Europe · The modern states
Weimar Republic
1918–1933
The Weimar Republic — the term is a later historiographical label; the state remained officially the Deutsches Reich — was Germany's first parliamentary democracy, born from the November Revolution of 1918 and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its constitution, drafted at Weimar in 1919, combined a directly elected president (with emergency powers under Article 48), proportional representation, and extensive civil rights.
- Existed
- 1918–1933
- Shown on the map
- 1920–1935
- Peak area
- 480k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The Weimar Republic — the term is a later historiographical label; the state remained officially the Deutsches Reich — was Germany's first parliamentary democracy, born from the November Revolution of 1918 and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its constitution, drafted at Weimar in 1919, combined a directly elected president (with emergency powers under Article 48), proportional representation, and extensive civil rights. It was burdened from birth by the "stab-in-the-back" myth and the punitive Treaty of Versailles (1919), which imposed territorial losses, disarmament, war-guilt and reparations.
Decline and legacy
The republic survived hyperinflation and putsch attempts from left and right. The hyperinflation of 1923 was among the most extreme in history: from a value of about 4.2 marks to the US dollar on the eve of the First World War, the mark depreciated to roughly 4.2 trillion (precisely about 4,210,500,000,000) marks per dollar by November 1923. The Ruhr occupation and Hitler's failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 tested the young state, but the "Golden Twenties" of relative stability under Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann (Dawes Plan 1924, Locarno 1925, League of Nations membership 1926) followed, before catastrophe with the Great Depression from 1929. Presidents were Friedrich Ebert (SPD, 1919–1925) and the aged Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (1925–1934). Governing by emergency decree from 1930, and amid mass unemployment and street violence, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor on 30 January 1933, ending the republic.
Common questions
- What was the Weimar Republic?
- The Weimar Republic — the term is a later historiographical label; the state remained officially the Deutsches Reich — was Germany's first parliamentary democracy, born from the November Revolution of 1918 and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its constitution, drafted at Weimar in 1919, combined a directly elected president (with emergency powers under Article 48), proportional representation, and extensive civil rights.
- When did the Weimar Republic exist?
- The Weimar Republic existed 1918–1933. On this map it is drawn 1920–1935.
- How large was the Weimar Republic?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Weimar Republic covered about 480,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- How did the Weimar Republic end?
- The republic survived hyperinflation and putsch attempts from left and right. The hyperinflation of 1923 was among the most extreme in history: from a value of about 4.2 marks to the US dollar on the eve of the First World War, the mark depreciated to roughly 4.2 trillion (precisely about 4,210,500,000,000) marks per dollar by November 1923.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each state as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the ICTY and the 2004 Wiesel Commission for genocide and atrocity figures, and current news reporting (Reuters, AP, BBC, and others) for 2025–2026 political developments, which should be verified against live sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Weimar Republic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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