AP European History

## Learning Outcomes

- Explain how the **Great Depression** damaged confidence in parliamentary democracy across Europe
- Identify why **Weimar Germany** was especially vulnerable after **1929**
- Understand how **Article 48** and presidential cabinets weakened democratic government in Germany
- Recall key dates, figures, and statistics linked to the collapse of Weimar democracy
- Compare Germany with other European cases such as Austria and Czechoslovakia
- Build stronger AP exam answers using causation, comparison, and qualification

## AP European History Syllabus

For the AP European History, you are expected to understand how the Great Depression weakened democracies in interwar Europe, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the **Great Depression** spread internationally after the **1929 Wall Street Crash** through trade, finance, and shrinking credit
- Identify why Germany was especially exposed because recovery in the 1920s depended heavily on **American loans**
- Explain how the collapse of parliamentary coalition politics in **March 1930** marked a major turning point in Weimar Germany
- Understand how **Article 48** allowed rule by emergency decree and weakened the Reichstag
- Recall **Heinrich Brüning’s** austerity and deflation policies and why they increased hardship
- Know the scale of German unemployment by **1932**, at about **6 million**
- Identify how extremist parties, especially the **Nazi Party**, gained support between **1930** and **1932**
- Compare democratic collapse in Germany with other outcomes in Austria, Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. Why did the Great Depression hit Weimar Germany especially hard?
2. What was **Article 48**, and why did it matter in the collapse of democracy?
3. How did Brüning’s economic policies affect public support for moderate parties?
4. Why did the Depression help extremist parties in Germany more than in Britain?
5. Name one country where democracy survived the Depression and one where it collapsed.

## Introduction

The Great Depression was not just an economic disaster. In Europe, it became a political crisis because it made many elected governments look helpless. When banks failed, unemployment rose, and living standards fell, people began to doubt whether parliamentary democracy could solve modern problems at all.

For AP European History, this topic matters because it links economics to politics. You need to show not only that the Depression caused suffering, but also how that suffering damaged moderate parties, increased support for extremists, and opened the way for authoritarian rule. **Weimar Germany** is the central case, but strong answers also use comparison and avoid claiming that economic crisis produced the same result everywhere.

> **Key Term: Great Depression**
> The worldwide economic crisis that began after the 1929 crash and deepened with the banking crisis of 1931, causing unemployment, falling trade, and political instability.

### Why economic crisis turned into political crisis

The Depression weakened democracies because it attacked the basis of political legitimacy. Voters do not judge governments only by constitutions and ideals. They also judge them by whether they can maintain jobs, savings, food supply, and public order. When millions lost work and banks seemed unsafe, moderate democratic leaders looked ineffective.

The crisis became worse because governments often responded in ways that deepened the downturn. Many clung to the **gold standard**, which limited their ability to expand the money supply. Many also cut spending and tried to balance budgets, even though this reduced demand further. If workers lose wages, they buy fewer goods. If fewer goods are bought, factories cut production. Then more workers lose jobs. This is the kind of vicious cycle that made the Depression politically explosive.

> **Key Term: gold standard**
> A monetary system in which currency values were tied to gold, limiting governments’ flexibility during economic crisis.

One reason students miss the full significance of this topic is that they describe the crash but do not explain the chain of effects. The stronger chain is:

- credit shrank
- banks failed
- savings were threatened
- businesses lost access to loans
- production fell
- unemployment rose
- tax revenue fell
- welfare burdens increased
- governments looked weak
- extremist parties gained support

This issue belongs mainly to the AP theme of **states and other institutions of power**, but it also connects to **poverty and prosperity** and **national and European identity**. Economic pain did not remain economic. It fed fear, anger, and blame.

> **Test Tip:** In an LEQ or DBQ, do not stop at “the Depression caused poverty.” Add at least two more steps: explain how poverty damaged confidence in moderate parties and how that opened political space for extremists or authoritarians.

### Weimar Germany: why democracy was especially fragile

Germany was the clearest example of democratic breakdown during the Depression because its republic already had weak foundations before 1929. The **Weimar Republic** was associated by many Germans with military defeat in **1918**, the humiliations of the **Treaty of Versailles**, and the trauma of **hyperinflation in 1923**. That means the Depression did not create instability from nothing. It intensified old weaknesses.

> **Key Term: Weimar Republic**
> Germany’s democratic government from 1919 to 1933, created after World War I and destroyed when Hitler came to power.

Germany’s economy also depended heavily on American loans in the 1920s, especially through the reparations system associated with the **Dawes Plan** and **Young Plan**. That made recovery look stronger than it really was. When American credit dried up after **1929**, Germany lost the outside support that had helped stabilize it. This is a major causation point: Germany was not merely poor; it was financially exposed.

The immediate political turning point came in **March 1930**, when Chancellor **Hermann Müller** resigned during a dispute over unemployment insurance. That moment matters because it marked the collapse of normal coalition government. From then on, Germany increasingly relied on presidential authority rather than parliamentary agreement.

President **Paul von Hindenburg** appointed **Heinrich Brüning** as chancellor. Brüning could not secure a stable Reichstag majority, so he governed through **Article 48** of the Weimar Constitution.

> **Key Term: Article 48**
> A clause in the Weimar Constitution allowing the president to govern by emergency decree during crises, bypassing normal parliamentary approval.

This is one of the most exam-worthy distinctions in the topic. Germany did not fall in one dramatic moment from democracy to dictatorship. First, it shifted from parliamentary government to what historians often call **presidential cabinets**.

> **Key Term: presidential cabinets**
> Weimar governments from 1930 to 1933 that depended mainly on the president’s emergency powers rather than a Reichstag majority.

