Describe the problems faced by the Weimar Republic.

The Weimar Republic was born out of the chaos following World War I and the abdication of Emperor William II. It faced many problems:

1. Many Germans held the new Weimar Republic responsible for not only the defeat in the war but the disgrace at Versailles. The republic carried the burden of war guilt and national humiliation.
2. The Republic was financially crippled by being forced to pay compensation.
3. The birth of the Weimar Republic coincided with the revolutionary uprising of the Spartacist League on the pattern of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
4. Germany had fought the war largely on loans and had to pay war reparations in gold. Germany printed paper currency recklessly. With too much printed money in circulation, the value of the German mark fell.
5. The Weimar constitution had some inherent defects, which made it unstable and vulnerable to dictatorship viz. proportional representation and Article 48.
6. Article 48 gave the President the powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights and rule by decree.