WEIMAR REPUBLIC
The elections confirmed the position of the SPD as the leading political force, at 38% votes; as a result, Ebert became President, and Scheidemann Chancellor. Weimar was chosen as the seat of government, which was the scene of the greatest achievements of the German Enlightenment, and not Berlin, tainted by its monarchical and militaristic past.
A new constitution was written, lauded as the most liberal and progressive in the world. Its goal was a complex system of balance of powers. The nation was formally the source of power, and the state was given a quasi-federal structure, to curb the excessive domination of Prussia. Executive power was shared by a very complicated system between the President (who, in necessary cases, could rule by decrees) and the government of the Reich. The deputies of the Reichstag were elected by a proportional system from party lists.
This seemingly glorious document, however, was hopelessly idealistic for a nation so unfamiliar with democratic practices and responsibilities. No attempt was made to ban the activities of parties hostile to the system, which allowed for ferocious attacks on the republic by extremists from both sides of the political spectrum. The application of the proportional system without any minimum percentage of votes favored a parliament divided into many opposing factions. As a result, the Weimar government cabinets were highly awkward coalitions, which lasted an average of eight months, and different ministries often pursued conflicting policies.
CHEST
The First World War overthrew the accepted cultural assumptions and demolished social hierarchies. In a state of ferment on the political scene, Culture has become another field of battle. The Dada movement was primarily against bourgeois values, which in 1919 he moved from Zurich to Berlin. The Dada Manifesto was announced, then the First International Dada Fair took place in July and August, during which the movement sided indirectly on the side of the revolutionary forces.
The right wing found it particularly outrageous when it hung from the ceiling, a stuffed officer's dummy with a pig's head, signed "Hanged by the Revolution”. All this was a suitable prelude to the next decade.