1918 - 1939 Important Knowledge Flashcards
What did the German Navy do in 1918?
Refuse to follow orders from their captains
Why were people fed up with Kaiser Wilhelm II being in charge?
The war had been going on too long, food shortages
When did the Kaiser step down from power?
He abdicated on the 9th November 2018 and Germany was declared a democracy
Why was it called the Weimar Republic?
It was the name of the town the new government held its first meetings in
Who was the first President of the Weimar Republic?
Friedrich Ebert
What sort of a political party was the SDP?
Moderate, pro-democracy
What was Proportional Representation?
The system of how people voted in the new democracy
How did the PR voting system work?
The percentage of seats a political party got in the Parliament (Reichstag), matched the percentage of the vote they received. Each Party got one seat for each 60,000 votes received
What was the name of the Communist uprising in 1919?
The Spartacist Uprising
What was the name of the Nationalist uprising in 1920?
The Kapp Putsch
Who were the Freikorps?
Demobilised soldiers from WW1
How did the Freikorps feature in political violence between 1919 and 1923?
They supported the Weimar Government in putting an end to the Communist uprising and then supported Dr. Kapp’s nationalist uprising
How many political murders were there between 1919 and 1923?
376 political murders
Why did the French invade the Ruhr?
The Germans were falling behind on reparations
What was special about the Ruhr?
It was rich with raw materials like oil and coal and it was where heavy German industry was based
How did the German people respond to the French occupiers?
They refused to cooperate
Why did hyperinflation happen?
The German government had to print more and more money to pay the striking workers in the Ruhr
What was the new currency he introduced?
The Rentenmark
Why did the Dawes Plan help Germany?
It gave American loans to Germany to help rebuild its economy so that it could get richer and pay back reparations to France in a more stable way
What were the key parts of the Locarno Treaty in 1925?
Germany accepted its border with France and there was an agreement the Rhineland would be free of soldiers
When was Germany accepted into the League of Nations?
1926
What was the point of the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928?
Countries agreed that war would not be a political aim.
What happened to support for moderate political parties like the SDP between 1924 and 1928?
Increased from 50 to 58%
How did the economy get better to help working class German people?
The amount businesses produced doubled from what it had been before World War One
How did changes in society help liberate women?
“New Women” - women began to wear short skirts and cut their hair short
How did women still face inequality at work?
They got paid less
Why did extreme political parties get more angry with the Weimar Republic during the 1920s?
Angry with Stresemann’s agreement to keep paying reparations and the acceptance of Germany’s new borders with other countries
How did big business actually not do as well during the Golden Twenties?
They were forced to increase wages and lost power and profit
What did some men show their displeasure with about the changing role of women?
They thought changes were inappropriate and also thought their traditional role as men were threatened
Why did extreme Parties dislike the extreme changes in art and culture?
They didn’t like the fact money was being spent on art, they saw it was extravagant. They felt money should be going to help working people. Nationalists did not like the fact German culture was being “reinvented”
