DarkTreader t1_j37tst3 wrote on January 6, 2023 at 5:15 PM

I would like to point out that you did point out that Hindenberg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. He also gave the Chancellor emergency powers soon after in the Enabling Act. These were actions he was allowed under the Weimar constitution.

As with anything, causes are complex and numerous. The economic crisis was causing lots of instability, but Hindenberg did not have to do either of these things. It could be said that because the Republic was set up with the President with some certain powers, the Republic was "doomed" because if that person made one bad decision with no checks or balances, the whole thing would most certainly collapse.

calijnaar t1_j38cqpn wrote on January 6, 2023 at 7:08 PM

The Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag, that was not the president's doing. And while one could argue that the Enabling Act was not in itself a breach of the Weimar constitution, the actual circumstances under which the Act was passed were highly dubious, and almost certainly illegal and a breach of the Weimar constitution. To achieve the necessary two thords majority while also maintaining the necessary quorum of two thirds of the representatives, the nazis had all communist representatives and quite a few SPD representatives arrested, then changed the quorum rules so that only those absent with an excuse counted as absent and then illegally had armed SA present during the actual vote. While the Weimar constituion could certainly had weaknesses that made the establishment of a dictatorship easier, in the end even the somewhat feeble rules that were in place were breached and it seems unlikely that stronger constitutional safeguards would have been much use once Hitler had become chancellor.