German liberalism as a political movement emerged after the Napoleonic Wars. Alongside reforming domestic political institutions, German liberals also advocated for the ideas of German nationalism and the creation of a unified German state. In fact, the words "nationalist" and "liberal" were synonymous at the time.

However, the revolution of 1848-1849 during the "Spring of Nations" clearly demonstrated the weakness of the liberal camp in Germany. The liberal all-German Frankfurt Parliament failed to become a real power, and all regional revolutions were eventually suppressed by the armies of the German monarchs.

Nevertheless, liberalism did not disappear, and liberals continued to sit in the parliaments of individual German states. However, the failure of the revolution presented them with a dilemma. If it was not possible to simultaneously create a liberal parliamentary unified German Empire, which of these two tasks should be prioritized — national unity or political liberalization? Different groups of liberals answered this question differently.

Some liberals chose to prioritize national unification, even if it meant through the hands of the Prussian authoritarian military-bureaucratic regime. In the mid-1860s, the National Liberal Party was formed, becoming an ally of Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck in the unification of Germany. During the first ten years of the German Empire's existence, the national liberals were the largest faction in the Reichstag and a support for Bismarck. In particular, they fully supported the "Kulturkampf" against Catholics and the "Anti-Socialist Law."

However, over time, the national liberals began to lose ground to Catholics, socialists, left liberals, and even conservatives. The decline was due to a narrow social base, the rise of more "mass" parties, and general disillusionment with liberal economic policies, which led to the crisis of 1873 and the "Long Depression" at the end of the 19th century.

The electoral decline of the national liberals shifted them "to the right" and made them increasingly loyal to the Kaiser regime. They fully supported Germany's colonial expansion, and during World War I, they advocated for large-scale annexations following the Reich's inevitable victory.

The national liberals reacted negatively to the November Revolution of 1918 and the overthrow of the monarchy. Immediately after the proclamation of the republic, a process of reassembling the liberal camp took place. Proposals were made to overcome the historical split and create a unified liberal party, but the perception of the new state system among liberals was so diverse that unification did not occur. The right wing of the national liberals went to the conservatives, the left to the left-liberal German Democratic Party (DDP), and the core, led by Gustav Stresemann, formed the German People's Party (DVP).

In 1919, the party entered the Constituent Assembly, albeit with a modest result of 4.5%. It advocated for the restoration of a constitutional monarchy, great power status, and territorial integrity, so the DVP voted against the Treaty of Versailles and against the Weimar Constitution.

In March 1920, during the unsuccessful Kapp Putsch by volunteer corps against the "Weimar Coalition" government, the party did not openly join the rebels but also did not oppose them in any way.

Opposition to the republic bore fruit in June 1920, when right-oriented voters became disillusioned with the ruling left-liberal DDP and switched to the DVP. Those elections marked its electoral peak, with the party gaining 14% of the votes.

The social support of liberals, both right and left, consisted of employees, officials, academic workers, people of "free professions," traders, small and large property owners. In the latter case, the right-liberal DVP could particularly count on industrialists from the coal mining and metallurgical sectors. These industries were interested in expanding government orders through the militarization of the economy and suppressing the labor movement to increase production. Until his death in 1924, the party's main sponsor was magnate Hugo Stinnes, who advocated for the establishment of an authoritarian dictatorial regime.

As for workers and peasants, the liberals had nothing to offer them. Unifying German liberalism also advocated for limiting the confessional autonomy of the Catholic Church. In doing so, liberals reduced their appeal to Catholics and could therefore rely mainly on support among Protestants.

Over time, the counter-revolutionary sentiment among right-wing liberals began to cool. The party leader Stresemann began to position himself as a "republican by reason" ("Vernuftrepublikaner") — a former monarchist who accepted the republic as a fact of political life and now sought to make it more acceptable to the right. In 1920, the DVP joined the Weimar coalition government along with the Center and left liberals. And in 1923, Stresemann headed the emergency "Grand Coalition" government for several months, which even included social democrats. Germany then faced hyperinflation, a diplomatic conflict with France and Belgium over the occupation of the Ruhr region, and right-wing and left-wing radical putsches in individual German states. Stresemann's cabinet coped with all these challenges and saved the Weimar Republic.

Despite the fact that the "Grand Coalition" fell apart by the end of the year and Stresemann was forced to resign as chancellor, he remained head of the foreign ministry. In this position, he achieved the normalization of Germany's relations with its former enemies in the Entente. In 1924, the Dawes Plan was implemented — the US began providing Germany with cheap loans, which were enough not only to pay reparations but also to develop domestic infrastructure. In 1925, the Locarno Treaties were signed, guaranteeing borders in Western Europe. The Entente's occupation forces began to withdraw early from the left bank of the Rhine. In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations and immediately took a privileged position as a permanent member of the League Council. That same year, Stresemann became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The head of the DVP and foreign minister died of a stroke in October 1929, a few weeks before the crash of the New York Stock Exchange, which marked the beginning of the Great Depression.

Even during Stresemann's lifetime, there was opposition within the DVP to his republican course. For example, large property owners in the coal mining and metallurgical industries reoriented towards more radical authoritarian conservatives. However, after Stresemann's death, anti-republican forces regained control of the party and once again advocated for the dismantling of Weimar in favor of a right-wing authoritarian regime. 

However, this course did not help the DVP, which almost completely lost electoral support amid the economic crisis. From 9% in 1928, the party fell to 4.5% in 1930 and plummeted to 1-2% in 1932. Almost all former liberal voters turned to the Nazis, who appeared as more active and socially-oriented defenders of the "middle class."

In 1932, the DVP supported the right-conservative authoritarian governments of Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher. In the latter case, right and left liberals, with a combined support of 3% of the votes, were the only parliamentary support for the government in the Reichstag.

In March 1933, the few right-liberal deputies voted to grant Hitler's government emergency powers to issue laws bypassing the Reichstag. By July, the party was forced to dissolve itself. 

Reasons for the ultimate failure of right-wing liberals in the Weimar Republic:

• The split of the liberal camp into two parties;

• A narrow social base, limited to the Protestant "middle class";

• During the Great Depression, the "middle class" reoriented towards radical populists from the NSDAP;

After the defeat of Nazism in 1945, the negative experience of the split in the liberal movement in the Weimar Republic was taken into account and overcome. However, the DVP had a reputation as an authoritarian and anti-republican party, so the revival of political liberalism in Germany occurred under the control of those from the more democratic and republican DDP.