Weimar Republic , Government of Germany 1919–33, so named because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar in 1919. In its early years, the Weimar Republic was troubled by postwar economic and financial problems and political instability, but it had recovered considerably by the late 1920s. Its major political leaders included presidents Friedrich Ebert (1919–25) and Paul von Hindenburg (1925–34), as well as Gustav Stresemann, who was chancellor (1923) and foreign minister (1923–29). With the Great Depression, its political and economic collapse enabled Adolf Hitler to rise to power and become chancellor (1933), after which he suspended the Weimar constitution.
Weimar Republic Article
Weimar Republic summary
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Weimar Republic.
reparations Summary
Reparations, a levy on a defeated country forcing it to pay some of the war costs of the winning countries. Reparations were levied on the Central Powers after World War I to compensate the Allies for some of their war costs. They were meant to replace war indemnities which had been levied after
Treaty of Versailles Summary
Treaty of Versailles, peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919; it took force on January 10, 1920. A brief treatment of the Treaty of Versailles follows. For full
Germany Summary
Germany, country of north-central Europe, traversing the continent’s main physical divisions, from the outer ranges of the Alps northward across the varied landscape of the Central German Uplands and then across the North German Plain. One of Europe’s largest countries, Germany encompasses a wide
government Summary
Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not