Chapter 1 - establishment and early years Flashcards
1
Q
World war 1 background
A
- Germany was a militaristic and nationalistic country
- There was a lot of support for Germany when they declared war in 1914
- The people believed that Germany had a very powerful army so would win the war
- Germany’s people also believed that the allies had encircled Germany, so this war was not aggressive on Germany’s behalf as it was seen as defensive
2
Q
Germany’s problems
A
- Industrialisation caused economic shifts which impacted the working class people massively as their living conditions deteriorated
- Large amounts of money was spent on the first world war
- There was a rise in communism due to more working class people. This may have been motivated by Russia becoming communist a year earlier
- The soldiers who are demoralised by the war could rebel against the government supporting right wing parties
- Religious problems arose as there were protestants, Catholics and Jews
- The rigid class system may cause a revolution as it did in France and Russia
3
Q
Abdication of the Kaiser
A
- Kaiser Wilhelm II was the German emperor between 1888 and 1918
- He gained a reputation of being a swaggering militarist through his speeches and interviews
- He had a disability as his arm didn’t work. This is thought to have made him feel inferior as he attempted to try and disguise this
- At 1:30pm on the 9th of November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was bought the news that his abdication had been announced in Berlin
- His reign was at an end
- By 5:00 pm that afternoon he had been forced to accept what had happened
- He was advised by his companions to travel north into holland in hope of safety as this had remained neutral during the war
- Wilhelm was unsure of what to do as his wife, Empress Dona, was still in Berlin
- It was not until just before dawn on November 10th that a convoy of 10 cars, including the Kaiser’s set off to the Dutch border of Eysen
- When they reached the border, the royal party were kept waiting for 6 hours before being allowed to continue
- Wilhelm complained the next day “I am a broken man. How can I begin life again? My prospects are hopeless. I have nothing left to believe in”
- As Europe celebrated the armistice on November 11th, Wilhelm relaxed at his new place of residence
4
Q
General Ludendorff
A
- He came from a family of nobility
- He was an outstanding military commander which allowed him to be promoted
- Was extremely militaristic so would have really disliked losing the war
- He was very popular and influential
- At the end of world war one, he couldn’t admit that he had been beaten in the war so blamed the war on sinister forces
- This idea of sinister forces being to blame sparked the idea of the 5th column which believed that someone within the country caused the loss of the war. This was later blamed on the Jews
5
Q
peace settlement - democratic system
A
- By the end of September 1918, it had been clear to General Ludendorff and the German high command that Germany was on the brink of defeat
- The allied (Great Britain, France and Russia) armies had not entered German territory yet however, German forces were in retreat along the Western front
- Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s allies (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) were trying to negotiate peace terms
- Ludendorff concluded that Germany’s only hope of avoiding a humiliating surrender was to ask the allies for an armistice
- US President Wilson’s Fourteen Points offered a possible basis for a negotiated peace settlement but Ludendorff understood that Germany’s autocratic political system (one ruler with an absolute power) was an obstacle to this
- Therefore, to overcome this obstacle, Ludendorff publicly recommended a partial democratisation of the political system as a way of getting better peace terms from the allies
6
Q
President Wilson’s fourteen points
A
- Woodrow Wilson was an idealist (someone who envisions an ideal world rather than a real one)
- His fourteen points were devised as one way of dealing with the aftermath of the war
- Some points, such as the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, were quite specific and punishing to Germany
- There were also some other more general points such as the establishment of a league of nations to monitor further disputes
7
Q
Prince Max of Baden
A
- He wanted peace in Germany at the end of the first world war
- He transformed the government into a parliamentary system by giving the SPD chairman Friedrich Ebert the title of chancellor and proclaiming the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm. This marked the beginning of the Weimar Republic
- He kept his distance from the extremes of nationalism
- At the beginning of the first world war, he worked as a welfare worker for prisoners of war
- He was part of the Junker as he as he was the heir to the thrown of the “Brand Duchy of Baden”
- He would be conservative of what already existed in Germany and was therefore right wing
8
Q
The October reforms
A
- In October 1918, after the recommendation from Ludendorff, the Kaiser began a series of reforms that basically ended his autocratic (ruler who has absolute power) rule
- Prince max of Baden was appointed as the new Chancellor
- The chancellor was to be responsible to the Reichstag
- A new government based on the majority parties in the Reichstag was established which involved the German social democratic party (SPD)
- The armed forces were put under the control of the civil government
9
Q
effects of the reforms and how they came about
A
- These reforms were a major constitutional (an established set of principles governing the state) transformation in Germany but they did not come about as a result of popular pressure or pressure from the main democratic parties in the Reichstag
- These reforms came about through a “revolution from above” which was not only designed to save Germany from humiliation, but also to save the Kaiser’s rule
10
Q
The peace note
A
- On the 3rd of October, Prince Max wrote to president Wilson asking for an armistice
- It took nearly 3 weeks for Wilson to reply, mainly because he was suspicious that the German high command was using the request as a means of buying time to regroup and prepare another attack
- When Wilson replied, he demanded that Germany must evacuate all occupied territory, call an end to submarine warfare and fully democratise its political system
- These terms effectively demanded a German surrender and the Kaiser’s abdication, which were too much for Ludendorff to accept
- Ludendorff tried to gather support for a last ditch effort to resist but failed so fled to Sweden after resigning
- The reforms had failed to achieve his objectives
11
Q
The impact on German people
A
- The news that Prince Max’s government was asking for an armistice was a shattering blow to the morale of German people and to the armed forces
