Editing History of Germany (section)

===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>