Depth study Germany, 1918–28 Flashcards
What was the Revolution of 1918 and formation of the Weimar Government?
By the Autumn of 1918 Germany had clearly lost the war. The Allies offered Germany peace, but under strict conditions. One condition was that Germany should become more democratic and that the Kaiser should abdicate.
Kiel Mutiny:
- On 3rd November 1918, the German navy was ordered out to sea from Kiel to attack British ships. Sailors on the ships refused to follow orders because they no longer wanted to fight.
- News of the Kiel Mutiny began to spread. In ports nearby, other sailors refused to follow orders. Workers in the towns, led by the Socialists, supported them. Soldiers, sent to deal with the protests, joined the sailors and workers.
- They took over towns and set up special councils to run them. In just six days, workers’ and soldiers’ councils were governing cities all over Germany, such as Hamburg and Munich. In Bavaria, an independent Socialist Republic was declared.
- The Kaiser had lost control and on 9 November 1918, he abdicated and secretly left Germany, never to return.
Formation of Weimar Government:
- Friedrich Ebert, the leader of Germany’s largest political party (the Social Democratic Party) became the new Chancellor of Germany on 10th November and promised to hold elections. With the Kaiser’s abdication imperial Germany came to an end and the Weimar Republic was born - this is also known as the November Revolution.
- Meanwhile, Ebert gave the people what they really wanted - an end to the war. On 11 November 1918, Germany surrendered: The First World War was over.
- This became known as Armistice Day - the day Germany signed an armistice (an agreement for peace) which caused the fighting to stop. However, Ebert and his government were often referred to as the ‘November Criminals’ for signing the ceasefire.
A new constitution was drawn up and the first elections for the new parliament took place in January 1919. Ebert was elected the first president of the new German Republic.
What was the impact of WW1 on Germany?
Economic Impact:
- Industrial production was 2/3 of what it had been in 1913
- $38 billion war debt
- 600,000 war widows
- National income was 1/3 of what it had been in 1913
Social Impact:
- The British blocked supplies into germany creating the Turnip Winter of 1916-17
- Almost 300,000 people died from starvation and hypothermia by 1918
- 1.5 million demobolised soldiers returned to society
Political Impact:
- Resentment towards the Kiaser led to the November revolution.
- Conflicts between extremist groups
- New Weimar Government were known as November criminals, cowards, backstabbers
What were the terms of TOV?
LAMB
Land:
- Anschluss (union between Austria and Germany) was forbidden.
- Alsace Lorraine was given to France.
- Germany’s overseas empire was taken away. Former German colonies, such as Cameroon, became mandates controlled by the League of Nations, which effectively meant that France and Britain controlled them.
- Large areas of German land were used to create countries for people who had previously been ruled by others (e.g., Poland and Czechoslovakia). Altogether, Germany lost 10% of its land in Europe.
- The Polish Corridor was a strip of land that the Treaty of Versailles gave to Poland, granting the country access to the Baltic Sea. The corridor was a physical barrier that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Danzig was also taken from Germany and given to Poland.
Armed Forces:
- The German army was restricted to 100,000 men and conscription was banned.
- The Rhineland became a demilitarised zone. This meant that no German troops were allowed in that area.
- The German navy could only have 15,000 sailors, 6 battleships, and no submarines.
- Germany could not have an air force.
Money:
- Germany had to pay a reparations figure of £6.6 billion in instalments.
- France received coal from the Saarland for 15 years.
Blame:
- Article 231 of the Treaty stated that Germany had to take responsibility for starting the war.
- Germany was not allowed to join the League of Nations until it showed that it was a peace-loving nation.
What was the German criticisms of the TOV?
Land:
Germans hated the territorial terms because loss of their oversea colonies took curcial rescouces away from them. Additionally this took away Germany’s world dominance and credibility as a powerful nation leading to a loss of national pride.
Armed Forces:
The reduction in armed fores angered Germnas because they were vulnerable to aggressive nations such as France with just 100,000 men to defend themselves. They were easily invaded since all of the surrounding borders were insecure. They were defenceless to an attack
Money:
Germans hated the reparations because because it crippled the german economy since they couldn’t make money from the saarland and they also had large debts to pay. This led to the government rasing tazes resulting in low living standards
Blame:
The war guilt clause was seen as unfair and as Germany was forced to accept full responsibility when they felt all the countries involved shared responsibility. The war guilt clause made Germans feel humiliated and hurt its national pride
What was the Weimar Constitution?
