Extra Knowledge for the Peasantry

Question 1

Overall how did the position of the peasants change over the course of Germany?

Answer 1

Slow decline

Question 2

Compare the peasants to the junkers?

Answer 2

Whereas the Junkers had managed to maintain their position to a great extent into the Nazi period, the peasants declined much more steadily.

Question 3

Complete the sentence: the fall of the German peasant…

Answer 3

…was only slowed by protectionist policies of German governments

Question 4

Compare the number of workers employed in agricultural jobs between Bismarck’s Germany and the FRG

Answer 4

Number of German workers employed in agricultural jobs declined from 49% in 1871 to 2% in 1989.

Question 5

What happened during Bismarck’s time that made the future of the German agricultural worker questionable?

Answer 5

Industrialisation

Question 6

The existence of what influential class maintained the peasant population in what way during Bismarck?

Answer 6

The Junkers, a group who relied on farms for their income wanted to use their considerable influence to maintain the peasant population who staffed their agrarian economy

Question 7

What was the first bit of protectionism that the Junkers persuaded Bismarck to introduce and when was this?

Answer 7

1879, persuaded Bismarck to introduce tariffs to stop the import of cheap grain from Russia and the USA

Question 8

What was the second example of Junker-backed protectionism and when was this introduced?

Answer 8

1893 Junker-Backed Agrarian League was formed to fight the government attempts to weaken tariffs on foreign imported food. Instead they wanted the government to uphold the protectionist policies that made buying German more appealing.

Question 9

How many people died during WW1 from starvation?

Answer 9

750 000

Question 10

What killed many from starvation during WW1?

Answer 10

Turnip Winter of 1916-17

Question 11

What was being reprioritised for the war effort that undermined farms and led to the turnip winter?

Answer 11

fuel and fertiliser

Question 12

What undermined farms during WW1 other than fuel and fertiliser being repurposed for the war?

Answer 12

Conscription

Question 13

What challenge did German farms have to contend with during the 1920s?

Answer 13

Increased competition from world and european markets

Question 14

Increased european competition during the 1920s was down particularly to what?

Answer 14

Netherlands and Denmark developing improved farm practices

Question 15

Complete the sentence: Even before the 1929 WSC and depression, farmers…

Answer 15

… were experiencing a major slump in the value of their goods with widespread bankruptcy and the closure of numerous farms.

Question 16

What does the fact that so many farmers supported the Nazis even early in the 1920s suggest?

Answer 16

they felt threatened, undermined and let down by the Weimar status quo, so sought radical political action to change this

Question 17

How did the Nazi’s focus on war undermine the peasantry?

Answer 17

Due to the Nazi’s focus on war, industry saw huge development which led to increased migration from rural to urban areas.

Question 18

What challenge was faced due to Nazi demands?

Answer 18

Farmers were forced to increase yields despite their declining size to fuel the war effort.

Question 19

What was the Nazi slogan for the rural, pastoral life that they wanted to portray?

Answer 19

“Blut und Boden” (Blood and soil)

Question 20

Complete the sentence about change between Weimar and the Nazis: The decedent urban icons of Weimar were lost in the…

Answer 20

… pastoral, romantic desires of the Nazis, who iconised the traditional German in the rural community.

Question 21

What protectionist laws did the Nazis introduce for farmers in 1933?

Answer 21

In 1933 they introduced laws to protect farms from being forcibly sold (due to debt or being taken over by Jewish banks) and from land being broken up. High prices were also guaranteed for German produce.

Question 22

What was subsidised in the FRG which led to increased efficiency?

Answer 22

Farm machinery

Question 23

What demand was high during the FRG?

Answer 23

The demand for German produce

Question 24

How did the Capability of farms increase under the FRG?

Answer 24

access to mechanisation and efficiencies such as small farms being consolidated into large ones, improving the once declining rural economy

Question 25

What did the increased efficiency of the FRG agricultural economy come at the expense of?

Answer 25

The increased efficiency came at the expense of employment

Question 26

What fact demonstrates that the increased agricultural efficiency of the FRG came at the expense of employment?

Answer 26

Between 1950-60 the rural economy lost 50% of its workforce, with decline continuing until 1990.