papen]] and other conservatives, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor.{{Sfn|Evans|2003|pp=283–308}}

===Science and culture in 19th and 20th century===
{{Main|Science and technology in Germany}}
The Weimar years saw a flowering of [[German science]] and high culture, before the Nazi regime resulted in a decline in the scientific and cultural life in Germany and forced many renowned scientists and writers to flee.
German recipients dominated the [[Nobel laureates by country|Nobel prizes in science]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobel Prize |url=http://nobelprize.org |access-date=19 November 2009 |publisher=Nobelprize.org}}</ref> Germany dominated the world of physics before 1933, led by [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], [[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Otto Hahn]], [[Max Planck]] and [[Werner Heisenberg]]. Chemistry likewise was dominated by German professors and researchers at the great chemical companies such as [[BASF]] and [[Bayer]] and persons like [[Justus von Liebig]], [[Fritz Haber]] and [[Emil Fischer]]. Theoretical mathematicians [[Georg Cantor]] in the 19th century and [[David Hilbert]] in the 20th century. [[Karl Benz]], the inventor of the automobile, and [[Rudolf Diesel]] were pivotal figures of engineering, and [[Wernher von Braun]], rocket engineer. [[Ferdinand Cohn]], [[Robert Koch]] and [[Rudolph Virchow]] were three key figures in microbiology.

Among the most important German writers were [[Thomas Mann]], [[Hermann Hesse]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]]. The reactionary historian [[Oswald Spengler]] wrote ''[[The Decline of the West]]'' (1918–1923) on the inevitable decay of Western Civilization, and influenced intellectuals in Germany such as [[Martin Heidegger]], [[Max Scheler]], and the [[Frankfurt School]], as well as intellectuals around the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Joll |first=James |date=April 1985 |title=Two Prophets of the Twentieth Century: Spengler and Toynbee |journal=[[Review of International Studies]] |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.1017/s026021050011424x |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=145705005}}</ref>

After 1933, Nazi proponents of "[[Aryan physics]]", led by the Nobel Prize-winners [[Johannes Stark]] and [[Philipp Lenard]], attacked Einstein's theory of relativity as a degenerate example of Jewish materialism in the realm of science. Many scientists and humanists emigrated; Einstein moved permanently to the U.S. but some of the others returned after 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stackelberg |first=Roderick |url=https://archive.org/details/routledgecompani00stac |title=The Routledge companion to Nazi Germany |date=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/routledgecompani00stac/page/135 135] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Forced Migration and Scientific Change: Emigré German-Speaking Scientists and Scholars after 1933 |date=1996 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Mitchell G. |editor-last2=Söllner |editor-first2=Alfons}}</ref>
{{Gallery
|title= 19th and 20th century German authors, scientists and philosophers
|align=center
|width=120
|File:Hermann von Helmholtz.jpg|[[Hermann von Helmholtz]]
|File:Rudolf Virchow NLM3.jpg|[[Rudolf Virchow]]
|File:RobertKoch cropped.jpg|[[Robert Koch]]
||[[Karl Benz]]
|File:Georg Cantor2.jpg|[[Georg Cantor]]
|File:Roentgen2.jpg|[[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]]
|File:Rudolf Diesel2.jpg|[[Rudolf Diesel]]
|File:Max Planck.png|[[Max Planck]]
|File:Fritz Haber.png|[[Fritz Haber]]
|File:Thomas Mann 1937.jpg|[[Thomas Mann]]
|File:Otto Hahn 1970.jpg|[[Otto Hahn]]
|File:Einstein 1921 by F Schmutzer - restoration.jpg|[[Albert Einstein]]
|File:Heidegger 2 (1960).jpg|[[Martin Heidegger]]
|File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg|[[Bertolt Brecht]]
|File:Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg.jpg|[[Werner Heisenberg]]
}}