Timeline of the Weimar Republic  

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This Weimar Timeline charts the chronology of the Weimar Republic, dating the pre-history before the adoption of the actual Weimar constitution. This timeline stops when Hitler establishes the Third Reich.

The timeline is color-coded:

• Black: Regular events of the Weimar republic and its pre-history.
• Red: Events pertaining to Adolf Hitler.
• Brown: Events regarding the German Workers' Party and the Nazi Party.
• All other events pertaining to the rise of Nazism in Germany are bolded.

For a chronology focusing on the rise of Nazism see Early Nazi Timeline.

End of the German Empire

• 1 August 1914 World War I breaks out.
• 14 April 1917 Government announces reduction in bread rations.
• 15 April 1917 200,000 Socialists and Communists stage major strikes in Germany
• 13 July 1917 Dr. Georg Michaelis replaces Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg as Chancellor of Germany.
• 31 October 1917 Michaelis resigns, replaced by Count Georg von Hertling

1918

• 4 October 1918 Prince Maximilian of Baden replaces Count Georg von Hertling as Chancellor of Germany
• 7 October – 3 November 1918 Naval mutinies (see German Revolution)
• 4 November 1918 Sailors and worker's councils declare general strikes.
• 5 November 1918 3rd Squadron revolts.
• 7 November 1918 100,000 workers march on the Royal House of Wittelsbach. The King of Bavaria flees.
• 8 November 1918 All 22 of Germany’s lesser kings, princes, grand dukes, and ruling dukes had been deposed.
• 9 November 1918 Proclamation of the Republic by Philipp Scheidemann, some hours later: proclamation of the Socialist Republic by Karl Liebknecht; also:
  • Matthias Erzberger arrives at Allied HQ at Compiegne.
  • Kaiser Wilhelm told to abdicate, before he can decide Prince Max formally announces the abdication of Wilhelm.
  • Social Democrats demand government from Prince Max.
  • Friedrich Ebert assumes the chancellery.
  • First German Republic established.
• 11 November 1918 First World War ended.
• Mid December, 1918 First Freikorps unit formed; Maercker Volunteer Rifles.
• 23 December 1918 Lt. Dorrenbach with the Volksmarine Division declare gov. under arrest, surround the chancellory and occupy phone exchange.
• 24 December 1918 Battle of the Schloss
• 30 December 1918 Spartakusbund splits from the Independent Socialists (later becomes the Communist Party).

1919

• January 1919 Independent Socialists & Spartacusbund stage large protests. Large sections of Berlin seized. Also:
  • "Free Workers' Committee for a fair Peace" renamed German Workers Party.
• 10 January 1919 Battle of Berlin begins; Counter-revolution
• 13 January 1919 Battle of Berlin finished.
• January 1919 Bremen seized. Also:
  • German Gov. moved to the city of Weimar.
• 6 February 1919 Fritz Ebert opens the Reichstag in Weimar, Germany.
• 11 February 1919 Friedrich Ebert (SPD) leaves office. Also:
  • Philipp Scheidemann appointed chancellor.
• 21 February 1919 Kurt Eisner assassinated. Also:
  • Attempted assassination of Erhard Auer.
• 3 March 1919 2nd Battle for Berlin; Communists seize Berlin; Weimar government appoints Gustav Noske as German defense minister.
• 7 March 1919 Communist Strike Committee withdraws proclamation and makes peace overtures to government.
• 10 March 1919 Gustav Noske orders Peoples’ Naval Division disbanded. Battle for Berlin over.
• March 1919 Adolf Hitler finishes job of guarding Russian prisoners.
• 6 - 7 April 1919 Bavaria declared a Soviet Republic.
• 14 April 1919 Freikorps suppress Communists in Dresden.
• 18 April 1919 Freikorps suppress Communists in Brunswick. Also:
  • Battle of the Bavarian governments at Dachau. Communists defeat republican forces.
• 27 April 1919 Battle for Munich between Communists and Freikorps units.
• 29 April 1919 German representatives arrive in Paris.
• 1 May 1919 Communist defences at Munich breached.
• 2 May 1919 City of Munich taken; not declared secure until May 6; approximately 1200 Communists killed.
• 10 May 1919 Freikorps suppress communists in Leipzig.
• 18 June 1919 Germany given ultimatum to sign Treaty of Versailles
• 21 June 1919 Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) leaves office
• 22 June 1919 German Reichstag ratify the Versailles Treaty.
• 28 June 1919 Versailles Treaty signed in the Hall of Mirrors.

Weimar Republic

• 11 August 1919 The Weimar Constitution is announced.
• 11 September 1919 Adolf Hitler sent as Vertrauensmann to infiltrate the German Worker’s Party (DAP).

