Coalition government

A coalition government brought several parties together so that they could support legislation. During the Depression, disagreements about how to tackle the economic crisis made that cooperation increasingly difficult.

In Czechoslovakia, a post-war coalition government shared power between communists and non-communists. Stalin regarded a government outside full communist control as a threat to his buffer zone. In 1948, a communist coup led by Klement Gottwald, with Soviet support, consolidated communist control.

Parties therefore formed coalition governments, sharing power despite differences over policy. Disagreements could obstruct legislation or bring a coalition down. There were six coalition governments between 1924 and 1929: greater stability had not produced a permanently united government.

Hitler headed a right-wing coalition government that included the Nazis and the German National People’s Party, or DNVP. Papen became vice-chancellor. Only three cabinet members were Nazis: Hitler, Frick as Minister of the Interior, and Göring as a minister without portfolio, meaning without a specific departmental responsibility in that cabinet.