Describe the problems faced by the Weimar Republic.

Germany lost the First World War in November 1918. The defeat of Imperial Germany and the abdication of emperor gave an opportunity to parliamentary parties to recast German polity. A National Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure. Deputies were now elected to the German Parliament, on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults including women.

The republic, however, was not received well by its own people largely because of terms it was forced to accept after Germany’s defeat at the end of the First World War. The peace treaty at Versailles with the Allies was a harsh and humiliating peace. Germany lost its overseas colonies, a tenth of its population, 13 percent of its territories, 75 percent of its iron and 26 percent of its coal to France, Poland, Denmark and Lithuania. The Allied Powers demilitarized Germany to weaken its power. The Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war and the damages the Allied countries suffered. Germany was forced to pay compensation amounting to £ 6 billion. The Allied armies also occupied the resources rich Rhineland for much of the 1920s. Many Germans held the new Weimar Republic responsible for not only the defeat in the war, but the disgrace at Versailles.