That shift mattered because it hollowed out democracy from within. Elections still occurred for a time, but parliamentary bargaining stopped being the real basis of government. Students often say Hitler destroyed democracy in 1933. That is true in the final sense, but the AP exam rewards answers that show the earlier erosion. Democracy was already badly weakened by 1930–1932.

### Brüning, austerity, and the rise of extremist parties

Brüning’s response to the Depression was deflationary **austerity**: spending cuts, tax increases, wage reductions, and limits on relief. Part of his logic was financial orthodoxy. Part was strategic: he hoped harsh measures would prove Germany could not continue reparations payments. But whatever the aim, the social result was brutal.

> **Key Term: austerity**
> Policies designed to reduce government deficits through spending cuts, tax rises, and reduced support, often worsening hardship during depression.

By **early 1932**, German unemployment had risen above **6 million**, roughly **30%** of the workforce. That figure is worth remembering because it shows why abstract loyalty to constitutional government weakened so quickly. Parliamentary democracy seemed to deliver joblessness, deadlock, and cuts.

Brüning’s policies also helped make **Article 48** seem normal. On **July 16, 1930**, after the Reichstag rejected his finance bill, it was issued by emergency decree. When resistance continued, parliament was dissolved and new elections were called. That sequence was disastrous. It turned constitutional emergency rule into a routine tool of government.

The beneficiaries were the extremist parties. The **Nazis** rose from a fringe force to a mass party:

- **1930**: **18.3%** of the vote, **107 seats**
- **July 1932**: **37.3%**, **230 seats**
- **November 1932**: **33.1%**, **196 seats**

The **Communists** also gained support, which further fragmented the Reichstag. Many voters on both extremes believed the system itself had failed. That made compromise harder, which then made emergency rule more common, which then damaged democracy further. This feedback loop is central.

The Nazis benefited for several reasons at once. They attacked Versailles, blamed Jews and Marxists, promised national revival, and appeared dynamic while moderates looked passive. They also benefited from elite fear of communism. Conservative politicians and business interests often preferred authoritarian solutions to the risk of socialist unrest.

> **Test Tip:** If a question asks why the Nazis rose, do not write “because of unemployment” alone. Pair economic misery with constitutional weakness, elite fear of communism, anti-Versailles anger, and Nazi propaganda.

Hitler was appointed chancellor in **January 1933**, but that appointment should be seen as the result of both long-term and short-term causes. Long-term: weak democratic legitimacy, Versailles, hyperinflation, elite conservatism. Short-term: Depression, austerity, Article 48, electoral gains, and political deadlock.

### Beyond Germany: collapse, survival, and comparison

AP essays improve sharply when they compare Germany with other countries. The Depression weakened many democracies, but not all in the same way.

**Austria** is a strong second case of democratic collapse. Economic hardship, political polarization, and parliamentary paralysis helped Chancellor **Engelbert Dollfuss** move against democracy. In **March 1933**, he suspended parliament. In **February 1934**, socialist resistance was crushed in the Austrian Civil War. A new authoritarian **corporatist** constitution followed on **May 1, 1934**.

> **Key Term: corporatist state**
> An authoritarian system organized around state-supervised occupational groups rather than competitive parliamentary party politics.

Austria shows that the Depression could destroy parliamentary democracy even without a Nazi electoral path identical to Germany’s. It also helps with an important distinction: not every anti-democratic regime was the same. Dollfuss’s Austria is often called **Austrofascist**, but it was also anti-Nazi and sought Austrian independence.

Romania also moved away from parliamentary democracy, with the **Iron Guard** representing a fascist ultranationalist current and **Carol II** imposing royal dictatorship in **1938**. But be careful: in some eastern and central European states, the Depression reinforced authoritarian systems already developing rather than creating them from scratch.

The best contrast case is **Czechoslovakia**. It suffered from the Depression, especially because of its industrial and export economy. Ethnic tensions also sharpened, particularly in the Sudetenland. Yet parliamentary democracy survived internally until external destruction in **1938–1939**. That matters because it proves the Depression did not automatically end democracy everywhere.

Britain also held onto constitutional government. The **National Government** formed in **1931** showed strain, but the crisis remained within parliamentary forms. France faced instability and polarization, yet the **Popular Front** under **Léon Blum** in **1936** answered crisis through elections and reform, not dictatorship.

So the best overall judgement is qualified: the Depression weakened democracies across Europe, but collapse depended on preexisting fragility, constitutional design, party division, elite choices, and national political culture.

> **Key Term: democratic resilience**
> The ability of democratic institutions to survive economic and political crisis without collapsing into dictatorship.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The Great Depression spread internationally after **1929** and deepened with the **1931** banking crisis
- Economic crisis weakened democracy by destroying confidence in governments’ ability to protect jobs, savings, and order
- Germany was especially vulnerable because its 1920s recovery depended heavily on **American loans**
- The **Weimar Republic** was already weakened by defeat in World War I, Versailles, and hyperinflation
- **Hermann Müller’s** resignation in **March 1930** marked the breakdown of normal parliamentary coalition politics
- **Article 48** allowed emergency decrees and helped undermine the Reichstag
- **Heinrich Brüning’s** austerity policies deepened hardship rather than restoring confidence
- German unemployment reached about **6 million** by **1932**
- The Nazi Party made major electoral gains in **1930** and **1932** as moderate parties lost support
- **Hitler** was appointed chancellor in **January 1933**, but the erosion of democracy had begun earlier
- Austria is a strong example of Depression-era democratic collapse through authoritarian corporatism
- Britain, France, and especially **Czechoslovakia** show that the Depression did not destroy democracy everywhere

## Key Terms and Concepts

- Great Depression
- gold standard
- Weimar Republic
- Article 48
- presidential cabinets
- austerity
- corporatist state
- democratic resilience


Global Economic Crisis - Great Depression weakened democracies