Describe the problems that affected Germany at the end of World War I.

As World War I ended, Germany was faced with unrest and the danger of a communist takeover, such as the one that had recently occurred in Russia. To avert that, German politicians quickly agreed to establish a democratic republic, called the Weimar Republic. This may not seem radical to people living, say, in the United States, which has always been a republic. However, it was a radical move in Germany, a country or group of kingdoms that had always been governed by princes. Many people from the start believed it was unnatural to have a government elected by the common people: they felt only a king was appointed by God and that only he had special authority to rule. Therefore, the republic began with lukewarm support. The clergy, for example, hated it for trying to impose taxes on the church and for threatening to take away the churches' control of the schools.
Second, Germany had another morale problem after the war, as many people believed the country's defeat was due to a "backstab" by powerful Jews. To make matters worse, the Versailles Treaty caused an unemployment problem after World War I by severely limiting the size of the German army. Before and during the war, the army had been a large employer and was a respected way for a young man without connections or wealth to rise up in the world. Once that avenue was cut off, many disaffected, unemployed men roamed the streets, feeling betrayed and alienated. They were ripe for recruitment in the many Freikorps or independent armed groups springing up around the country, many of which eventually coalesced into the Nazi Party.
Punitive reparations payments demanded of Germany in the Versailles Treaty put further economic strains on a country that had already been pummeled by a major war. After the war, Germany was hanging on by a thread, a once mighty nation brought to its knees and looking for a savior to make it strong again.