1.2 Opposition, Control and Consent - Weimar Republic Flashcards
Exam revision
What did the Treaty of Versailles impose?
Guilt Clause 281
lost land
army limited to 100,000 troops
reparations: 132,000 million gold marks
What was the Treaty of Versailles?
Diktat - dictated peace
harsh settlement unilaterally imposed
What was the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on public opinion?
utilised as a campaigning point for opposition politicians
resentment
stirred by newspapers
What did the unemployed men returning from war form?
private armies
Who was dismissed, triggering the Spartacist uprising?
popular police chief in Berlin and radical USPD member Eichorn
When was Eichorn dismissed?
4 January 1919
Who united in the Spartacist uprising?
Spartacists, USPD members and union officials
What happened on 6 January 1919 in the Spartacist uprising?
thousands of armed workers took key buildings
eg. newspaper offices
What happened to the government in the Spartacist uprising and why?
Ebert moved it to the Weimar, concerned as this was how Russian Revolution started
What happened to the Spartacist uprising?
Crushed by Freikorps, leaders Liebknecht and Luxemburg executed
Which states did the communists take over and set up their own governments?
Bavaria
Saxony
Thuringia
What happened in Bavaria taken over by the communists?
put down by the army
What happened in Saxony and Thuringia taken over by the communists?
Reichsexecution - federal government removed state government and replaced by military government
Saxony: ‘troops were greeted with cheers’
Who supported the right-wing?
wealthy landowners
army
industrialists
teachers, passed beliefs on to students
When was the Kapp Putsch?
12 March 1920
Who led the Kapp Putsch?
Kapp
Luettwitz and Ehrhardt (Freikorps leaders)
Ludendorff (WW1 general)
What happened in the Kapp Putsch?
Berlin taken and government fled, proclaimed themselves the new government
most of army didn’t join but wouldn’t fight
How was the Kapp Putsch resolved?
trade unions called a general strike = almost universal
4 days later Kapp government fell
Kapp died in prison, but others given short sentences
When was the Munich Putsch?
8 November 1923
Who led the Munich Putsch?
Hitler and Ludendorff
What happened in the Munich Putsch?
Similar to Mussolini’s ‘March on Rome’
SA surrounded beer hall where von Kahr and other officials were in a meeting
announced Bavarian and national governments were deposed and they would be forming a new government
How was the Munich Putsch resolved?
one by one those in Beer Hall escaped and organised resistance
only 500 Nazis showed up for march on Berlin in the morning
taken prisoner after short battle with police
What happened at Hitler’s trial after the Munich Putsch?
gave a widely reported speech on his beliefs
sentenced to 5 years but possible early release
wrote Mein Kampf in prison
showed he needed to gain power legally
When was the Stinnes-Legien agreement?
15 November 1918
What did Ebert agree to in the Stinnes-Legien agreement?
legislation on working hours and union representation in exchange for their support
What did both the Ebert-Groener and Stinnes-Legien pacts have in common?
secret
did not know about the other
What was the voter turnout like?
consistently high
1919 - 83%
November 1932 - 81%
What was pro-constitution party results like?
1919 - 81%
November 1932 - 35%
What was anti-constitution party results like?
1919 - 18%
November 1932 - 58%
Which parties were pro-constitution?
SPD, DDP, DVP
Which parties were anti-constitution?
KPD, USPD, NSDAP
How is it shown that the SA was successful at suppressing political parties?
1932 - 51 parties stood
March 1933 - 14 parties stood
What were SPD votes like when the government was successful?
1924 - 131 seats
1928 - 153 seats
Why was there lopsided control?
differences between response to left and right wing opposition
eg. army, judiciary
What happened when the government failed?
right wing president elected
nazis voted in
What even showed support for the Weimar Constitution?
1923 - Saxony welcomed Reichsexecution, ‘troops were greeted with cheers’
Which had more public support, the government or the constitution?
constitution
