Transcript for:
Survival of the Weimar Republic: A Historical Analysis

do you believe that if the Vima Republic survived which also means that Germany doesn't become an ultra Nationalist and expansionist power that the second world war would be prevented I want to explore this question but also give you a realistic answer on how the Vima Republic could have survived and thrived in the 1930s and 40s I will be basing my sources on this 35-page essay from the University of Munich regarding how the rise of the ultra nationalists could have been prevented on the surface level this paper suggests during the Great Depression which hit Germany especially badly there was a lot of unemployment and radicalization of the populace this is very important as in 1932 about 30% of the German population was unemployed so when the Austrian painter started making promises for a better life many believe that as such to prevent the rise of the ultra nationalists it is suggested that the fiscal policy to reduce unemployment should have been implemented in the areas with most radicalized ultr nationalist supporters I will start this scenario from 1930 specifically the 1930 German federal election in mid-september this is because in the previous election of 1928 the AL nationalist party got about 2% of the votes so they were still very small in the 1930 election however which was only 2 years later the support of the ultra nationalist party Rose from 2.6% to 18.3% making them the second largest political entity in Germany at the time just to let you know in the next election 2 years later the ult nationalists in Germany became the biggest party growing from 18.3% to 37.3% and a year after that it was 43.9% this gave the ultranationalists an insane rise to power that they used to turn Germany into a dictatorship here is the voting ballot from 1936 and you can see that you have only one option with a turnaround of 99% the ultra nationalist in Germany got 98.8% of the votes with the rest being blank or invalid vots going back to 1930 it really seems possible that if money was invested from the Rand and Bavaria to Central Germany and East Prussia that the rise of the ultra nationalists wouldn't be this quick I mean they went from 2.6% to 43.9% in just 3 years it makes sense for the island and Bavaria to send money to other poorer regions as the Rand was in support of the Catholic Center party with Bavaria and other South German states being in support of the German national People's Party the rest of Germany was supporting the Social Democratic party who still enjoyed their majority East Prussia was the only place in Germany that saw an ultra nationalist majority in the 1930 elections but comparing this to the 1932 elections the utra nationalists were the majority everywhere except the irland in Bavaria which I mentioned earlier I'm simply suggesting for a better FL of money no money is created or destroyed it's simply used in a smarter way as a way to prevent Ultra nationalists from rising to power and this idea might actually succeed in the papers I mentioned earlier the people who are way smarter than me ran a Sim ation of what I just said and they got a positive result meaning that the ultra nationalist party was still present but they wouldn't take over the country and turn it into a dictatorship another option is to get rid of the Austrian painter who historically became the German furer there were many assassination attempts on him but he could have died in the first world war or died of poverty if his book didn't take off I do acknowledge the fact that getting rid of him doesn't automatically get rid of the alter nationalist party and somebody like Henri himler or Rudolph H or even Martin Borman would replace him while I do understand this I think that the Austrian painter was able to unite all of the wings of the ultra nationalist party and without him the party would be for sure more divided and weaker whether the Austrian painter just dies in The Great War or not it doesn't matter for this scenario this is because the tionalist party wouldn't be as significant so I will not mention them too much until the end of the video with that move I think that we have almost secured the longevity of the VMA Republic all we need is for Paul Von hindur to not appoint an nationalist candidate as the chancellor which is possible considering the decline in popularity of the party I just mentioned if we take the Nationalist party out of the equation then the sdp or Social Democratic party would be the main political party in Germany but still unable to form a government on its own as a result they most likely need to work with other political parties as to form a coalition which did it historically the Coalition involved the cental party with 12% of the votes in 1928 the German Democratic party with 4.8 % of the votes the German people's party with 8.7% and the Bavarian people's party with 3% since this time the tionalist will not be this popular this Coalition will grow stronger historically it is said that the Coalition had conflicts of interest leading to its collapse but this time with more votes it can become more stable I mean if the sdp gains enough votes they can drop a party out of the Coalition if they're causing too much trouble and still have a majority there is a possibility of a grand Coalition between the sdp and the German national People's Party who were the two biggest political parties at the time regarding the German national people's party they were a national conservative and monarchist party being the majority nationalist party before the rise of the utra nationalists the Coalition wouldn't work as this party oppos socialism and the Catholic Elements which is exactly the previous sdp Coalition and ideology still if there is some instability in the mid 1930s in the VMA Republic the two major political parties can work together temporarily on key issues which would be the sarand I want to quickly show you these coins that I have from the VMA Republic This Is 50 fing from 1920 and it's made out of aluminum in comparison this is the same 50 fing in 1906 and it had 2.5 g of silver you can really see in their currency how after the Great War Germany was out of their precious metals Reserve here is five R fing from 1924 so it's