The Weimar Republic

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Coordinator: Eckard Michels
• Assessment: a 3500-word essay

This module gives an overview of the history of the first German democracy, its achievements and weaknesses, beginning with the collapse of Imperial Germany in the First World War and ending with the Nazi seizure of power in 1933.

Based on primary sources such as political speeches and manifestos, political cartoons and election campaign posters, you will learn about political, social, economic and diplomatic aspects that shaped the history of the Weimar Republic.

The approach is partially thematic, partially chronological.

Indicative module content

• The First World War and the Collapse of Imperial Germany
• The Revolution of 1918/19
• The Constitution of the Weimar Republic
• Parties and Elections in Weimar Germany
• Weimar Germany's Economy
• The Foreign Policy of Weimar Germany
• Right Wing Opposition to the Weimar Republic
• Women in Weimar Germany
• The Weimar Republic as a Social Welfare State
• From Republic to Dictatorship: Weimar Germany's Last Years

• Eberhard Kolb, The Weimar Republic (London, 2nd edition, 2005).
• Anthony McElligott (ed.), Weimar Germany (Oxford, 2009).
• Detlef Peukert, The Weimar Republic: The Crisis of Classical Modernity (London, 1991).