- In January 1919, Ebert was elected as the new German President
- Ebert signed the Weimar Constitution into law in August 1919. It was a federal republic with a president at its head of state instead of the Kaiser. It divided Germany into states which had their own governments.
- The Reichstag (parliament) would be elected every 4 years by proportional representation - this meant each party got the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it received in an election e.g. if a party won 20% of the vote they gained 20% of the seats.
President (Head of state):
- Elected every 7 years
- Controlled army, navy and air force
The Chancellor (Prime Minister):
- Chosen by the President (not elected)
- Responisble for the day to day running of the country
- Led the Reichstag: must have the support of at least half of the Reichstaf to introduce new laws
The Reichstag (Parliment):
- Members of the Reichstaf were elected every 4 years
- Discussed and introduced new laws
The German people (The Electorate):
- All men and women over the age of 20 could vote
- The consititution guaranteed them basic freedoms such as free speech.
What were the advantages and disadvantages to the Weimar Constitution?
Advantages:
- Guaranteed basic rights such as freedom of speech and vote for all over 20
- people are represente therefore democratic
- Checks and balances - power is layered and distrubuted
- Can be held to account
Disadvantages:
- Had a president with similar power to the Kaiser as he controlled the army
- President is re-elected every 7 years
- Proportuinal representation leads to no majority - no laws passed - nothing improves
Article 48:
- This gave the president the power to act without parliament’s approval in an emergency.
- In an emergency, he could issue decrees (laws) without the support of the Reichstag.
- However, it did not clearly define what an ‘emergency’ was, so the power was overused, which weakened Germans’ confidence in democracy.
- Ebert used Article 48 136 times while in office.
This means the power of the Reichstag is superficial and easily undermined. Undermines democracy and is therfore undemocratic
What was the Spartacist Revolt?
The Spartacist Revolt - a left wing uprising in January 1919.
Aims:
- The Spartacists were a left wing party and were led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
- They wanted to undermine the government and introduce communism.
Actions:
- After Ebert sacked Emil Eichhorn, the police chief in Berlin, who was popular with the workers, thousands of workers took to the streets to protest.
- The Spartacists saw this as their opportunity and called for an uprising and a general strike in Berlin. By 6th January 100,000 workers took to the streets.
- Joined by rebel soldiers and sailors, they set up soviets in many towns.
- They seized the government’s newspaper and telegraph offices.
Government response:
- Some anti-communist ex-soldiers had formed themselves into vigilante groups called Friekorps.
- Ebert made an agreement with the commander of the Friekoprs to put down the rebellion.
- Over 100 workers were killed, even those who surrendered, during what became known as ‘bloody week’.
- On 16th January, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested and killed by the Freikorps.
What was the Kapp Putsch?
The Kapp Putsch - a right wing uprising. March 1920.
Aims:
- Led by Wolfgang Kapp.
- Involved Friekorps units expressing their deep resentment towards the Treaty of Versailles, which they blamed Ebert for agreeing to.
Actions:
- 5,000 armed men marched on Berlin.
- When Ebert ordered the head of the Reichswehr to resist the rebels, he replied ‘Reichswehr does not fire upon the Reichswehr’. The regular army refused to stop the Freikorps.
- They declared a new government and invited the Kaiser to return from exile.
Government response:
- The government seemed to be doomed but it was the workers that came to their rescue.
- The industrial workers of Berlin declared a general strike
- Essential services (gas, electricity, water and transport) stopped, and the capital was brought to a halt.
- After four days, Kapp realised he could not govern. He fled but was caught and put in prison, where he later died.
Additionally - Germany’s foreign minister Walther Rathenau was murdered by extremists in.
Why did the French invade the Rhur?
Occupation of the Rhur:
Causes:
- The first instalment of £50 million was paid in 1921, but in 1922 nothing was paid.
- As a result, in January 1923, 60,000 French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr (a rich, industrial area of Germany) and began to take what was owed to them in the form of raw materials and goods.
Response:
- The German government ordered workers to follow a policy of ‘passive resistance’ –
refusing to work or co-operate with the foreign troops and instead go on strike. In
return the government continued to pay their wages.
What were the impacts of the invasion of the Rhur?
Impact:
- The French responded firmly – in the Krupp steel works, workers refusing to take orders were shot at. Overall, 132 were killed and over 100,000 were expelled from the area.
- The halt in industrial production in the Ruhr meant Germany had no goods to trade. This, coupled with the fact that the government needed to pay the striking workers, the government simply printed money.
- As more money came into circulation, prices and wages rocketed. Prices went excessively high.
- The price of a loaf of bread went from 0.63 marks in 1918 to 201,000,000,000 (201 billion) in 1923.
