Establishment of the Weimar Republic and its Early Problems Flashcards
1
Q
treaty of Versailles
A
B - blame
R - reparations
A - armed forces
T - Territory
2
Q
blame
A
- germany forced to accept blame for starting ww1
- war guilt clause
- by accepting blame they also accepted reparations to pay the allies back
3
Q
reparations
A
- set at £6.4 billion
- strain on weak german economy
- struggled to pay monthly installments that began in 1922
4
Q
armed forces
A
- german military reduced in numbers (maximum 100,000 troops) - abolition of air force
- conscription and tanks banned
- navy - 15,000 personnel and only 6 battleships - no submarines
- humiliated germany
- vulnerable of attack from east and communist west
5
Q
territory
A
- lost territory of Alsace-Lorraine
- forbidden from stationing troops west of the river Rhine - demilitarised zone
- size of germany decreased by 10%
*
6
Q
kapp putsch
A
- march 1920
- right wing Wolfgang Putsch
- led 15,000 Freikorps to seize berlin
- Freikorps had control of berlin for 4 days - military had strong right wing beliefs
7
Q
spartacist uprising
A
- march 1919
- communist Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg
- want to replicate russian revolution and overthrow central government
- 50,000 workers on strike
- protests ended by anti-communist Freikorps
- over 100 workers killed in the ‘bloody week’
- leaders arrested and executed
8
Q
causes of the hyperinflation crisis
A
- economic mismanagement
- workers going on strike
9
Q
facts about hyperinflation crisis
A
- loaf of bread rose from 20 marks to 200,000 million marks
- people would burn their money to start fires
- make their money into blankets
- rush to the shops straight after being paid to ensure their money was not worthless
10
Q
who benefitted from the hyperinflation crisis
A
- landowners with assets
- those with mortgages and debt
- german aristocracy
- jews - kept their money in banks outside of germany
- political extremists
11
Q
who were the ‘losers’ of the hyperinflation crisis
A
- middle classes - savings in banks were worthless
- elderly - pensions became worthless
- working class - did not affect jobs but had to live in poverty
12
Q
rebellions as a result of hyperinflation
A
- communists took over the governments of Saxony and Thuringia
- communists took over the Rhineland and declared its independence
13
Q
what was the role of the kaiser
A
essentially acted a figurehead
14
Q
the abdication of kaiser wilhelm
A
- 9/11/1918
- lack of German resources led to military decline
- kaiser unwilling to sign peace treaty
- fled to the netherlands
- was unsuccessfully tried for war crimes
15
Q
what happened after the abdication of the kaiser
A
no clear leader caused the nation to tail off into separate groups
