1923

A history of a pivotal year in the Weimar Republic.

Jones, professor of history and author of Founding Weimar, reminds us that the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay massive reparations, mostly to France, which had suffered enormous physical destruction. Although largely undamaged, an exhausted Germany was slow to pay, so a frustrated France sent troops into the industrial Ruhr Valley in January 1923 to extract resources. The occupation outraged almost every German but, hobbled by its tiny post-Versailles army, the Weimar government proclaimed a policy of passive resistance. Neither nation benefited. France obtained far less material after the invasion than the year before, and the cost of Germany’s passive resistance—paying striking workers, supporting resisters expelled from their homes—was greater than it spent on reparations. With no tax revenue from the occupied areas, the government was forced to print more money. By spring, inflation was accelerating; by fall, it had reached catastrophic proportions. That year proved a bonanza for Hitler, whose charisma enraptured innumerable fanatic splinter parties searching for a messiah to make Germany great again. By 1923, he was a major player in Bavaria. Putsches were a regular feature of postwar Germany, and Hitler launched his in November. However, incompetence and police quashed it within a day. Jones emphasizes that Bavaria was governed by right-wing Weimar-haters who had no objection to Hitler’s violent, antisemitic politics, but also considered him a rival. By December, financial reforms, a new chancellor, and international pressures on France were improving matters. The author concludes that Weimar’s survival for another decade proves the resilience of democracy, but readers may conclude that Hitler represented the wave of the future. Lenin and Mussolini took power by coups, but Hitler was appointed legally in 1933. In the 21st century, free elections have chosen autocrats in a dozen nations, and hyper-nationalistic parties are flourishing in other democracies, including Germany. This book makes a good complement to Volker Ullrich’s Germany 1923.

Dispiriting yet solidly rendered history.