The Weimar Republic 1918–1933
Explore a searchable Weimar Republic timeline covering Germany's transition from imperial rule to republican government, the constitution, political instability, economic crisis, stabilization and the collapse of the Republic in 1933.
History at a glance
Six phases of the Republic
These phase summaries organize the supplied archive rather than replacing it. Select a phase to filter the detailed chronology below.
Historical photographs
People and government of the Weimar Republic
Contemporary photographs of the National Assembly and three central political figures. The archive below is unchanged.
People of the Weimar Republic
Political leaders and major figures
Brief historical context for major figures, followed by every person label represented in the supplied archive. Context summaries do not alter the archive records.
Friedrich Ebert
SPD leader who became chancellor during the 1918 revolution and the Republic’s first president. He defended parliamentary government through uprisings and coups, while his reliance on the army and Freikorps remained controversial.
Philipp Scheidemann
Proclaimed a German republic from the Reichstag on 9 November 1918. He became head of the first parliamentary government in 1919 and resigned rather than accept the Treaty of Versailles terms.
Hugo Preuss
Liberal jurist and politician who was the principal drafter of the Weimar Constitution. His design combined a powerful elected president with a proportionally elected Reichstag and a chancellor responsible for government.
Mathias Erzberger
Centre Party politician who signed the November 1918 armistice for Germany and later led major tax and financial reforms. He became a target of the nationalist right and was assassinated in 1921.
Walter Rathenau
Industrialist and liberal politician who became foreign minister in 1922. He was closely associated with the Treaty of Rapallo and was assassinated by far-right extremists in June 1922.
Gustav Stresemann
Chancellor during the crisis of 1923 and foreign minister from 1923 to 1929. He helped end passive resistance in the Ruhr, supported currency stabilization and pursued reconciliation through Locarno and the League of Nations.
Paul von Hindenburg
Field marshal elected president in 1925 and re-elected in 1932. During the final crisis he increasingly relied on emergency powers and presidential cabinets, and on 30 January 1933 appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor.
Heinrich Brüning
Chancellor during the Great Depression who pursued severe spending cuts and deflation. His government increasingly depended on presidential emergency decrees rather than stable parliamentary majorities.
Franz von Papen
Conservative politician appointed chancellor in 1932. His government removed the elected Prussian administration, and after leaving office he played a major role in the negotiations that brought Hitler into the chancellorship.
Kurt von Schleicher
Army general and political strategist who became the Republic’s final chancellor before Hitler. His attempt to construct a new political coalition failed, and Hindenburg dismissed him in January 1933.
Hjalmar Schacht
Economist and banker appointed currency commissioner during the 1923 monetary crisis and then president of the Reichsbank. He was an important figure in the stabilization of Germany’s currency and financial system.
Adolf Hitler
Nazi Party leader whose failed Beer Hall Putsch occurred in 1923. The Depression helped the NSDAP become a mass electoral force; his appointment as chancellor in January 1933 was followed by the destruction of Weimar democracy.
All people represented in the archive
82 exact person labels from the supplied records, shown together in one block. Names are ordered by Name2 and displayed as Name2, Name1. Source spellings are preserved.
Chronological archive
Explore the record
Search the supplied records by year, person, event, place or any word in the record. Exact duplicate source rows are removed for display.
Source note
This page is generated from the supplied World History Search Weimar Republic data. Records dated outside 1918–1933 are excluded from this historical timeline. Exact duplicate rows are removed for display. Obvious spelling variants and a conservative set of demonstrable date, identity and office-holder errors have been corrected while sourceLine values are retained for traceability.
Weimar Republic history
Weimar Republic timeline and key events, 1918–1933
This archive follows the Weimar Republic from the German Revolution and the creation of republican government through the National Assembly and Weimar Constitution, the Versailles settlement, political violence, reparations disputes and the major economic and constitutional crises of the interwar period.
The chronology also covers the Ruhr occupation, inflation and currency reform in 1923, the stabilization years associated with international diplomacy and the Dawes and Young frameworks, and the later breakdown of parliamentary government under Article 48. The final records trace the governments of Brüning, Papen and Schleicher and the constitutional collapse of the Republic in 1933.
Key topics in the Weimar Republic archive
German Revolution
Weimar Constitution
Treaty of Versailles
Reparations
Ruhr occupation
Hyperinflation
Currency reform
Dawes framework
Locarno diplomacy
Young Plan
Article 48
Presidential government
Collapse in 1933