exactly 100 years ago now back to the video considering that the VMA Republic still survives and is fully Democratic in 1935 it is unlikely to change course after that if the sdp loses their majority with their Coalition Partners which is unlikely but still possible here is what I think would happen since the ultra nationalists are still relevant probably getting 10 to 15% of the votes they can become part of a government as a minor party same can be said for the German national people's party as a result it's possible that these parties request a democratic vote to be held in the S land in order to gain support for the government which would be granted considering that the sand voted with an insanely High majority to join Germany this would happen over again with maybe even more support this is because historically in 1935 the ultra nationalists were running Germany making their political enemies disappear as a result many opposition parties fled to the S land and urged the people to vote against unification if the VMA Republic annexes the sand the sdp will use this as a victory and discredit the Nationalist parties Pon Hind is likely to appoint Hans Vogel as a Chancellor and with the DAT of kenborg the sdp would solidify their control and establish a majority actually forming a stable government H Vogel was one such political enemy of the utra Nationalist that went into the S land which I mentioned previously reading about him online he seems like the man for the job being really determined to restore the sdp in Germany after 1945 still despite Germany annexing the sand it was through a fair and Democratic process that France would have to accept France and the Vima Republic would have good relations and before the internationalist take over of Germany the French actually offered the Germans a deal to increase economic cooperation and increase the old dep to France this is important as the allies of France and Britain would see how hard the Great Depression hit Germany so there can be a renegotiation of the Versa peace treaty most importantly Waring the German war operations this would be perfect as nearing the end of the 1930s the Vima Republic would naturally recover from the Great Depression and go into an economic boom which would be attributed to the sdp and the Democratic regime in reality this is just how the market Cycles go but the sdp would claim it as their own Victory there is no doubt that after this point Germany will become and remain a democratic State this is significant as art literature and Technology will thrive in Germany this is because when the internationalist came to power there was a big brain drain with people fleeing their country and going mostly to the United States of America the Germans would continue to resurge the atomic bomb as it wasn't seen by the government as Jewish science most likely being ahead of the Americans I mean the American nuclear program had many Germans who escaped the ultr Nationalist regime working for it knowing very well that it was going to be used on their Homeland I think that I have touched enough on the cultural aspects of the VMA Republic had it survived so now let us see how other countries would respond to this and if there is going to be a second world war maybe being initiated by Italy or the Soviet Union this time first up is Spain and their Civil War I don't think that anything will change as yes the Nationalist Germans sent a lot of help to Francisco Franco and his nationalist Spain but I wouldn't say that the Germans were the decisive factor in the Spanish Civil War I think that still with a democratic Germany the Nationalist in Spain would still win but maybe it would take them a lot longer to do so again I also recognize the amount of equipment that Germany historically sent to Spain but I don't think it was a deal breaker it simply made the war shorter Italy as you may know invaded Ethiopia in late 1935 which action was opposed by France and Britain resulting in Italy to leave the League of Nations historically France and Britain wanted to keep Italy as an ally because they feared an ultranationalist Germany so they recognized the Italian annexation of Ethiopia I mentioned this because in this alternate scenario there is no tionalist Germany so the allies of France and Britain will not be so forgiving of Italy there can be implemented economic sanctions against the Italians as this time Germany would be seen as an ally instead of a threat regarding Austria historically they were technically Ultra nationalist led by kosnik in our timeline this is important as I don't know what would happen in this situation but I don't think that the Austrian Ultra nationalist regime would continue like this for much longer now to be fair kosnik may not come to power but angil ber duus will remain in charge this is because the ultr Nationalist Germans tried to Annex Austria in 1934 to which I already made a video had this succeeded the point I'm trying to make is that the Fatherland front would remain in charge of H a as the utra Nationalist in Germany will not try to Annex the country and kill Angel ber duus in the process so he would remain in charge of Austria the country was still majority Pro German especially with the success of the VMA Republic historically around the same time which is 1934 there were about 80% of people who were in favor of unification but when the ultra nationalist came to power this number dropped to around 50% we can expect that toer and Germany can unite in a peaceful way with the consent of the allies of France and Britain truth be told this may happen later than in 1938 around maybe 1945 for Simplicity sake I'll make Germany Annex AA right now but remember that this process will take years aen ber duus and the Fatherland front will not be willing to give up control over their country now you may ask why would allies let Germany their largest rival anex a neutral and peaceful country and also get stronger this is because it would create a direct front line with Italy which is important for the Germans to have an enemy at their door step I already mentioned how Italy will be looked down upon by France and Britain due to their invasion of Ethiopia and relations will not normalize as Germany this time will not be a threat still I