Weimar's democratic but flawed constitution
Germany's defeat triggered the German Revolution of 1918: Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November and a republic was proclaimed; Friedrich Ebert (SPD) became first Chancellor, then President. The 1919 Weimar constitution was democratic - elected President, Chancellor and a Reichstag by proportional representation - but flawed: PR gave unstable coalitions; Article 48 allowed rule by emergency decree; the army was only lukewarm towards democracy.
Doomed? Weigh weakness against resilience
Weigh both sides. Doomed: born from defeat, tied to Versailles and the "stab-in-the-back" myth; PR gave weak coalitions; Article 48 bypassed democracy; the army favoured the old order; it faced left (Spartacist) and right (Kapp, Munich) revolts and 1923 hyperinflation. Not doomed: it survived every crisis and, under Stresemann, won stabilisation (Dawes Plan), rehabilitation (Locarno) and cultural revival, until the 1929 Crash.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Reichstag Fire vs Kristallnacht
Do not muddle these. The Reichstag Fire (27 February 1933) burned the parliament soon after Hitler became Chancellor; the Nazis blamed Communists and won an emergency decree against civil liberties before the March 1933 election. Kristallnacht, violence against Jewish people and property, came in November 1938 - five years later, a different Key Question, not DB1.
Digest (## DB1): candidates confuse the Reichstag Fire with Kristallnacht (Paper 1).
Munich Putsch needs a second cause
On the Munich Putsch (November 1923), candidates often give one valid cause - Hitler encouraged by Mussolini's "March on Rome", or anger at the government ending resistance in the Ruhr - but then drift into what happened next (the failed march, arrest and trial), which are its effects, not a second cause. An "explain" answer needs at least two developed causes.
Digest (## DB1): on the Munich Putsch, many give one cause but struggle with a second, drifting into its effects (Paper 1).
Left vs right threats; Kapp vs Munich
Check the side and the date. The Spartacist Uprising (January 1919) was left-wing, Communist-inspired, crushed by the Freikorps. The Kapp Putsch (March 1920) was Kapp's right-wing bid to seize Berlin, beaten by a general strike. The Munich Putsch (November 1923) was Hitler's later right-wing attempt in Bavaria. Do not swap the side or the date.
Digest (## DB1): on threats to Weimar to 1923, candidates confuse left- and right-wing groups, and which putsch (Kapp vs Munich) belongs to which episode (Paper 1, Paper 4).
Passive resistance vs hyperinflation (1923)
Keep cause and effect apart. After France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr (Germany having defaulted on reparations), the government urged passive resistance - workers refusing to co-operate - and paid them by printing money. That printing caused the catastrophic hyperinflation of 1923. Passive resistance was the policy; hyperinflation was its disastrous side-effect.
Dawes Plan vs the Locarno Treaties
Do not merge Stresemann's two achievements. The Dawes Plan (1924) was economic - American loans and a workable reparations schedule. The Locarno Treaties (1925) were foreign policy - Germany accepted its western borders and improved relations with France and Britain, joining the League of Nations in 1926. One rebuilt the economy; the other restored standing.
The Munich Putsch mattered well before 1933
The Munich Putsch (November 1923) was Hitler's violent bid to seize power - an attack on Weimar democracy. Its failure mattered before 1933: jailed (writing Mein Kampf), Hitler turned to winning power legally by elections, judging force could not beat the Republic's army. The Nazis stayed marginal until 1930; do not read post-1930 growth into pre-1930 weakness.
Digest (## DB1): on pre-1930 Nazi failure, candidates miss that the Munich Putsch was an attack on democracy, or fail to link Hitler's post-Putsch shift (working within the system) to reduced appeal; post-1930 material is wrongly included (Paper 4).
Both sides, then a weighed judgement
On a "how far" question, do not just list weaknesses. Argue that Weimar WAS fatally weak (Versailles myth, PR, Article 48, an unreliable army), then that it was NOT (surviving Kapp, Munich and the hyperinflation, stabilising under Stresemann), then judge.
Name the ideology, do not stay vague
When a question turns on ideology, name the specific belief, not vague "antisemitism" or "anti-communism". Say what the group wanted - Soviet-model Communist revolution for the Spartacists, ultra-nationalist anti-Versailles aims for the Nazis - and link it to the event.
Keep to the DB1 date range
DB1 runs from 1918 to the later-1920s recovery. Do not import later Nazi material - Kristallnacht, the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives - into a 1919-23 or Stresemann answer, or pull post-1930 events into pre-1930 weakness. Off-range material earns nothing.
A biased source is still useful
On a Paper 2 utility question, do not conclude "biased, so useless". A biased or propaganda source is useful evidence of the perspective it represents. Judge it by content and purpose - what it reveals about attitudes - not provenance alone, and give a clear usefulness verdict.
The Weimar Republic was Germany's new democratic government, created in the chaos of defeat and revolution at the end of the First World War. This Key Question asks you to weigh the evidence that the Republic was fatally flawed from birth against the evidence that it proved able to survive crises and, for a time, achieve real stability.
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