Reichstag Fire.

The years following World War I were chaotic ones for Germany. Defeat in war and the humiliation of the peace at Versailles made the populace bitter, frustrated, and angry. They vented their frustration on the Allies, on Jews and other non-German peoples, and above all on the Weimar Republic, which had been created to replace the monarchy. The first wave of turmoil arose from 1918 to 1923, but it subsided as economic conditions improved in the second half of the 1920’s. The Weimar Constitution appeared to be working very well, but the outbreak of a worldwide economic depression in 1929 led to a new swell of political agitation based on hatred of certain races and classes.