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Republic without republicans
The term republic without republicans refers to a situation in which a state is a republic, yet there is little or no supporting republicanism to be found amongst the population and/or the political elite. In such a situation, most people would actually prefer to found a new monarchy or restore an abolished dynasty, or – in a broader sense – oppose democracy. GermanyIn historiography, the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) is often branded a republic without republicans.[1] According to professor of modern European history Jeffrey Herf of the University of Maryland, College Park, this is because nobody in interwar Germany from the political right, centre or left was really pleased with it:
This lack of commitment to, and even opposition to, republican and democratic values in society, primarily coming from what is termed the 'conservative revolution', would largely pave the way for Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party to seize power in 1933, replacing the Weimar Republic with the Third Reich.[2] A famous historical cartoon by Thomas Theodor Heine that strengthens the idea of a republicanless Weimar Republic appeared in the magazine Simplicissimus of 21 March 1927: Germans from different social classes are carrying the letters "REPUBLIK"; the adjoining caption reads: Sie tragen die Buchstaben der Firma – aber wer trägt den Geist? ("They are carrying the company's letters, but who is carrying the spirit?").[3] The term itself is much older than interwar Germany. In 1804, the German reactionary monarchist August von Kotzebue already called the Cisrhenian Republic (1797–1802) a Republik ohne Republikaner.[4] FranceAt the opening of the British House of Commons on 1 February 1849, Benjamin Disraeli, one of the three Conservative opposition leaders, said about the French Second Republic (1848–1852):
The term has also been applied to the French Third Republic (1870–1940) in 1873.[5][6] References
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