1.2 Early challenges to the Republic, 1919-23

Question 1

Why was the Republic so unpopular between 1919-23

Answer 1

• Armistice was blamed on the politicians who ran the Weimar Republic as their were the ones who accepted it.
• The new Republic thus technically started with surrender, which wasn’t a strong start.
• Treaty of Versailles terms

Question 2

Treaty of Versailles

Answer 2

Signed on 28th June, 1919.

• Was popular with the German people because they suffered because of the war.
• Made Weimar republic unpopular.
• Diktat
• War Guilt clause 231
• 6.6 billion pounds in reparations
• Lost all colonies
• 100,000 men in army
• Lost land

Question 3

Dolchstoss

Answer 3

Stab in the back

• German people didn’t believe their army had been defeated; it technically wasn’t but it was well underway. Betrayed by politicians.
• Even Ebert (the chancellor) greeted the army by saying they weren’t defeated.

Question 4

What lands did Germany lose in the Treaty of Versaille

Answer 4

• Alsace lorraine to France
• Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium
• Posen and West Prussia to Poland; put a million Germans under polish rule, but off east Prussia from the rest of the country.
• Plebiscites were to take place in Upper Silesia (went to Poland) and Northern Schleswig (went to Denmark)
• Danzig was made international port
• Saar fields went to France for 15 years.
• In total, 10% of people and 13% territory

Question 5

November criminals

Answer 5

people resented the leaders of the new German republic who signed the Treaty of Versailles, who became known as ‘November Criminals’.

Question 6

Right wing parties

Answer 6

Wanted a return to strong government, with strong army, headed by a powerful leader (like a Kaiser).

• Supported capitalism (private ownership of land and business)
• Championed families, law and order and traditional values.
• Place the interests of the nation over the individual.
• In 1919 the DNVP (National Party) was main right-wing party.

Question 7

Left wing parties

Answer 7

Wanted Germany to be controlled by the people.

• Opposed capitalism and wanted to abolish private ownership of land and business, putting them in the hands of workers.
• Internationalists who stressed cooperation, rather than independence of nations.
• KPD (Communist party) was the main left-wing party in 1919.

Question 8

Left and right wing challenges in Reichstag

Answer 8

Moderate coalitions were struggling while being constantly attacked by extremist politicians.
- National assembly had moderate parties 77% of the seats, dropping to 45% in the Reichstag

Question 9

The Spartacist Revolt

Answer 9

Left-wing uprising by Communists. January 6th 1919

• Backed by Soviet Union and well-funded.
• The Spartacist league were extreme socialists from the USPD, the Independent Socialist Party based in Berlin.
• Led by Rosa Luxemburg (‘red rosa’) and Karl Liebknecht
• Ebert sacked the police chief in Berlin on the 4th who was popular with the workers. thousands of workers protested on the streets and the spartacists saw their chance to undermine the government.
• Called for a general strike on Berlin on the 6th and seized the government’s newspapers and telegraph offices. The Weimar Government was losing control of the capital
• Workers were mainly unarmed
• By 13th January the rebels had been driven off the streets.
• On the 16th January luxemburg and Liebnecht were arrested and killed by Freikorps.

Question 10

Freikorps

Answer 10

Since the army was so weak (100,000 men max due to ToV) Ebert had to turn to Freikorps to handle the the Spartacist revolt.

• ex-soldiers with mostly right-wing ideologies
• About 250,000 men were in the Freikorps by March 1919
• Ebert used these to target the Freikorps

Question 11

When was the spartacist uprising

Answer 11

6th January 1919

Question 12

Who were the leaders of the spartacists

Answer 12

Rosa luxemburg (red rose) and Karl liebnicht

Question 13

The Kapp Putsch

Answer 13

Right wing uprising from the Freikorps in March 1920

• Freikorps were due to be disbanded and feared unemployment
• Five thousand armed men marched on Berlin
• Government members fled to Weimar and Stuttgart, where they urged people to go on strike.
• This meant essential services stopped, and after four days Wolfgang Kapp (the guy they put at the front of the Kapp Putsch) fled and was put into prison. The rebellion was easily stopped after Wolfgang Kapp realised he could not govern

Question 14

Political assassinations 1919-23

Answer 14

• Hugo Haasse, one of Ebert’s Council of People’s Representatives, was murdered in 1919
• Matthias Erzberger, the politician who signed the surrender to the Allies in 1918, was shot and killed in August 1921
• Walther Rathenau, the Weimar foreign minister, was machine-gunned to death in Berlin in June 1922
• In total there were 376 political murders between 1919 and 1923
• Mostly left-wing murders. Not a single right0wing murderer was convicted and executed. Judges sympathetic to the right-wing even undermined the Weimar Republic in the courts.

Question 15

KPD private army

Answer 15

Rotfrontkämpfer (Red front fighters)

Question 16

DNVP supporter army

Answer 16

Stahlhelm (Steel helmets)

Question 17

SPD private army

Answer 17

Reichsbanner Schwartz-rot-gold (black red gold flag)

Question 18

When was the Kapp Putsch

Answer 18

March 1920

Question 19

French occupation of the Ruhr

Answer 19

In December 1922, Germany couldn’t send coal to France so France just took over the Ruhr in January 1923

• Workers went on strike and the French arrested those who obstructed them. The French also brought in their own workers.
• Germany’s army was no match to France’s 750,000 men
• Crippled Germany, as the Ruhr held about 80% of German coal, iron and steel reserves.
• Increase Germany’s debt, unemployment and worsened shortage of goods.

Question 20

When did the French occupy the Ruhr

Answer 20

January 1923

Question 21

Hyperinflation cause

Answer 21

• Shortages meant the price of things went up
• Government needed money to pay debts, unemployment and failing factories meant they received less tax
• Government income was only a quarter of what they needed
• Printed more money (bad move)
• Initially, the government could pay its reparations again, but made inflation worse
• The prices kept rising, more money was printed, prices rose again…
• By 1923, something costing 1 mark in 1919 cost 200,000 billion marks

Question 22

Hyperinflation effects

Answer 22

• Normal living became impossible; baskets and wheelbarrows of money were used; workers paid twice a day so that they could buy goods before the prices became higher
• Everyone suffered from shortages; Foreign suppliers refused to accept German marks for goods, so imports dried up and shortages of food and other goods got worse
• Saved money became worthless, so bank accounts and insurance policies…
• People with loans saw their owned money drop down, some big businessmen borrowed money and profited because value of debts went down
• Other people hoarded goods and sold them for large profits
• Foreign visitors benefitted, as their own currency rose to the German mark.

Question 23

When did Gustav Stresemann become chancellor

Answer 23

August 1923