Empire to Democracy 1914-1929: Society Flashcards
What is the evidence for patriotism decreasing as the war progressed?
Army had to rely on conscripts from 1916
What was negatively affecting Germans by 1918?
- The toll of 4 years of war
- Food shortages
- Spanish flu
When did the Weimar Republic grant women the right to vote and what did it lead to?
- 1920
- Led to 111 women being elected to the Reichstag
How were Jewish people increasingly assimilated into German society?
- Made up 16% of Germany’s lawyers
- Made up 11% of Germany’s doctors
- Although only made up 1% of population
What was the period of 1924-1929 in Germany referred to as and why?
WHAT:
The time of stability
WHY:
- Political unrest ceased
- Period of increased living standards
- Age of mass consumerism and living culture
When was conscription into the army introduced and who could be conscripted?
- 1916
- Every man fit between the ages of 17 and 60
How did war effect the lives of women?
- Many sought to employment to compensate for their husbands at war
- Working class women left their domestic services for factories
- Wage differences decreased
- By 1918 over 1/3 of the total workforce was female and 25% had become union members
How did war effect the lives of families?
- Working/absent parents left children neglected
- Education was interrupted due to teachers going to war
- Poorer families suffered from malnutrition
- Nearly 40% of all children in Germany suffered from rickets during the war
What is some of the evidence to support the appalling conditions in Germany in 1918?
- Civilians reduced to starvation due to food levels diminishing (many lived on no more than 1000 calories a day)
- Electricity supplies cut to conserve energy
- Businesses couldn’t function
- Spanish flu caused 500,000 deaths
How were workers affected by the 1923 currency crisis?
Had to be paid daily or twice a day at the height of hyperinflation
How did the 1923 currency crisis affect German society?
- Young people couldn’t get jobs
- Pensions were badly hit (including war widows living on state pensions)
- Those who purchased fixed interest rate war bonds lost out due to the payments becoming worthless
- Landlords who relied on fixed rents were badly affected
- White collar workers lost their savings and pensions
How did the 1923 currency crisis/hyperinflation benefit society?
- Those who had debts, mortgages and loans could pay off all the money they owed
- Helped enterprising businesspeople who took out loans and repaid them when the currency further devalued
- Those with property who paid long term fixed rents gained due to the real value of their rents decreasing
- Owners of foreign exchange benefitted
What were the events during the expansion of social welfare from 1918-1927?
1920- War victims’ benefits were added to social welfare system + war related pensions provided for invalids, widows and orphans (more than 2.5 million people)
1922- Youth Welfare Act established a youth service to promote physical and social fitness
1923- National Insurance System extended the agreement between doctors and insurance companies to provide for the treatment of state supported patients
1924- Public assistance programme replaced older poor relief legislation
1925- Accident insurance programme allowed diseases linked to certain types of work to become insurable risk
1927- An act concerning Labour exchanges and unemployment insurance extended protection to 17.25 million workers
What schemes did the government of the Lander create for social improvement?
- Improved schools, hospitals, roads, electricity supplies
- Initiatives to provide affordable homes
- 179,000 dwellings built in 1925 (70,000 more than 1924)
- 1926- 205,000 more new homes built
How did welfare programmes negative affect society?
- In 1923, when many became unemployed, the system nearly collapsed
- The high taxation the schemes demanded led to friction between the elites and workers
What was the percentage of women in employment in 1925 compared to 1907?
1925- 35.6%
1907- 31.2%
(Mainly white collar jobs as female employment in domestic services and agriculture declined)
How were women’s lives improving?
- Number of women going to higher education increased
- Large numbers of female doctors and teachers
How were women still suffering within society?
- Both left and right political parties still believed women belong at home + assumed they would stop working when they married and would stay at home to have children
- Even the League of German Women’s Associations which had over 900,000 members encouraged women to undertake social work due to it being most fitting to their ‘natural qualities’
- Active resistance to women in the workplace