Question

Can someone explain what the Weimar Republic is, and how this led to hitlers rise to power?

Answer 1

The Weimar Republic was the political structure put in place in Germany after WWI. Because of the war debts of Germany, the reparations it had to pay, the sate of the world economy and various other things, the Republic was flat broke. (There is a very famous picture of children stacking piles of Weimar marks because the marks were cheaper than buying toys.) It was very politically unstable, and there was a prevailing sense that Germany had been treated very poorly by the rest of Europe at the end of WWI (the Treaty of Versailles basically stated that WWI was Germany's fault, even though, if you remember, it was Serbia and Austria-Hungary who started the whole mess, and Britain, France and Russia as well as Germany who were major players) thus it facilitated a leader such as Hitler, who was totalitarian and who promised a better future (ie, bread) and to regain honor for Germany.