Abstract
The chapter deals with the reasons for the end of the German Empire and the creation of the so-called Weimar Republic, as well as its political, economic and cultural development. It draws on unpublished archival material, as well as published sources and recent German, Anglo-Saxon, Czech and other scholarly literature.
It also analyses the political system of the new republic, the new constitution and other actors in political life besides the political parties represented in parliament. One of the conclusions of the chapter is that German society after 1918 was united mainly by its rejection of the Versailles system.
A sub-conclusion is that during the hyperinflationary crisis, the government allowed the middle and lower classes to become impoverished, but was reassured that by exacerbating the economic crisis it would achieve a reduction in reparations and thus make the country feel much better off. Rather, it drove the impoverished citizens into the arms of the Communists and the Nazis.
After summarizing the reasons why Germany outwardly appeared to be a stable parliamentary democracy in the late 1920s, the chapter analyzes the Great Depression, including the causes of the rise of Hitler's party. Finally, key moments in the development of science, society, art, culture, and German-Czechoslovak relations are summarized.