... collapse in the fledgling democracy. Under this strain, the Weimar system, having been deserted by its principally middle-class supporters, who had been hit the hardest by the financial collapse, lost almost all of its popular backing. The political instability and high unemployment caused by the Wall Street Crash led to the polarization of German politics, and thus led more people to support the right-wing Nazi party, while at the same time depriving its democratic rivals of votes (although it should be remembered that extreme left-wing parties were also beneficiaries of the Crash). The discredit of the Weimar republic was partially due to the Wall Street Crash; as people suffered from the economic depression, they blamed the political system. Under the Kaiser, Germans had enjoyed prosperity (despite a humiliating defeat in the First World War), and many were unsatisfied with the new democratic system of government. At the same time as ...

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