1.4 Political Instability And Extremism 1919-24

Question 1

What did proportional representation create?

Answer 1

No party ever in position to form a government by itself, so there was coalitions

Question 2

What were a large amount of small and large parties dedicated to?

Answer 2

Overthrowing the republic

Question 3

Why did the Scheidemann cabinet resign in1919?

Answer 3

Disagreements on wether to accept the allied proposal or the reparations ultimatum brought it down

Question 4

Why was it difficult to form stable coalitions?

Answer 4

-times of social,economic and political crisis society became more polarised and support for moderate parties decreased

-this meant the extremist parties of the left and right gradually gained support and they refused to join governments-thus making it hard to form a coalition with a majority

Question 5

What brought down Gustav Bauer’s government?(appointed June 1919)SPD

Answer 5

Kapp putsch

Question 6

What brought down Müller’s government?(appointed March 1920)SPD

Answer 6

Election result

Question 7

What brought down Wirth’s government(appointed in May 1921) centre?

Answer 7

Cabinet resigned over partition of upper selesia

Question 8

What brought down cuno’s government(appointed nov 1922)?

Answer 8

Economic crisis

Question 9

What brought down srressmann’s coalition?

Answer 9

SDP left the coalition

Question 10

How many coalition govs existed between Feb 1919 and Nov 1923?

Answer 10

10

Question 11

Who benefited most from the frequent unstable coalition govs?

Answer 11

Extremist parties

Question 12

When is the spartacist rising in Berlin?

Answer 12

Jan 1919

Question 13

When is the second sparcacist uprising in Berlin?

Answer 13

March 1919

Question 14

When are the strikes in Halle and the Ruhr?

Answer 14

April 1919

Question 15

When is the assassination of Hugo Hasse?

Answer 15

October 1919

Question 16

When is the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 16

March 1920

Question 17

When is the beer hall putsch?

Answer 17

November 1923

Question 18

Who led the spartacist uprising?

Answer 18

LW
-Karl Liebknecht
-Rosa Luxemburg

Question 19

Describe what happened with the spartacist uprising in 1919?

Answer 19

Staged an armed uprising in Berlin to overthrow Ebert’s government and set up a revolutionary communist government. They occupied newspaper offices and some public buildings (however the revolt was poorly prepared-not secured majority of Berlin working class)

-by Jan 13th Freikorps had put the revolution down with heavy street fighting

Question 20

What happened to the leaders of the sparcacist revolt?

Answer 20

They were executed

Question 21

Who were the Freikorps?

Answer 21

Former army officers and volunteers but also attracted student, adventurers and drifters

-supplied with weapons and uniforms from army stores but not officially part of the army (less disciplined than the army)

Question 22

Was the end of the sparcacist revolt the end of the rebellion from the left?

Answer 22

No the KPD was still motivated to do despite being in the minority

Question 23

Why were the right wing against the Weimar government?

Answer 23

They did not believe in democracy and accused the politicians of having betrayed Germany with the treaty of Versailles

Question 24

What happened in the Kapp Putsch of 1920?

Answer 24

This was an attempt to overthrow the Weimar government by Wolfgana Kapp and Freikorps leaders. The putsch had the support of Eric Ludendorff, who had been a military general during the First World War.
• They took over Berlin on March 12, 1920, causing the Weimar government to flee. The leaders proclaimed themselves the new government and said the Weimar Constitution was no longer in force.

Question 25

How did the Weimar government overcome the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 25

On November 15, 1918, Friedrich Ebert agreed the Stinnes- Legien Agreement with the leader of Germany’s trade unions. For the unions support, Ebert offered legislation (laws) on hours of work and union representation in the workplace. The majority of soldiers in the German army did not join in on Kapp’s putsch attempt. However, they would not fight the right-wing rebels. Kapp’s opposition movement failed after the trade unions called a general strike, demanding an end to the putsch attempt and a government under the leadership of the SPD. The general strike was widespread and brought Berlin to a standstill. After four days of strike action, the Kapp government fell.

Question 26

How many assassinations were there in Germany from Jan 1919-June 1922?

Answer 26

376 political associations

Question 27

How many assassinations did right wing groups carry out from Jan 1919-June 1920

Answer 27

354 including foreign minister ratenau

Question 28

What is evidence of the judges being right wing

Answer 28

In political assassinations the 326 right wing murderers went unpunished

Question 29

Who was outraged by the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923?

Answer 29

The whole of Weimar society

Question 30

What did the Nazi party alone argue about the French occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 30

November criminals should first be removed from gov before dealing with the French

Question 31

What needed to occur for the Beer hall putsch to succeed?

Answer 31

Needed the support of powerful figures (e.g Ludendorff)

Question 32

Describe what happened in the beer hall putsch of 1923?

Answer 32

8th November burst into a Munich beer hall where Otto Von Lossow and Gustav Ritter Von Kahr were and surrounded it with 2,000 SA announcing the start of the revolution

-sa were unable to gain control of army barracks and it was clear the plan failed but Hitler continued and marched through munch.

Gun battle occurred, Hitler arrested plan fails