don't expect an Austrian annexation to happen so easily as Italy had protective attitude towards Austria and only gave up on that after Germany promised to them control over the Balkans this is why I think that Austria can drift away to a peaceful and Democratic Germany after a few years so in about 1945 still remember that I'm simply in this even if I'm wrong it will not change the scenario so stick with me it's time to mention the elephant in the room the Soviet Union surely a war between Italy and Germany will not result in a world war even worse for Italy the Allies can join Germany side so it's going to be a conflict only for a couple of months the Soviet Union on the other hand had the potential and the capabilities to start a World War Stalin however was not that stupid he only took the Baltic states bessarabia parts of Finland and Poland only after Germany had started the second world war and the Allies were busy I don't expect Stalin and the Soviet Union to start a massive war only because of some Baltic country the more likely thing that it's going to happen is a compromise the allies of France and Britain were still not ready for a massive war especially the French due to their large communist and anti-war opposition as a result I would expect Stalin to pick on smaller countries without any powerful allies which is the Baltic states in Finland Romania is technically supported by C Slovakia and jugoslavia so so they would be left alone a similar situation can become in Finland as historically the allies of France and Britain considered sending a to Finland during the winter War if the Soviets were to do that all over again then the Allies would for sure send hell to Finland but I don't think that they will join the war officially a more likely option is an allied strategy I think you're very familiar with which is appeasement countries like Estonia and Wata would be sacrificed as well as Lithuania most likely but I'm not sure about the water this is because if Lithuania gets anex by the Red Army it would give the Soviet Union and Germany a direct land border which has the potential to escalate into a World War I assume that the Soviets are going to eat a few countries but overall due to sheer power of the Allies Stalin will not start a war against the West I want to mention Japan as without France being capitulated by Germany in the second world war the Japanese will not seee French into China get embargoed by the west and proceed to plan to take these Resources by force in this timeline I expect Japan to still trade with the west and continue their War with China which would St made around 1939 1940 as a result I think that a peace treaty could be signed so that Japan can reconcile and continue their War at a later point this is crucial as let's not forget that China was not United at the time there were many warwards still loyal to the Republican government but also communist China led by maoon this is important as if Japan gets some territories in the war ends the Chinese Civil War would continue so Japan can recover and invade China once again after their in the Civil War fundamentally this makes sense but the Japanese government at the time wasn't the most logical of course there's still a possibility that Japan still invades the Western countries who would quickly capitulate Japan as these countries are not busy fighting Germany in Europe I want to go back to Europe and mention that due to Stalin's initiatives in the baltics the Allies would consent to a German rearmament as to stand strong against communism and tter nationalist Italy the world is generally more boring when it comes to alternate history as nobody is insane as ult rist in Germany were historically to start a World War the Allies were United and against War Italy is unlikely to start a world conflict as they are not strong enough to defeat the Allies on their own the United States of America is neutral and Japan is busy dealing with the Chinese this leaves us with the Soviet Union who would have to face France Britain Germany and potentially Poland and Romania if not also Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia if such a war were to happen I don't think that the Soviet Union would perform so well as a democratic Germany May perform a lot better in the war I do think that the viar Republic would perform better than the ultranationalist Germans were historically sure the viar Republic will not have air Pilots sniffing on white powder and giving them magical powers but Germany will be more technologically advanced the German rocket program can be finished before such a war with the Soviets comes which would serve as a deterrent meaning that if the Soviets were to attack anybody Moscow would get destroyed and there is no way for the Soviet Union to stop that it is even possible that the Germans develop the atomic bomb first which is yet another deterrent for the Soviet Union truly this world is more stable so I'm curious if you'd like to live in such a world let me know down in the comments below if there is no major war then surely the dictatorship in Italy and Spain would lose its support considering the dite embargo after Italy's invasion of Ethiopia this can pave the way for a democratic and Western Allied Italy and Spain the Soviet Union will just fall out of the race as technologically they couldn't compete with the Germans but also the whole Western world as this divide into technology would keep growing it's really possible for the Soviet Union to collapse in the 1960s the world is completely not recognizable as this time delies didn't the colonize in the second world war never happened but still I want to end this video with a bank considering that the Germans were developing Rockets first they can start exploring space so the first satellite in space can be German together with a first man Mission the Germans landing on the moon first is possible which I will allow for this scenario only because I think it's really cool and another cool scenario that I think you may like is what if Germany succeeded in Operation Sea Lion effectively landing on the British home islands and potentially knocking Britain out of the war make sure to check this video out if this interests you thank you for watching and have a nice day