Reasons for the Fall of the Weimar Republic in the Context of the Principles of its Political System
Research Article
How to Cite
Shults E.E. Reasons for the Fall of the Weimar Republic in the Context of the Principles of its Political System. Vlast’ (The Authority). 2025. Vol. 33. No. 1. P. 303-308. (in Russ.).
Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis of the reasons of the Weimar Republic’s fall in the context of the principles of the political system of the Republic. Already in the first elections of the republic, the principle of coalition governments was formed, consisting of representatives of parties supporting the republic. The main condition for the stability of this system was the sustaining of governments from the party with the most massive support – it was the SPD. In 1932, the NSDAP took place of the SPD as the nationwide party defining the system. These changes were associated with a change in the political preferences of the voters of the Weimar Republic, which shifted partly to the ultra-left KPD, but mainly significantly to the right, and the NSDAP effectively take an advantage of this. The key role in these processes was played by the Volkspartei principle – uniting a large share of voters of all large social groups in Germany «under the umbrella» of one party (catch-all party), which made the NSDAP the dominant party in the Reichstag and made it possible to break the system. The principles laid down in the foundation of the Weimar system and maintaining its stability were used to break the system and transform the country into the Third Reich regime.
Keywords:
Weimar Republic, fall of Weimar Republic, Third Reich, NSDAP, 1919–1933 German elections
References
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Shul'ts E.E. 2015. Kommunisty i natsisty v bor'be za protestnye nastroeniya Germanii 1919–1933 gg. – Privolzhskii nauchnyi vestnik. № 6-1(46). C. 58-67. (RUS.)
Shul'ts E.E. 2018. Noyabr'skaya revolyutsiya 1918 g. v Germanii i problemy vozniknoveniya, razvitiya i padeniya Veimarskoi respubliki. – Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Istoriya. № 426. S. 223-228. (RUS.)
Br ächer K.D. 1971. Brünings unpolitische Politik und die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik. – Vierteljahrshefte fur Zeitgeschichte. № 1. S. 114-123.
Büttner U. 2010. Weimar: die überforderte Republik 1918–1933. Bonn: Karl Dietz Verlag. 812 s.
Falter J.W. 1996. How Likely Were Workers to Vote for the NSDAP? – The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany (ed. by C. Fischer). Berghahn Books. P. 9-45.
Falter J.W., Lindenberger T., Schumann S. 1986. Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten, 1919–1933. München: Beck. 251 s.
Harsch D. 1993. German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism. The University of North Carolina Press. 398 p.
Heilbronner O. 1998. Catholicism, Political Culture, and the Countryside: A Social History of the Nazi Party in South Germany. University of Michigan Press. 317 p.
Mommsen H. 1996. The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy (transl. by E. Forster, L.E. Jones). London, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 604 p.
Mühlberger D. 1996. A Workers’ Party or a Party without Workers? – The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany (ed. by C. Fischer). Berghahn Books. P. 47-77.
Mühlberger D. 1999. A Social Profile of the Saxon NSDAP Membership before 1933. – Szejnmann C-C.W. Nazism in Central Germany: The Brownshirts in 'red' Saxony. Berghahn Books. P. 211-219.
Nicholls A.J. 1991. Weimar and the Rise of Hitler. N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press. 245 p.
Article
Received: 01.04.2025
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Shults, E. E. (2025). Reasons for the Fall of the Weimar Republic in the Context of the Principles of its Political System. Vlast’ (The Authority), 33(1), 303-308. Retrieved from https://www.jour.fnisc.ru/index.php/vlast/article/view/10566
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