Chapter 1: impact of war, political crises of October 1918, and the establishment of the Weimar Constitution

Question 1

When was the abdication of the Kaiser?

Answer 1

9 November 1918

Question 2

What happened by the end of September 1918?

Answer 2

It had been clear to General Ludendorff and the German High Command that Germany was on the brink of defeat

Question 3

Meanwhile, what took place in Europe?

Answer 3

Germany’s Allies 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

Question 4

What is an ‘armistice’?

Answer 4

An agreement to suspend fighting in order to allow a peace treaty to be negotiated

Question 5

What did US President Wilson’s Fourteen Points offer?

Answer 5

A possible basis for a negotiated peace settlement but Ludendorff understood that Germany’s autocratic political system was an obstacle to this. He, therefore, advocated a partial democratisation of the political system in Germany as a way of getting better peace terms from the Allies.

Question 6

What were the October Reforms?

Answer 6

The Kaiser began a series of reforms that effectively ended his autocratic rule:

• he appointed Prince Max of Baden as his new Chancellor
• the Chancellor was to be responsible to the Reichstag and he established a new government based on the majority parties in the Reichstag, including the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)
• the armed forces were put under the control of the civil government

They amounted to a ‘revolution from above’ which was not only designed to save Germany from humiliation, but also to save the Kaiser’s rule

Question 7

What could be said about the October Reforms?

Answer 7

• Some historians (e.g. Hans-Ulrich Wehler) regard these events as proving their theory that Germany had long been controlled and manipulated by conservative traditional forces.
• Other historians (e.g. Eberhard Kolb) have suggested that the changes coincided with increasing pressure from the Reichstag to bring about political change.
• Ultimately, what pushed Germany was the widespread realisation that the war had been lost.

Question 8

Why was Friedrich Ebert struggling for power?

Answer 8

Pressure from the left:

His efforts to contain the revolution were further threatened for more radical change from the left.

Question 9

What happened on 22 November?

Answer 9

An agreement was reached between the new government and the Berlin workers’ and soldiers’ councils whereby the government accepted that it only exercised power in the name of these councils. This was merely a temporary compromise.

Question 10

Why was there pressure from the army?

Answer 10

Army officers had no wish to see Germany become a republic.

Question 11

What was the Ebert-Groener Pact?

Answer 11

Ebert assured Groener that the government was determined to resist further revolution and to uphold the existing command structure in the army.

Question 12

Opinions on the Pact?

Answer 12

For Ebert, the Pact was a necessary and unavoidable device to ensure an orderly transition to the New Republic. For his critics on the left, however, it was an abject betrayal of the revolution.

Question 13

What took place on 6 December?

Answer 13

A Spartacist demonstration in Berlin was fired on by soldiers, killing sixteen

Question 14

What took place on 6 January?

Answer 14

The Sparticists launched an armed revolt against the government in what became known as the January Revolution, or the Spartacist Uprising. After a week of heavy fighting in Berlin, the revolt was crushed.

Question 15

Give a historian’s quote on the Republic.

Answer 15

The historian William Carr has written ‘The Republic was accepted by many Germans not as a superior form of government but as a convenient means of filling the void left by the collapse of the monarchy.’

Question 16

When were the elections for the Constituent Assembly held?

Answer 16

19 January 1919

Question 17

Why was the constitution established?

Answer 17

It was designed to enshrine and guarantee the rights and powers of the people. Women were allowed to vote for the first time.

Question 18

What were the strengths of the constitution? (1)

Answer 18

The new German constitution provided a wider right to vote than in other countries such as Great Britain and France. Women were able to vote on the same terms as men and they were allowed to become deputies in the Reichstag and state parliaments.

Question 19

What were the strengths of the constitution? (2)

Answer 19

The system of proportional representation enabled eben the smaller parties to win seats in the Reichstag and influence government decisions.

Question 20

What were the strengths of the constitution? (3)

Answer 20

There was full democracy in local government as well as central government. Prussia was not in a position to dominate the rest of Germany.

Question 21

What were the strengths of the constitution? (4)

Answer 21

The constitution also set out clearly the rights of the individual.

Question 22

What were the strengths of the constitution? (5)

Answer 22

Referendums could be called for by the president, the Reichsrat, or by peoples’ request if a tenth of the electorate applied for one.

Question 23

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (1)

Answer 23

The proliferation of small parties:
Smaller parties could gain representation in the Reichstag. This enabled smaller parties- many of which were anti-republican - to exploit the parliamentary system to gain publicity. Proportional representation did not, in itself, create the fragmented party system. This was due to the deep divisions in German society and the lack of a national consensus.

Question 24

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (2)

Answer 24

Coalition governments:
Because of the proliferation of small parties, none of the larger parties could gain an overall majority in the Reichstag. All governments in the Weimar Reoublic were coalitions, many of which were very short-lived.

Question 25

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (3)

Answer 25

Rule by presidential decree:
Article 48 of the constitution gave the President the power to rule by decree in exceptional circumstances. Ebert, the first President, used Article 48 powers on 136 occasions. Some of these could be deemed to be genuine emergencies but Ebert also used his power in non-emergency situations when he simply wanted to override opposition in the Reichstag. He undermined democracy through his overuse of Article 48.

Question 26

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (4)

The survival of undemocratic institutions

Answer 26

The army: It had been largely free from political control in the Second Empire and its leaders were determined to preserve as much independence as they could in the Weimar Republic.

Question 27

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (4)

The survival of undemocratic institutions

Answer 27

The civil service: Under the Weimar Constitution, civil servants were given a guarantee of their ‘well-earned rights’ and of their freedom of political opinion and expression as long as this did not conflict with their duty of loyalty to the state.

Question 28

What were the weaknesses of the constitution? (4)

The survival of undemocratic institutions

Answer 28

The judiciary: Article 102 of the constitution guaranteed the independence of the judges. These men were staunchly monarchist and anti-democratic and showed their bias in their legal judgements. Members of left-wing groups who were brought before the courts were punished with great severity. Right-wing conspirators =, on the other hand, were treated very leniently.