German Reich | ||||||||||
Deutsches Reich | ||||||||||
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Anthem |
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Germany in 1930
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German states during the Weimar Republic period
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Capital | Berlin | |||||||||
Languages | German | |||||||||
Religion |
1925 census Majority: 64.1% Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, Prussian United)
Minorities:
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Government | 1919–30 Semi-presidential representative federal republic 1930–33 De facto authoritarian rule by decree |
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President | ||||||||||
• | 1919–25 | Friedrich Ebert | ||||||||
• | 1925–33 | Paul von Hindenburg | ||||||||
Chancellor | ||||||||||
• | 1919 (first) | Philipp Scheidemann | ||||||||
• | 1933 (last) | Adolf Hitler | ||||||||
Legislature | Reichstag | |||||||||
• | State Council | Reichsrat | ||||||||
Historical era | Interwar period | |||||||||
• | Established | 9 November 1918 | ||||||||
• | Government by decree begins | 29 March 1930 | ||||||||
• | Hitler appointed Chancellor | 30 January 1933 | ||||||||
• | Reichstag fire | 27 February 1933 | ||||||||
• | Enabling Act | 23 March 1933 | ||||||||
Area | ||||||||||
• | 1925 | 468,787 km² (181,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
Population | ||||||||||
• | 1925 est. | 62,411,000 | ||||||||
Density | 133.1 /km² (344.8 /sq mi) | |||||||||
Currency |
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Today part of | ||||||||||
The coat of arms shown above is the version used after 1928, which replaced that shown in the "Flag and coat of arms" section. |
Weimar Republic (German: Weimarer Republik [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk]) is an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the state was still Deutsches Reich; it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was usually known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with paramilitaries – both left- and right-wing); and contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their wartime leaders for the country's defeat and for the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, and organized the railway system. Weimar Germany eliminated most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles; it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations (by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan). Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the republic, but continued to dispute the Eastern border.