- The peace note was a statement of acknowledgment that Germany had lost the war
- This was the first occasion on which the German people had learned the truth about their country’s hopeless military situation
- The peace note undermined their respect for the country and his military and political leaders
- Before this, Germany’s need were becoming even more desperate, the bread got worse, milk got thinner and the men at the front (soldiers) were enraged
- Civilians who had lived through the hardship of food shortages were no longer prepared to show this restraint
- Many soldiers and sailors lost respect for their officers
- The Kaiser was increasingly seen as an obstacle to peace but he refused to abdicate
- On the 22nd of October, during a strike in Friedrichshafen, workers shouted “the Kaiser is scoundrel” and “up with the German republic”
- On 28th October, when the German navy’s high command had ordered ships from Wilhelmshaven to attack British ships, the crew of two cruisers refused to obey orders
- The naval revolt was the beginning of a much broader revolutionary movement
12
Q
The November revolution of 1918
A
- The unrest in the navy spread to the main German naval base at Kiel
- On 3rd November 1918, sailors there mutinied against their officers and took control of the base
- On 4th November, the naval revolt spread to the city and workers’ and soldiers’ councils were established
- This establishment of councils was similar to what the Soviets had done in Russia during the revolution in 1917
- Despite attempts from the government to meet the demands of the mutineers, the revolt continued to spread to many other German ports and cities
- By the 6th November, there were workers and soldiers councils being established all around Germany
- Although it seemed to outsiders that Germany was on the verge of a communist revolution like Russia’s, these revolts were not led by radical socialists but by patriotic Germans who wants the Kaiser to abdicate and a democratic republic to be established
- Once the authority of military officers, government officials and police had successfully been challenged, the collapse of the regime happened with extraordinary speed
- On the 8th November, a republic was announced in Bavaria and the Bavarian monarchy was removed. This was thought to be a decisive moment in the German revolution as it clearly showed Prince Max had lost control
- On November 9th 1918, the SPD called workers in Berlin to join a general strike to force the Kaiser to abdicate
- The workers also threatened to withdraw support for Prince Max’s government unless the Kaiser abdicated within 24 hours
- Max knew he was unable to govern without the support of the SPD, so when the Kaiser still refused, Max, on November 9th, released a press statement claiming the Kaiser had abdicated. This was a very desperate move
- On the same day, Prince Max resigned as Chancellor and gave the position to Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the SPD
- At the same time, Phillip Scheidemann, another leading SPD figure, stood on the Reichstag balcony and declared that the German republic now existed
- All of these events happened before the Kaiser had actually abdicated.
- Later on November 9th, General Groener told the Kaiser that the army would no longer fight for him which was the point when the Kaiser had completely lost control and had no choice but to abdicate
13
Q
The Ebert-Groener Pact
A
- This was signed on November 10th 1918 and was a deal between Friedrich Ebert and General Groener, of the army
- This pact meant that the army would crack-down on any left wing uprisings that were a threat to the new government and in return, the army would be able to retain its independence
- For Ebert, the pact was a necessity and an unavoidable device to ensure an orderly transition to the New Republic
- This was seen as betrayal by Ebert’s left wing critics
14
Q
The struggle for power
A
- Ebert was not a revolutionist (someone involved in complete or dramatic change) but he believed in evolutionary change through winning a majority in parliamentary elections and the introduction of changes
- However, even though Ebert had been chosen by Prince Max as the new chancellor because he was the leader of the majority party in the Reichstag, he had come to power through a revolutionary act
- Ebert was conscious of the fact that his government lacked legitimacy so he was determined to establish a new constitution as quickly as possible
- His priority, after agreeing the armistice with the allies on November 11th, was to organise elections for a constituent assembly (someone who draws up a new constitution)
15
Q
Pressure from the left
A
- Ebert’s efforts to contain the revolution were further threatened by pressure for more radical changes from the left
- Ebert could not ignore the fact that the workers’ and soldiers’ councils, through which the USPD and sparticsts had gained a foothold, had been very active in the early stages of the revolution and were not going to allow Ebert’s government to make key decisions without reference to them
- On November 22nd,an agreement was reached between the new government and Berlin workers’ and soldiers’ councils where the government accepted that it only exercised power by the authority of these councils
- This agreement was only a temporary compromise
- Many people in the USPD, whose leaders were part of Ebert’s government, saw the councils as the true expression of the revolutionary will of the people
- The left wing people believed that the autocratic system of government would not be abolished unless the aristocratic estates were broken up, the army, civil service and judiciary were democratised, and the key industries were brought under state control (nationalises) under workers’ control
16
Q
Pressure from the army and the Ebert Groener pact
A
- The survival of Ebert’s government depended on the support of the army
- Most army officers came from aristocratic backgrounds, had been loyal to the Kaiser, vigorously opposed democracy and had no wish to see Germany become a republic
- In late 1918, however, the political situation in Germany was highly unstable and many officers believed that Germany faced the danger of a Bolshevik revolution – like in Russia in October 1917
- This revolution would lead to civil war and possibly occupation by allied forces
- As Ebert and his cabinet prepared for elections that would be held in January 1919, the struggle for power continued
- On December 6th a Spartacist demonstration in berlin was fired on by soldiers which killed 16 people
- On December 23rd-24th, a sailors’ revolt against the government in Berlin was put down by the army. In protest, the 3 USPD ministers in the government resigned
- On January 6th, the Spartacists launched an armed revolt against the government in what become known as the January revolution or the Spartacist uprising. This was crushed after a week of heavy fighting