- From the mid-1922 to mid-1923, prices became 135 times higher.
- Prices increased so rapidly that restaurants stopped printing menus, as the prices would have gone up before people had finished eating.
- People would go shopping with wheelbarrows to carry the amount of money they needed
- By autumn 1923 it cost more to print a note than the note was worth.
What problems did Stresemann solve?
Occupation of the Ruhr:
- Called off ‘passive resistance’ of German workers in the Ruhr. The Ruhr was therefore producing goods again.
- Promised to begin reparations payments again. Signed the Dawes Plan (below) which restructured reparation payments - this persuaded France and Belgium to end the occupation of the Ruhr by 1925.
Hyperinflation:
- Introduced a new temporary currency called the Rentenmark. This could be exchanged for the old currency.
- This stabilised prices and ended hyperinflation as only a limited number were printed meaning money rose in value.
- In 1924 the temporary currency (Rentenmark) was replaced by the Reichsmark, a stable currency that remained for the next 25 years.
Reparation repayments / the economy:
- Dawes Plan in 1924: lowered reparation repayments to be 1 billion marks per year for the first 5 years and then 2.5 billion after that. More significantly, America would lend Germany 800 million gold marks. The money was used to replace old equipment with modern technology, into building public works like swimming pools, sports stadia and apartment blocks.
- Young Plan in 1929: reparation payments were negotiated down from £6.6 billion to £1.8 billion.
What were Stresemann’s foreign policy achievements
The Locarno Pact (1925):
- Signed by Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and Italy: they promised to never invade each other
- Germany agreed to its new border with France and did not try to regain the land it lost in the Treaty of Versailles - this helped get them accepted into the League of Nations.
League of Nations (1926):
- This was a new world organisation that was created in order to discuss conflict between nations and avoid war; Germany was initially excluded
- In 1926 they were invited to join and become a member of the council (the top 5 countries that took the most important decisions of the League)
- As a member of the LoN Stresemann was able to work discreetly on reversing some of the terms of the ToV e.g. Young Plan
Kellogg- Briand Pact (1928):
- 65 countries, including Germany, signed the pact
- An international agreement in which countries promised not to use war as a way of achieving their aims.
What were the cultural achievements of the Weimar Period?
Architecture:
- Bauhaus’ style developed.
- Artists such as Walter Gropius taught at design college in Dessau.
- They rejected traditional design. The first exhibition attracted 15,000 visitors.
- Supressed by Nazis in 1933 and follower f;ed abroad wher it continued. Several apartment blocks are still in use today.
Art:
- Artists like George Grosz produced paintings such as ‘pillars of society’ which critised authority such as powerful businiess and politicians
- In 1927 there were 900 dance bands. This was called caberat
Cinema:
- Produced celebrated directs such as Fritz Lang
- Expressionist film makers favoured darker storylines and themes
What was the Birth of the Nazi party?
- The German Workers’ Party was led by Anton Drexler initially.
- Hitller joined in 1919 and was quickly put in charge of propaganda.
- In 1920 the party announced its 25 Point Programme, and renamed it the National Socialists German Workers’ Party (Nazis)
- Hitler became leader of the party.
- He set up the SA to protect meetings of the Nazis and to disrupt other parties.
What was the Munich Putsch?
- On the night of 8 November 1923, Hitler and 600 SA members burst into a meeting that Gustav von Kahr (the head of the Bavarian government) and Lossow were holding at the local Beer Hall.
- Hitler fired shots into the ceiling and declared that the national revolution had begun. Hitler used exaggerations and lies- he told the men in the building they were surrounded by 600 of Hitler’s men and that there was a machine gun. He also said that the state and national government had already fallen.
- The Bavarian leaders were taken into a small room by Hitler to try and gain support. At the same time, the crowd in the beer hall began to get rowdy. Hitler returned and took to the podium: he gave a passionate speech and changed the mood of the crowd to support him by playing on their nationalism.
- A leading Nazi figure left to collect General Ludendorff- Germany’s wartime leader- who gave Hitler his support. This led to the Bavarian leaders reluctantly agreeing to Hitler’s scheme.
- Hitler crucially left the beer hall- when he returned the Bavarian leaders had abandoned the cause.
- The next day, 9 November 1923, Hitler and the SA went into Munich on what they thought would be a triumphal march to take power. However, Kahr had called in police and army reinforcements. There was a short scuffle in which the police killed 16 members of the SA.
- Hitler crawled away at the first opportunity while Ludendorff was peacefully arrested. Hitler was tracked down two days later and arrested.
