Experience Of Germany From 1918 - 1923 Flashcards
1
Q
Kiel Mutiny
A
- November Revolution
- 3rd of November, 1919
- Supreme Naval command ordered a launch attack on the superior British fleet (last minute suicide mission)
- Sailors in Port Wilhelm Shaven refused = mutiny spread to nearby naval Port of Kiel
2
Q
Significance of the Kiel Mutiny
A
- High command lost control control of their navy and lost their trust = has no care to fight their integrity
- Political issue = spread beyond to workers, soldiers
- Political Council formed as a result of Kiel demanded republican and socialist reform
- Reform = abdication of several German royals and Kaiser Wilhelm II
3
Q
Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II
A
- Wave of unrest in Northern Germany + fall of monarchy in Barvaria increased the removal of Kaiser
- High command also agreed for the sake of Germany but the Wilhelm II resisted
- General Wilhelm Groener (Ludendorff’s successor) told him he has no support by the army/the nation
- Few hrs later = Kaiser left Germany -> exile in Holland for the rest of his life, 10th of November 1918
4
Q
Significance of the Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II
A
- Germany a republic (led by a civilian gov + not a monarch), the country would now be run by the Reichstag
- Power handed to a government by the leader of the left-wing social Democratic Party, Friedrich Ebert (chancellor)
- End of imperial Germany -> a democratic Germany
5
Q
Armistice
A
- 8th of November, 2 days after President Wilson informed Germany government about the armistice
- Matthias Erzberger (minister) + other members of German armistice commission left Berlin
- Arrived at the private railway car of Marshal Foch (Allied commander in-chief), in forest of Campiègne near Paris
- They had to agree with the armistice in 72hrs
- Attemepted to modify therms but rejected by the Allies
- German representitives signed armistice at 5am on the 11th of November
- War ended 6hrs later
6
Q
Significance of the Armistice
A
- End of World War I
- Led to the ‘stab-in-the-back’ myth which was a myth that the soldiers/army were the ones betrayed by the civilian government
- Undermines the authority of the newly formed gov and those who were tasked to sign it
- Does not lead to sound foundations upon which a democratic Germnay could be securely formed
7
Q
Formation of Weimar Republic
A
- Elections held on 19th January, 1919 even though political violence and unrest in Germany
- First meeting of new German parliament took place on 6th of February, 1919 in a quiet town of Weimar well away from the strife in Berlin some 200km north
- In Twentieth century gave name to new experiment in German Democracy, the Weimar Republic
- Friedrich Ebert Since November, handed power back to newly elected parliament. Parliament in turn elected him as first President.
8
Q
Significance of the Formation of Weimar Republic
A
- Monarchy fell down and Germany became a democratic country
- Article 48, potentially to create dictator ship and created too much power to the President
- Didn’t support democracy
- Proportional government made small coalitions that didn’t work that made instability
9
Q
Spartacist Uprisings
A
- An Extreme Left of German Politics (Spartacist League) then declared as the Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
- Led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg
- Inspired by Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917 who came to power over the moderate socialists
- War ended, still suffering
- 3 million War-weary troops came back to a country with severe food shortages, hardships and unemployment (Berlin, Jan 1919, 250000)
- 5th of Jan 1919, the Spartacists revolted in Berlin and Bavaria (took violent action against the Government)
- Key buildings were seized: railway station, office of the socialist newspaper Vorwärts
- Ebert anticipated revolt, Dec 1918 appointed fellow socialist Gustav Noske to be Defence Minister
- Gustav saw Freikorps (volunteer groups, right-wing ex-soldiers) more reliable to repress and counter any threats from the extreme left
- 15th of Jan Freikorps crushed the communists and hung Luxembourg and Liebknecht
10
Q
Impact of Spartacist Uprising
A
- Ebert had regained control of Berlin but had to heavily rely on right wing Freikorps, undermining the states credibility
11
Q
Reaction to the Treaty of Versailles
A
- Lloyd George thought that the treaty was too harsh, saying “We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years time”
- The British diplomat Harold Nicolson called it “neither just nor wise” and the people who made it “stupid”
- The economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that reparations would ruin the economy of Europe
12
Q
Unrest in Bavaria
A
- The unrest in Germany towards the end of the war had spread to the state of Bavaria when on the 4 November the socialist Kurt Eisner claimed power and declared a socialist republic
- In February 1919 Eisner was assassinated and the communists declared a communistic republic in the political chaos that followed
- The government of Berlin used the Freikorps once again to suppress the revolts and 500 people were killed by the end of May
- The use of the Friekorps by the socialist government led to great distrust amongst the parties of the left
13
Q
Paris Peace Conference
A
- 18th of Jan, delegates from 32 countries met in Paris to make ‘peace’ after the WWI
- The conference was dominated by the leaders David Lloyd George (Britain), George Clemençeau (France) and Woodrow Wilson (America) and Vittorio Orlando (Italy) (Big Four)
- Germany was not
14
Q
Treaty of Versailles
A
- Late April 1919, a German delegation led by foreign minister Count Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau arrived in France to receive details
- a Few days later, at the Trianon Palace at Versailles two copies of Treaty, one in English and other in French
- Germans thought it would be based on President Wilson’s Fourteen Points + moderate peace from democracies of Britain, France and US
- Germans had not say in drafting the peace, a peace imposed by the victors (diktat)
- Shaped by French determination so Germany couldn’t threaten France again
- Germans carried list of concessions that they were prepared to make but no negotiations
- Given 15 days to respond
- 22 June Chancellor Scheidemann resigned rather than sign treaty
- 28th of June 1919, 2 German delegates Mr Müller and Dr Bell signed the treaty in the Hall of Mirrors. The very room Bismarck declared the German Empire in 1871
15
Q
Impact of Treaty of Versailles
A
- Military Provisions: army to be reduced to 100,000 men; forbidden to produce heavy guns, poisonous gas or tanks; compulsory military serve banned; German general staff was abolished; military academies were closed; and Germany was forbidden to develop Air Force. German navy to be reduced to a few ships for coastal patrol and submarines were strictly forbidden.
- Territorial Provisions: Alsace + Lorraine (1871) to France. Saar Basin coalfields to France for 15yrs. Posen (rich farming land) to Poland, granting corridor to Baltic Sea, cutting off East Prussia from Germany. Danzig (a free city) tun by League of Nations. North Schleswig to Denmark. Eugene and Malmedy to Belgium. Rhineland demilitarised. Germany forbidden to untie with Austria.
- Colonial Provisions: Germany deemed ‘colonial,y unworthy’ and lost all colonies. They were administered as mandate territories by League of Nations.
- Reparations: Germany was to pay the cost of the war. Final figure of 132000 million gold marks (US$32 billion), was not arrived until 1921
- War Guilt: accept responsibility of war. Clause 231 of Treaty known as ‘war guilt clause’. Germany to accept ‘all losses which the Allied and Associated Powers have suffered as a consequence of the war forced upon them by the attack of German and its Allies.’