1920

• January 1920 The DAP grew to 190 members.
• 4 February 1920 Allies demand 900 Germans be handed over for war crimes.
• 20 February 1920 DAP changes name to National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
• February 1920 Inter-Allied Control Commission order 2/3 of Freikorps disbanded.
• 24 February 1920 First public meeting of the NSDAP.
• 13 March 1920 Kapp Putsch
• 14 March 1920 Communists seize demilitarized Ruhr; Dortmund, Remschied, Hagen, Mülheim, Düsseldorf; 300 people killed (mostly policemen).
• 17 March 1920 Kapp Putsch ends.
• 27 March 1920 Gustav Bauer (SPD) leaves office
• 31 March 1920 Adolf Hitler mustered out of the military.
• 3 April 1920 21 different Freikorps units, under the command of General Baron Oskar von Watter, annihilate the Ruhr Communist uprising in five days; thousands killed.
• April 1920 Government stops paying Freikorps units.
• 10 May 1920 Dr. Joseph Wirth and Walter Rathenau announce their "Policy of Fulfillment"; not received well by nationalist groups.
• 21 June 1920 Hermann Mueller (SPD) leaves office
• 11 August 1920 National Disarmament Law takes effect; disbanded civil guards
• 17 December 1920 NSDAP buys its first paper, the Voelkischer Beobachter.
• December 1920 NSDAP total party membership comes to 2000.

1921

• 21 March 1921 Plebiscite in Upper Silesia. They vote to remain part of Germany.
• March, 1921 Allied Plebiscite Commission rejects vote, draws boundary anyway; takes section of mines, mills and furnaces and 350,000 Germans and puts them under Polish rule.
• 27 April 1921 Allied Reparations Committee levels 33 billion war reparations debt onto Germany; commands the handing over of 26% of all exports for 42 years and puts the Germans immediately into 12 billion in arrears.
• 3 May 1921 Polish forces under Wojciech Korfantry invade Upper Silesia.
• 5 May 1921 London Ultimatum which set the total sum of the war indemnity at 132 billion marks.
• 10 May 1921 Konstantin Fehrenbach (Center) leaves office
• 23 May 1921 German Freikorps smash Polish forces at St. Annaberg.
• 24 May 1921 Under Allied pressure, all Freikorps units outlawed.
• 11 July 1921 Adolf Hitler resigns from the party to force the hand of Anton Drexler not to unite with the DSP.
• 25 July 1921 Adolf Hitler rejoins the party.
• 29 July 1921 Adolf Hitler assumes leadership of the NSDAP. He becomes "Der Fuehrer".
• 26 August 1921 Matthias Erzberger, (finance minister of 1920) gunned down by OC killers
• 14 September 1921 Hitler and SA disrupt speech by Otto Ballestedt of the Bayernbund; beaten badly; Hitler with others arrested.
• 26 October 1921 Dr. Joseph Wirth (Center) forms 2nd cabinet

1922

• 12 January 1922 Adolf Hitler sentenced to three months.
• 24 June 1922 Hitler Incarcerated. Also:
  • Walter Rathenau assassinated.
  • Reichsmark (RM) was 272 to 1 American dollar
• 27 July 1922 Hitler released.
• July 1922 670 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
• August 1922 2,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
• 27 October 1922 Benito Mussolini establishes his Fascist dictatorship in Italy.
• October 1922 45,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
• 22 November 1922 Dr. Wirth leaves office
• November 1922 10,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
• 27 December 1922 France occupies the Ruhr.
• 30 December 1922 500,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar

1923

• February 1923 Reichsbank buys back RM (or reichsmark); stabilizes RM at 20,000 to 1 US dollar
• May 4, 1923 RM 40,000 = 1 US dollar
• May 27, 1923 Albert Leo Schlageter, a German freebooter and saboteur, was executed by a French firing squad in the Ruhr. Hitler declared him a hero that the German nation was not worthy to possess.
• June 1, 1923 RM 70,000 =1 US dollar
• June 30, 1923 RM 150,000 = 1 US dollar
• August 1-August 7, 1923 RM 3,500,000 = 1 US Dollar
• August 13, 1923 Dr. Wilhelm Cuno (No party affiliation) Leaves office
• August 15, 1923 RM 4,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
• September 1, 1923 RM 10,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
• Around September 10 to September 25, 1923 Prices reportedly rise hourly in several German cities.
• September 24, 1923 Chancellor Stresemann ends the passive resistance in the Ruhr; infuriates the nationalists.
• September 30, 1923 Major Fedor von Bock crushes a coup attempt by the Black Reichswehr. Also:
  • RM 60,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
• October 6, 1923 Dr. Gustav Stresemann (People’s) forms 2nd cabinet
• October 20, 1923 General Alfred Mueller marches on Saxony to prevent a communist takeover. Also:
  • General Otto von Lossow in Bavaria is relieved of command by Berlin; he refuses.
• October 23, 1923 Communist takeover of Hamburg
• October 25, 1923 Hamburg uprising suppressed
• November 8, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch
• November 9, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch quelled.
• November 12, 1923 Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was named ‘’Reichswaehrungskommissar’’.
• November 15, 1923 Rentenmark issued; pegged to the Gold Standard; Rentenmark 4.2 = 1 US dollar; at this time:
  • Old Reichsmark 4,200,000,000 = 1 US dollar
• November 30, 1923 Dr. Stresemann leaves office.

