descent into chaos Flashcards
when was the armistice signed?
11 novemeber 1918
When was the treaty of versailles?
signed june 1919
What was the stab-in-the-back-myth?
- germans refused to believe that their armed forces had actually been defeated
- quickly aided and abtteed by senior army officers, a fateful myht gained currency among large sections of the public which provided an explanation for the germans’ defeat
- army stabbed in the back by enemies at home- the unpatriotic, weak politician
- the army had been a formidable fighting force until the end of the war and could have won
- but, as Hindenburg and Ludendorff claimed, the army had been victim of secret, planned, demagogic campaign which had doomed all its heroic efforts to failure
- germany had been defeated by pacifists and socialists who undermined the war effort
- the new civilian government from october 1918 failed to support the military which provoked unrest throughout germany which culminated in the revolution of November 1918 when these same unpatriotic elements ‘the november criminals’
- the new government signed an uneccessary armistice and accepted the humiliating versailles peace terms
*
What was the significance of the stab-in-the-back-myth?
- used to cricise the democratic weimar republic
- the asscoiation the wemar republic had with germany’s undeserved defeat and humiliating peace treaty weakened the prospects for weimar democracy
- wildly believed and reinforced hostility toward weimar republic
- useful to anti-republican right
- absolved military from responsibility fpr their own failings in 1918 and they played popular resentment of the treaty thereby gaining support
- gave many germans an acceptable framework to to explain defeat and such accusations of treachery gave the anti-republican right a misplaced belief in the morality of their illegal actions
What evidence is there to demonstrate the extent to which the ‘stab in the back myth was significant?
- the nationalist DNVP’s percentage of the vote increased from 10.3% in January 1919 to 14.9% in June 1920
*
What happened to the Land in the treaty of versailles?
- The Rhineland-
was to become a demilitarized zone to act as a buffer between France and Germany. It was occupied by the allies for 15 years
administered by Germany but no fortifications allowed and no military forces to be garrisoned within the area
- The Saar-
Its rich coalfields were to be controlled by France
Controlled by the League of Nations until 1935, when it voted to remain German
- Alsace-Lorraine-
The majority of the populations of the two provinces spoke French ( Metz many spoke German). Alsace was mainly an agricultural area. Lorraine which contained rich iron deposits became a French province 1766. They were annexed by German Empire in 1871. Weimar republic did not press for their return but Hitler annexed them in 1940 after his defeat in the war.
- Danzig-
made a free city under the league of nations’ control
- The Polish Corridor-
German was cut into two to give Poland access to the sea. The majority of the population lost were polish, but over a million Germans now came under polish control without being consulted. Danzig was taken from Germany
What was decided about the Reparations in the Treay of Versailles?
- The allies set up a reparation commission to decide on the exact amount to be paid.
- Reparations were set in 1921, in the meantime Germany was made to hand over merchant ships of more than 1600 tons
- and a quarter of its fishing fleet;
- It was to build 200,000 tons of shipping a year for the allies for the next five years
- forced to pay the cost of the army
- and to agree to the sale of German property in allied countries.
- Germany made liable to pay for physical damage caused in the war (most of which went to france and Belgium)
- also for war pensions (went to Britain).
- The actual amount of compensation was left to a commission to decide.
- In the meantime, 20,000 million marks of reparations (mainly paid in goos e.g. industrial goods) were paid
- . In April 1921 the Allies fixed the total amount at 132,000million gold marks over 30 years.
What was decided about Rearmament in the treaty of versailles?
- Section V In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes strictly to observe the military, naval and air clauses i.e.
- the abolition of conscription and reduction army to 100,000 men.
- No tanks or military aircraft allowed
- Navy limited to 6 battleships
- 6 cruisers
- 12 destroyers
- 12 torpedo boats
- no submarines allowed
What was decided about War Guilt in the treaty of versailles?
- To make Germany pay the allies had to assert the principle of German liability.
- German response to the idea of war guilt was one of anger and bewilderment. Politician of the republic attempted to have this clause dropped from the final treaty to no avail.
Why was the treay so harsh?
- Britain France and Belgium decided Germany be made pay for the war. ( the countries had borrowed lots of money from America in 1923 the French owed America $4000 million).
- President Wilson disagreed believing Germany should be made reparation in compensation only where international laws had been broken (e.g. the invasion of Belgium and damage to civilian property).
- British and French public opinion was strongly in favour of reparations. Lloyd George believed pensions and money paid to bereaved families be paid by the Germans.
- In april 1919 President Wilson agreed to the French and British demands because he did not wish to see George Lloyd or Clemenceau voted out of office in their countries for failing to deliver on reparations.
- lloyd george came under significant political pressure from home to support the french idea of imposing damaging reparations on germany. to establish germany’s liability for reparations article 231 was included making germany soley responsible for the outbreak of war depite wilson’s objections
What was the reaction to the Treaty of Versailles within Germany?
- great resentment in germany at article 231 ‘war guilt’ clause and the fact that the treaty was harsher than wilsons fourteen points
- anger that the terms of the treaty were not in line with the condition on which germany had laid down her arms
- settlement was imposed a diktat (dictated peace)
- foreign minister, count brockdorff-rantzau suggested open refusal of the treaty because its terms would be impossible to fulfil and that it would lead to bitter resentment among german people
- 20 june 1919 rather than accept the treaty chancellor scheidemann’s government resigned and a new government was formed under prince max of baden
- 21 june 1919 german sailor’s mutiny; uprisings in germany forced the kaiser, the princes, the king of bavaria, and the duke of baden to abdicate
- new government in the town of weimar led by chancellor gustav bauer of the SPD accepted that germany did not have the means to resist an allied invasion and had no choice but to sign the treaty, the constituent assembly finally did so 237 votes to 138
- *
How did the treaty help to undermine the Weimar republic?
- the harsh treatment of germany after the war proved to be a considerable burden for weimar democracy and a powerful cause of the persistent revisionism on the part of many groups in the following years
- the legend of the stab in the back gained currency in the summer of 1919 therefore for many people, democracy becam synonymous with national humilation and increasingg economic ruin
- the lengthy allied military occupation of parts of western germany along the rhine valley intensified german nationalism in the areas affected
To what extent was the Left a threat to the republic?
the weimar coalition would always face a a sharp antagonist with some significant popular support but never one that could comman a majority even of workers, the flame of revolution was not an idea that most germans found inspiring
Explain the legitimisation of violence in post-war germany?
- germany failed to make the transition from wartime back to peacetime as the treaty of versailles united every part of the political spectrum in a determination to overthrow its central provisions, restore the lost territories end the payment of reparations an re-establish germany as the dominant power in central europe
- military models of conduct became all-pervasive
- language of politcs was permeated with metaphors of warfare- politics became war by other means
- terror and violence became legitimate weapons in the political struggle
- parliament degenerated into shouting matches
- poltical parties associated themselves with organised armed squads of thugs in the streets whose job it was to guard meeting and impress the public by marching with military order
- these paramilitary organisation always maintained a greater or lesser degree of autonymy
- assasinations were widely used
- those who became more violent included former soldier and young men for whom civil violence became a way of legitimising themselves in the face of thepowerful myth of the older generation of front soldiers
- the young war-time generation experienced the war as a great and thrilling game between nations which provided more excitement and satisfaction than peace could offer
- the influence of propaganda presented violence as a necessary and patriotic act
- this was the underlying vision of nazism
What evidence is there to demonstrate to what extent violence was legitimised in post-war germany?
