Was the Spartacist uprising the most important problem faced by the Weimar Republic in the years 1919-1923? Explain your answer.

The most important problem that the Weimar Republic faced was the Kapp Putsch. This was because in this uprising the Freikorps units managed to get the Weimar government to flee showing that they had a lot of power and were undermining the Weimar Republic. However, even though this was the most important reason there were other factors that caused problems for the Weimar Republic from the years 1919-1923 including the Spartacist uprising, the French occupation of the Ruhr and the weaknesses of the Constitution. To determine which factor is the most important I will look at how successful each factor and how many problems each of them caused the Weimar Republic in regards to money and power. Although, all these factors caused problems for the Weimar Republic it was the Kapp Putsch that put pressure on the Weimar Republic and was important problem they had to face.

The Kapp Putsch was the most significant problem that the Weimar Republic faced from 1919-1923. This was due to them having a strong army subsequently putting a lot of pressure on the Weimar Republic. This was the biggest threat to the Weimar Republic as Dr. Wolfgang who was in charge of the rebellion managed to get the Weimar Republic to flee therefore putting him in power and making this rebellion a success. One of the reasons why this was such an important problem that the Weimar Republic faced was that the army supported the idea that Dr. Wolfgang had about how the Weimar Republic should be destroyed and how they should bring down the Kaiser. This was why the Kapp Putsch was a more significant problem compared to the others as once Dr. Wolfgang had military support this put him a much more powerful decision consequently causing problems for the Weimar Republic. Yet in the Sparatacist uprising for example, although there was some minor support from the army the majority of the supporters were workers and therefore did not pose as much of a threat to the Weimar Republic.

One of the other problems that the Weimar Republic faced was the weaknesses in the Constitution. The voting policy was proportional representation which meant that although it was a very fair system it meant that any party could get a seat because every vote counted. Unless a party got over 50% of all the votes which would be an unlikely occurrence there would have to be collisions. This meant that the parties that joined together would have to change their ideas to suit one another. Many people thought that the Government was weak and unstable because the majority of people didn’t like the new democratic system and it changed too often. This also caused problems for the Weimar Republic because they may get outvoted by other parties that were liked more. Also, a President was only elected every 7 years had caused issues as well because if he was a weak leader people would have to wait 7 years before a new election could occur. This made the Weimar Republic look fragile as the government wasn’t stable and the voting system had many problems. However, although the Constitution was weak and did cause some issues for the Weimar Republic they weren’t as important as the Kapp Putsch as that led to the government fleeing yet the consequences of the constitution being weak weren’t as problematic for the Weimar Republic.

The Spartacist Rising was another factor that caused some problems for the Weimar Republic. This was a left-wing rebellion yet there were many underlying problems with it therefore it wasn’t successful at causing major issues for the Weimar Republic. It was started by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht. There was much support for this rebellion as there were 50,000 Sparatacists that protested in Germany. One of the underlying problems with this uprising however was that there wasn’t any support from other left-wing groups and it wasn’t organised very well either. This led to it causing some issues but it didn’t cause as many major problems as the Kapp Putsch did for the Weimar Republic. This may be due to the fact that in the Kapp Putsch the army was a prominent factor in why it was the most successful of the rebellions from 1919-1923 yet the Sparatacist Rising was lacking in military support which was one of the causes for it not being the most important problem for the Weimar Republic.

Finally, the French Occupation of the Ruhr was the last factor that caused the Weimar to have problems. Due to Germany taking too long to pay the reparation payments that were owed both France and Belgium grew impatient so they invaded the Ruhr. This humiliated the government because now arguably the Ruhr had been taken by France it would be much harder for Germany to trade or make more money. As Germany was already struggling to pay back money the Ruhr which was their main source of income as it was a heavily industrialised area was no longer theirs which caused chaos. Without the Ruhr Germany couldn’t trade any of the goods they made their anymore. This resulted in Germany’s economy collapsing so the government started printing off lots of money to pay their workers and try and improve the economy. However, this was unsuccessful as it just led to hyperinflation where money eventually became worthless. This has a big impact on Germany financially and also caused many problems for the Weimar Republic as all the money was now worthless. Even though, this had a big effect on the economy and also made the Weimar Republic more unpopular with the people of Germany at least in this situation the Weimar Republic still had power. Yet, in the Kapp Putsch the Weimar Republic had completely lost power therefore that was the most significant problem for the Weimar Republic not the French occupation of the Ruhr.