Weimar Republic Advantages & Disadvantages


	Weimar Republic Advantages & Disadvantages
	Advantages Bill of Rights guaranteed every German citizen freedom of speech, religion, and equality under the law. President elected every 7 years. Reichstag elected every 4 years. Freedom of voting (Men and Women votes 20+). Women had an advantage voting in Germany compared to women in Britain who were only allowed to vote 30+. The Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government, which had to do what the Reichstag wanted.	Disadvantages Proportional Representation - instead of voting for an MP like here in Britain, Weimar Germans voted for a party. Each party was then allocated seats in the Reichstag exactly reflecting (proportional' to) the number of people who had voted for it. It sounds fair but was an absolute disaster in practice, which resulted in several tiny parties who did not have a strong enough majority, so the government could not pass laws through the Reichstag. A major weakness of the Republic. Article 48 - Used in an emergency in which the President does not need the approval of the Reichstag, but could issue decrees. But what kind of emergence?? This was later used as the back door for Hitler to take power of Germany legally with the Enabling Act.
	Evaluation The Weimar Republic had some advantages to it but had a few MAJOR weaknesses.

Bill of Rights guaranteed every German citizen freedom of speech, religion, and equality under the law.
President elected every 7 years.
Reichstag elected every 4 years.
Freedom of voting (Men and Women votes 20+). Women had an advantage voting in Germany compared to women in Britain who were only allowed to vote 30+.
The Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government, which had to do what the Reichstag wanted.

Proportional Representation - instead of voting for an MP like here in Britain, Weimar Germans voted for a party. Each party was then allocated seats in the Reichstag exactly reflecting (proportional' to) the number of people who had voted for it. It sounds fair but was an absolute disaster in practice, which resulted in several tiny parties who did not have a strong enough majority, so the government could not pass laws through the Reichstag. A major weakness of the Republic.
Article 48 - Used in an emergency in which the President does not need the approval of the Reichstag, but could issue decrees. But what kind of emergence?? This was later used as the back door for Hitler to take power of Germany legally with the Enabling Act.

The Weimar Republic had some advantages to it but had a few MAJOR weaknesses.

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