what does 'contingency' mean among historians??

Question

in context to the weimar republic...........pls help

Answer 1

Some historians think that (some) historical developements was an inevitable outcome (i.e not dependent on some contingency).

For instance, some historians think Nazism was a an inevitable result of German history, and not driven by contigent events.

Other historians - like Henry Ashby Turner - however. "has argued that there was much "contingency" in the Weimar period and that in the early 1930s there were four ways Germany could go politically:

Nazi Dictatorship
Communist Dictatorship
Military Dictatorship
Continuation of democracy

In his 1996 book Hitler's Thirty Days To Power: January 1933, Turner presented a case that it was the actions of a few individuals, such as German president Paul von Hindenburg, Franz von Papen, and Kurt von Schleicher, that enabled Adolf Hitler to come to power through semi-legal means. Political incompetence and personal rivalry between Papen and Schleicher ultimately led to Hitler being named chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. ..."