German history Key Dates Flashcards
When was Bismarck in power?
1871-1890
When was Wilhelm I in power?
1871-1888
When was Bismarck’s constitution?
1871
When was the Kulturkampf?
1871-78
When was Bismarck’s Tariff Act?
1879
When were the Kulturkampf ‘May laws’
1873
When did the SPD win 12 seats under Bismarck?
1877
When did Bismarck introduce state health insurance?
1883
What word describes Bismarck’s political style?
Realpolitik
What is the fancy word for describing factory workers?
The industrial proletariat
What is the fancy word for describing wealthy factory owners?
The industrial bourgeoisie
When was Kaiser Wilhelm II in power?
1888-1918
Who were the chancellors of Wilhelmine Germany?
- Caprivi
- Prince Choldwig Hohenloe
- Bulow
- Bethmann-Hollweg
When was Caprivi chancellor?
1890-94
When was Hohenloe chancellor?
1894-1900
When was Bulow chancellor?
1900-1909
When was Bethmann-Hollweg chancellor?
1909-1917
When did the SPD become the largest party in the Reichstag (Wilhelmine Germany)
1912
When were Caprivi’s tariff reform Acts?
1891-94
What are the dates of WW1?
1914-1918
When was the naval league established?
1898
When was the Daily telegraph affair?
1908
When was the Zabern Affair?
November 1913
When was the Eulenburg scandal?
1907
What were the two levels of culture in Wilhelmine Germany? What did they involve?
Avante-Garde culture = higher culture = expressionism
Pulp fiction culture = commoners culture
When was Bethmann-Hollweg banging around? What was his role?
1909-1917, German Chancellor
Who were the heads of the army in Weimar?
Hindenburg + Ludendorff
Who was the chancellor in 1918?
Prince Max Von Baden
When was the burgfreide? What was it?
1914 - a political truce between all parties to support the war
When was the Auxiliary service act? What was it?
December 1916 - conscription
When was the war raw materials department created? What was its role?
August 1914 - regulate key materials such as iron and ore
When was there a food and fuel crisis during WW1?
Winter of 1917-18
When was the Treaty of Versailles?
June 1919
When was the Weimar constitution created?
August 1919
When did the allied naval blockade begin?
1914
What were the 14 points?
The blueprint for peace negotiations following WW1, as outlined by Woodrow Wilson.
What terms were used against the government for settling for peace in WW1?
‘November criminals’
‘Stab in the back’
What was article 48?
A term in the Weimar constitution allowing the president to essentially rule as dictator in the case of an ‘emergency’ (undefined).
What was the guilt clause?
Article 231, made Germany take absolute responsibility for starting WW1. The basis for making Germany pay enormous reparations.
What was the ‘war of attrition’?
Germany being slowly worn down as they could not win the war in the short term.
When was streseman in power? (As chancellor then head of foreign affairs)
1923-1929
When was Hitler entering Bavarian politics?
1923
How many chancellors were there during the Weimar period?
12
Who were the Freikorps?
Paramilitary group
When was the Munich putsch? What was it?
November 1923 - Hitler and SA men try to seize power in Munich, but are arrested.
When did the French reclaim the ruhr?
January 1923
What were reparation set at after ww1? When?
1921 - 138 billion marks
When was the Ruhr unrest? What was it?
March 1920 - Communists form a ‘red army’ and try to seize the Ruhr, severely punished (unlike the right)
What and when was the Kapp Putsch?
March 1920 - Freikorps troops seize Berlin causing gov to flee, fails because of lack of support from army (although they did not stop it) + officials.
What was the policy of passive resistance?
The workers go on strike and the Weimar government pays their wages.
When was the Dawes plan? What was it?
1924 - made reparations over a longer period, French agree to leave Ruhr, Allied control over German banks + railways.
When as unemployment insurance introduced (Weimar)
1927
When was the Rentenmark introduced?
1923
When was the Young plan introduced? What was it? How did it benefit Hitler?
1929 - 2 million marks a year for 59 years, final plan for reparations, Germans regain control of banks + railways. Gave Hitler credibility in his campaign against it with the nationalists.
When was Hindenburg elected?
1925
When did Germany join the League of Nations?
1926
When was the Reichstag fire? What was it?
February 1933 - Lone Dutch communists (or perhaps the nazis!) sets the Reichstag building on fire - used by Hitler to get Hindenburg to grant him emergency powers and put out the ‘protection of people and state’ decree (suspending individual rights)
When was the Enabling Act? What was it?
March 1933 - Allowed Hitler to rule by decree for 4 years, basis for the one party state, all state assemblies dissolved (but Hitler could still be dismissed by Hindenburg)
When was Hitler appointed chancellor?
January 1933
When was the night of the long knives? What was it?
- June 1934
- Hitler order a purge of the SA (who were demanding revolution) by the SS, and leaders were arrested and murdered (some of Hitler’s friends!)
- Gained Hitler both Army and conservative support.
When was as the Great Depression? What was it?
- 1929
- Global economic downturn after stock market crash, meant America took back loans and Germany’s exports (which they had a lot of) flopped.
When did Hindenburg die? What did Hitler do with this?
August 1934 - Hitler becomes head of army and state (president and chancellor combined)
When was conscription age made 16?
1945
When did the Euthanasia programme begin?
1939
When was Kristallnacht? What was it?
November 1938 - wave of anti-Semitic violence, German shops broken into (‘night of broken glass’)
When did the Nazis do book burning ceremonies?
1933
When was the four year plan? Who led it?
1936 - Goering
What was the ‘Hitler myth’ ?
Created by Goebbels, strong until about 1942-3 when war began to turn, gave Hitler credibility to rule as authoritarian leader by presenting Hitler as the heroic defender of Germany, the antithesis of the corrupt politicians before.
What was the ‘cult of personality’?
People viewing Hitler as a superhuman figure
What was the term for putting the community before self in Nazi Germany?
Volkgemeinschaft
What was the ‘cult of motherhood’ in Nazi Germany?
Promotion of women fulfilling typical gender roles, following Aryan ideology that Aryan women should produce as many children as possible through propaganda and even having a ‘cross of honour’ for women who had four or more children.
What was the idea of Eugenics in Nazi germany?
Racial purity - aimed for racial purity of the Aryan race through forced sterilisation and Euthanasia.
What was the term for Germany having a self-sufficient economy?
Autarky
What is the term for how people turned to Nazi ideology?
‘Cumulative radicalisation’
