The Weimar National Assembly governed Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 from February 6, 1919 to June 6, 1920 and drew up the new constitution

Weimar constitution

The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic...

 which governed Germany from 1919 to 1933

History of Germany

The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul , which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the...

, technically remaining in effect even until the end of Nazi rule

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 in 1945. It convened in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

 and is the reason for this period in German history being known as the Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

.

With the end of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the start of the November Revolution, Chancellor Max of Baden decided for the abdication

Abdication

Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...

 of the German Emperor

German Emperor

This article is about the emperors of the German Empire. For full list of German monarchs before 1871, see List of German monarchs.The German Emperor was the official title of the Head of State and ruler of the German Empire, beginning with the proclamation of Wilhelm I as emperor during the...

 William II

William II, German Emperor

Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...

 on November 9, 1918. The Council of the People's Deputies

Council of the People's Deputies

The Council of the People's Deputies was the name given to the government of the November Revolution in Germany from November 1918 until February 1919....

, a provisional government consisting of three delegates from the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 (SPD) and three from the Independent Social Democratic Party

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...

 (USPD), took over the executive power on the following day and called for a National Congress of Councils on December 16 to 21 to convene in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. It decided for parliamentary elections to take place on January 19, 1919.

The elections

German election, 1919

The German elections of January 19, 1919 were the first of the new Weimar Republic following World War I and the Revolution of 1918–19. It was also the first German election according to the system of proportional representation and women's suffrage...

 yielded a 38% majority for the SPD, with the Center Party

Centre Party (Germany)

The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...

 getting 20% of the votes, the German Democratic Party (DDP) over 18%, the right-wing German National People's Party

German National People's Party

The German National People's Party was a national conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the NSDAP it was the main nationalist party in Weimar Germany composed of nationalists, reactionary monarchists, völkisch, and antisemitic elements, and...

 (DNVP) just over 10%, and the USPD over 7%. The German People's Party

German People's Party

The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...

 (DVP), Bavarian Peasants' League

Bavarian Peasants' League

The Bavarian Peasants' League was an agrarian political party in Bavaria, Germany, from 1870-1933. It has also been known in English as the Bavarian Farmers' League....

 (BB), German-Hanoverian Party (DHP), Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie

Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie

Schleswig-Holsteinische Bauern- und Landarbeiterdemokratie was a regional agrarian political party based in Schleswig-Holstein during the Weimar Republic...

 (SHBLD), and Brunswick Election-Union (BLWV) each attained less than five percent of the vote. The Communist Party

Communist Party of Germany

The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...

, founded in December 1918, boycotted the elections. The parties were attributed a number of seats proportional to the number of votes they received.

The National Assembly met in Weimar for several reasons: the politicians wanted to avoid the ongoing fights in the capital Berlin, and SPD leader Friedrich Ebert

Friedrich Ebert

Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .When Ebert was elected as the leader of the SPD after the death of August Bebel, the party members of the SPD were deeply divided because of the party's support for World War I. Ebert supported the Burgfrieden and...

 wanted to remind the victorious World War I Allies

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

, who were at the time negotiating a peace treaty

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...

 with a German delegation, of Weimar Classicism

Weimar Classicism

Weimar Classicism is a cultural and literary movement of Europe. Followers attempted to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical and Enlightenment ideas...

, which included the likes of Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

 and Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

. The assembly convened for the first time on February 6. On February 11, it elected Friedrich Ebert President of Germany

President of Germany

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...

. With Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the second Chancellor of the Weimar Republic....

 (SPD) as Chancellor, the SPD, the DDP and the Center Party formed a coalition government

Coalition government

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

 which would go into history under the name Weimar Coalition

Weimar Coalition

The Weimar Coalition is the name given to the coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , the German Democratic Party , and the Catholic Centre Party, who together had a large majority of the delegates to the Constituent Assembly that met at Weimar in 1919, and were the principal groups...

. On June 23, after long and arduous debates, the government ratified the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

. On July 31 the Weimar Constitution

Weimar constitution

The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic...

, which was based on a draft by the DDP member Hugo Preuß, was passed by the assembly, and Ebert signed it into law on August 11.

After the first elections based on the new constitution took place on June 6, 1920, the Reichstag

Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...

 took over the role of the National Assembly.

Presidents of the Weimar National Assembly

Name	Party	Entered Office	Left Office
Eduard David Eduard David Eduard Heinrich Rudolph David was a German politician. During the Weimar Republic he was the Minister of the Interior from 21 June 1919 to 3 October 1919....	SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...	February 7, 1919	February 13, 1919
Conrad Haussmann (acting)		February 13, 1919	February 14, 1919
Konstantin Fehrenbach Konstantin Fehrenbach Constantin Fehrenbach was a German Catholic politician who was one of the major leaders of the Centre Party. He served as President of the Reichstag in 1918, and then as President of the Weimar National Assembly from 1919 to 1920...	Centre Party Centre Party There are several self-described centrist political parties with the name Centre Party.Nordic Agrarian parties most typically use this name.-Active parties:: Åland Centre: Estonian Centre Party: Centre Party: Centre Party: German Centre Party: Centre Party: Center Party: Lithuanian Centre Party:...	February 14, 1919	June 21, 1920