The Weimar Republic: Politics and Culture in Germany 1918-1933

4 credits · Undergraduate

The history of Germany's first parliamentary democracy is a dramatic one, dominated by economic woes, political violence, and a general perception of crisis and decline. The ill-fated republic bore the burden of a devastating war and suffered from an increasing lack of popular support. Democratic procedures were constantly undermined by radical and reactionary forces. Cultural pessimism was nurtured by the overwhelming experience of historical contingency, i.e., a fundamental lack of confidence in the predictability of modern life.