THE KAPP PUTSCH HAD SUCCEEDED?
INTERVIEW WITH
ERIC WEITZ
Eric Weitz is a Professor of History, specialising in modern German and European history. He is the author of A World Divided: The Global Struggle For Human Rights In The Age Of Nation-States and Weimar Germany: Promise And Tragedy.
What was Germany like in the two years following World War I?
Germany was very divided and fragmented, and the shadow of the war hung over everything. Two million German soldiers were dead, another three million wounded – psychically as well as physically. The defeat itself was highly contested. German troops had been in France and far into Russia, so some extremists claimed that Germany had never been defeated. It was a totally specious claim because there were no resources left to fight. But that’s the infamous stab in the
