crisis years Flashcards
When was the Kiel mutiny which precipitated Germany’s defeat in World War I?
october 1918
What is name of the Peace Treaty that was signed in June 1919?
treaty of versailles
What was the name of the clause that blamed Germany for the war?
Article 231, the War-Guilt Clause
What were the 5 key consequences for Germany once the Treaty of Versailles was signed?
a. Germany were blamed for starting the war
b. Armed forces reduced to 100,000 men (volunteers), no armoured vehicles,
submarines or aircraft and only 6 warships.
c. Reparations £6,600 million – it took until the 1980s to pay this.
d. Lost its empire – now controlled by the League of Nations.
e. Military banned from the Rhineland – on Germany’s boarder with France.
What did the Weimar’s Bill of Rights promise?
a. Many didn’t accept guilt for starting the war.
b. The reparations and loss of industrial areas led to an economic crisis and living
standards dropped dramatically.
c. Lost pride and some ‘German’ areas now lived under foreign rule.
When and where was the Weimar Republic declared?
. 1919, Weimar, in Germany
Who became President of the Weimar Republic in 1919?
Freidrich Ebert – Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Why was the government based at Weimar?
There was a lot of violence in Berlin.
What was the force set up to keep the peace in Germany?
The Freikorps.
What was the Reichstag?
German Parliament
List FIVE differences in the Constitution, 1914 versus 1919.
a. Elected president not hereditary Kaiser
b. Chancellor responsible to the Reichstag, not to the Kaiser
c. Reichstag made laws and controlled the government (not the Kaiser)
d. Proportional representation (before only males over 25 could vote)
e. Bill of Rights
What is Proportional Representation?
. It’s where the number of seats a party wins in Parliament is worked out as a proportion to the number of votes they win – leading to lots of political parties in the Reichstag – making it harder to get laws passed.
What was the Stinnes-Legien agreement?
a. Deal between the Trade Unions and Business leaders – Unions not interfere with private ownership/employers allow legal recognition, 8 hour day and workers committees
Name FIVE problems the Weimar government faced, 1919-1923
a. Ineffective Constitution
b. Left-wing rebellions
c. Right-wing rebellions
d. Invasion and hyperinflation of 1923
e. Munich Putsch
Which article of the Constitution gave emergency powers to the President?
Article 48
Who was leader of the army in the 1920s, and how did he damage the Republic?
Von Seeckt - he was right-wing and did not put down right-wing rebellions
Who led the Spartacist Revolt in 1919?
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht
Where did a Communist ‘People’s Government’ come to power in 1919?
Bavaria
What Communist group rebelled in the Ruhr in 1920?
Red Army - a paramilitary group
Who led a Freikorps brigade to rebel against the Versailles Treaty, March 1920?
Dr Wolfgang Kapp
Which DDP foreign minister was assassinated in 1922, and why?
Walter Rathenau - becase he made a treaty with Communist Russia
Why did many right-wing troublemakers get away with their crimes?
Because right-wing judges sympathised with their cause
Where did the French invade in January 1923?
. The Ruhr
What was ‘hyperinflation’, and what caused it?
Runaway rising prices. It was caused by the government printing money to pay striking workers, who had gone on strike to oppose the French invasion
What did Bruno Buchrucker do?
led the Black Reichswehr rebellion in Berlin, October 1923
Who founded the Nazi party?
Anton Drexler
Which FOUR groups of people did Hitler blame for Germany’s problems?
a. the Allies who enforced the Versailles Treaty
b. The November Criminals who signed it
c. The Communists
d. the Jews (who he said were behind it all)
Give SEVEN causes of the Weimar government’s problems
a. Right-wing politicians hated the Versailles Treaty and wanted the Kaiser back.
b. Officials were disloyal and hated the government.
c. Communists wanted world revolution/hated the new government.
d. Army was unreliable.
e. Proportional representation prevented one party getting a majority.
f. Occupation of the Ruhr humiliated the Germans and led to hyperinflation.
g. Printing money to pay strikers.
