Germany. Failures of democracy responsible for the Weimar Republic collapse? (1 Viewer)

[Siennalady]

Hi everyone!

So I have this essay to do: 'To what extent were the failures of democracy responsible for the collapse of the Weimar Republic?'

And I haven't got much of an argument to make about it. I mean my paragraphs are like (in no particular order):

-the unstable post-war conditions
-unfamiliarity of democracy to the german people
-flaws in the constitution
-powerful opponents
-psychological disillusionment
-the depression

and I'm almost completely lost on how exactly to write all this. I mean, I've done about 1, 200 words. but my line of argument isn't very strong (probably because I don't even really have one) does anyone know what I've missed. what I should include etc?

I mean, my teacher said that he'd do it like: economic issues led to social issues which led to political issues.
But I don't really know how to do that structure? because I was thinking:

Intro.

Body.
Failures of democracy, and the impacts of those upon the collapse of the Weimar republic
other factors in the collapse of the Weimar republic (the depression)

Conclusion.

But how exactly could I structure it, in a way that makes it flow?

Please help me!!

 

[enoilgam]

For this essay, you need to take a line of argument. The line of argument can be whatever you like, but you need to be able to build a strong essay around it. I would probably take the argument that the failure of democracy was a key factor in the breakdown of the Weimar republic, but I would also argue that the great depression and the rise of the Nazi's were also factors. So for my body, I would dedicate 2 paragraphs to the failures of democracy (i.e. weakness of the constitution, lack of democratic tradition etc) and then I would dedicate a paragraph each to the Nazi's and the great depression. So it should be like this:

1) Failure of democracy - explain how the constitution contributed to the failure, explain how Germany's lack of a democratic tradition contributed to the failure

2) The Nazi's - explain the role they played in the collapse of Weimar and its significance compared to the failure of democracy

3) The great depression - explain the role it played in the collapse of Weimar and its significance compared to the failure of democracy

With this essay, you need to be careful that in any paragraphs which you are talking about other factors (i.e. not the failure of democracy), you refer back to the question. For example, your final line for your Nazi paragraph might be "hence, in addition to the failure of democracy, the Nazi's also played a key role in the collapse of the Weimar republic"

An alternative to this is you could argue simply that it "greatly contributed to the collapse of weimar democracy". For this argument, I'd structure the body as follows:

Para one: Weaknesses of the Weimar constitution

Para two: Lack of democratic tradition/values in the citizenry

Para three: Lack of strong democractic leaders and leadership allowed the Weimar republic to collapse

Remember, with any essay, its not what you argue, its how you argue it. You can take any argument you wont - the marker cant penalise you if he disagrees with your point of view. Another key thing to remember is that you dont need to include every detail in this essay - scholars have written volumes on the subject and your not expected to list every minute factor which led to Weimars collapse. For more info on essay writing, check out my guide - a link is in my sig.

 

[Siennalady]

For this essay, you need to take a line of argument. The line of argument can be whatever you like, but you need to be able to build a strong essay around it. I would probably take the argument that the failure of democracy was a key factor in the breakdown of the Weimar republic, but I would also argue that the great depression and the rise of the Nazi's were also factors. So for my body, I would dedicate 2 paragraphs to the failures of democracy (i.e. weakness of the constitution, lack of democratic tradition etc) and then I would dedicate a paragraph each to the Nazi's and the great depression. So it should be like this:

1) Failure of democracy - explain how the constitution contributed to the failure, explain how Germany's lack of a democratic tradition contributed to the failure

2) The Nazi's - explain the role they played in the collapse of Weimar and its significance compared to the failure of democracy

3) The great depression - explain the role it played in the collapse of Weimar and its significance compared to the failure of democracy

With this essay, you need to be careful that in any paragraphs which you are talking about other factors (i.e. not the failure of democracy), you refer back to the question. For example, your final line for your Nazi paragraph might be "hence, in addition to the failure of democracy, the Nazi's also played a key role in the collapse of the Weimar republic"

An alternative to this is you could argue simply that it "greatly contributed to the collapse of weimar democracy". For this argument, I'd structure the body as follows:

Para one: Weaknesses of the Weimar constitution

Para two: Lack of democratic tradition/values in the citizenry

Para three: Lack of strong democractic leaders and leadership allowed the Weimar republic to collapse

Remember, with any essay, its not what you argue, its how you argue it. You can take any argument you wont - the marker cant penalise you if he disagrees with your point of view. Another key thing to remember is that you dont need to include every detail in this essay - scholars have written volumes on the subject and your not expected to list every minute factor which led to Weimars collapse. For more info on essay writing, check out my guide - a link is in my sig.

Thank you so much! this is brilliant!