Page 28 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

chapter one

The British Diplomats

When sir Horace rumbold arrived in Berlin in august 1928 to begin his
tenure as British ambassador, he had every reason to expect a calm and
uneventful period of service. true, during its first few years, the Weimar
republic, established in 1919 shortly after Germany’s defeat in World War i,
experienced almost constant political instability, in large measure the con-
sequence of deep disappointment in the unexpected military defeat, the
imposition by the victorious allies of huge reparations as well as territorial
losses in the eastern and western parts of the country, and finally, the eco-
nomic stagnation followed by hyperinflation. in addition, the allies had
placed stringent restrictions on the size of the country’s military, which pre-
vented Germany from regaining its pre-1914 status as a major world power.
several of the most prominent institutions—the army, the civil service, the
judiciary, and the educational system—remained in the hands of individuals
who despised the new political order. that right-wingers were implacable
foes of the “Weimar system,” as they called it, became evident in 1920 when
some of them attempted to overthrow the constitutional order; for a few
days it seemed as though they might succeed. Further evidence of the coun-
try’s political instability is that during the first nine years of the republic’s
existence no fewer than nine chancellors (prime ministers) held that office.
But by 1928, stability and prosperity seemed to be within reach. Germany’s
economy had rebounded; the sage foreign minister, Gustav stresemann,
appeared to be on the way to securing significant concessions, financial and
territorial, from the Western powers; and the political discourse was much
less passionate than it had been in some time. there was reason to be opti-
mistic about the country’s future.