The Constitution under the KaiserThe Constitution of the Second Reich gave control over the government to the
as hereditary head of state
In the Second Reich the Kaiser chose the
from the unelected Bundesrat
In the Second Reich the Kaiser had total control over the
The elected
(Parliament) in the Second Reich had very few powers and no control over the Chancellor or the unelected Bundesrat which made the laws
The Constitution under WeimarThe new Weimar Republic constitution was
with a President as head of state elected for seven years
The elected Reichstag was the senior house of the German
, controlling the laws and finances of the country
The
was chosen by the President but had to have the majority of support in the elected Reichstag
The President of the Weimar Republic controlled the
In time of crisis the President could use Article 48 of the
to take over the running of the government and appoint his own chancellor if necessary without consulting the Reichstag
Proportional Representation (PR) was the
system used to elect members of the Reichstag - this led to
governments as no party ever had a simple majority in the Reichstag.
Why was the Weimar Constitution Ineffective?1. PR led to too many political parties
2. PR led to weak coalition governments and frequent
of government
3. Germans had no experience of
- they were used to strong leaders like the Kaiser
4. Many government officials – especially judges – were
-wing and wanted to destroy the government. After the Kapp Putsch, 700 rebels were tried for treason; only 1 went to prison. After the
Putsch, Hitler went to prison for only 9 months.
5. The Army, led by the right-wing General Hans von Seeckt, was not fully under the government’s control (The President was in charge of it not the Parliament). It failed to
government during the Kapp Putsch or the crisis of 1923.
6. The German states (local government) had too much
and often ignored the government