What were the main strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic?

What were the main strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic?

The Weimar republic had all the hallmark of a representative democracy and looked marvelous on paper. German citizens were guaranteed freedom of speech and religion. All German citizens were to be equal and all adults (men and women) over the age of twenty could vote and elect the President and the Reichstag (Parliament). The Parliament appointed the government and made all the laws

However, there were two major flaws in the system that eventually helped destroy the Republic. The parliament was elected through a system of proportional representation. This meant there were lots of small parties in parliament, making it impossible to pass legislation and resulting in weak and often short-lived governments.

Another flaw was Article 48, which granted the president, under certain circumstances, the power to act without parliament’s approval. However, it did not clearly define what ‘under certain circumstances’ was, so the power was abused. Hitler used Article 48 to issue decrees and allowed him to rule under what amounted to martial law.