1924

• February 26, 1924 Hitlerputsch trial begins.
• June 3, 1924 Dr. Wilhelm Marx (Center) forms 2nd cabinet
• August 29, 1924 Dawes Plan agreed by Reichstag.
• December 20, 1924 Hitler released from Landsberg Prison.

1925

• January 4. 1925 Hitler begins his political comeback by meeting with new ministers and President of Bavaria.
• January 15, 1925 Dr. Marx leaves office.
• February 27, 1925 Nazi party refounded.; Hitler gives his first speech since release from prison.
• February 28, 1925 Reichspresident Friedrich Ebert dies.
• July 1925 French and Belgian troops evacuate the Ruhr completely.
• November 22, 1925 Strasser wing of Nazi party goes into rebellion.
• October 16, 1925 Locarno Treaty signed

1926

• January 20, 1926 Dr. Hans Luther (No party affiliation) forms 2nd cabinet
• February 14, 1926 Bamberg conference begins.
• April 24, 1926 Germany and Soviet Union sign Berlin Treaty.
• May 12, 1926 Dr. Luther leaves office over flag dispute
• May 16, 1926 Marx cabinet of the Center, BVP, DDP, DVP.
• June 20, 1926 Referendum on expropriation of princely families.
• September 10, 1926 Germany enters League of Nations

1927

• January 29, 1927 Marx’s 3rd cabinet leaves office
• July 16, 1927 Unemployment Insurance Law passed.

1928

• 29 June 1928 Marx’s 4th cabinet leaves office
• 20 October 1928 Alfred Hugenberg becomes head of DNVP
• 8 December 1928 Prelate Kaas becomes head of Center party.
• May 1928 Hitler speaking ban lifted in Bavaria.

1929

• 7 June 1929 Young Plan resets reparations amount, and allows it to be paid in installations over a period of 58.5 years.
• 3 October 1929 Foreign minister Gustav Stresemann dies.
• 24 October 1929 Black Thursday stock market crash, start of world economic collapse.
• 22 December 1929 Liberty Law referendum to reject Young Plan fails.

1930

• 30 March 1930 Hermann Mueller’s (SPD) 2nd cabinet leaves office
• 30 June 1930 French troops leave the Rhineland ahead of schedule.
• 16 July 1930 Reichstag dissolved; first emergency decree by Reichspresident.
• August 1930 SA commander in Berlin Walter Stennes calls for SA general strike against Nazi Party.
• 14 September 1930 Reichstag elections; gains by Nazi Party.
• September 1930 Hitler at trial of 3 SA Lieutenants disavows the SA goals of replacing the army and hence appeases the army.

1931

• 11 May 1931 Austrian Kreditanstalt collapses
• May 1931 Four million unemployed in Germany.
• 20 June 1931 Herbert Hoover puts moratorium on reparations.
• 13 July 1931 German bank crisis.
• 11 October 1931 Harzburg Front formed of coalition between DNVP, Stahlhelm, and Nazi Party

1932

• 10 April 1932 Paul von Hindenburg reelected President of Germany.
• 30 May 1932 Henrich Bruening (Center) leaves office.
• 1 June 1932 Franz von Papen cabinet
• 16 June - 9 July 1932 Lausanne conference
• 20 July 1932 Von Papen dissolves Prussian government.
• 31 July 1932 Reichstag elections where Nazi party becomes the largest party.
• 6 November 1932 Reichstag elections; Nazis lose votes.
• 17 November 1932 Franz von Papen (Center) leaves office
• 3 December 1932 Kurt von Schleicher cabinet

1933

• 28 January 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (no party affiliation) leaves office
• 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
• 23 March 1933 Adolf Hitler establishes the Third Reich (Enabling Act of 1933).

See also

• Weimar culture
• Weimar political parties
• Glossary of the Weimar Republic

References

• Why Hitler, The Genesis of the Nazi Reich, Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. Praeger, Westport, CT, 1996. pg 28.
• The Logic of Evil, The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925-1933, William Brustein, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 1996. pp 191-193.