Germany 1890-1929 Germany and the Growth of Democracy Flashcards
everything from dates to key events and people
Who ruled Germany before 1919 and what was its government system
Kaiser Wilhelm
it was a dictatorship
What power did the Kaiser have
- was completely in charge of the army
- chancellors were chosen by the kaiser and would then do whatever the kaiser said hen making government decisions
- the kaiser could dissolve the reichstag at any time
basically he ruled like a king and had a say in everything and controlled everything (cuz kaiser literally means emperor)
What is the Reichstag
the Reichstag are members elected by the public every 3 years (every 5 years after 1888). Members pass or reject legislation handed down by the bundesrat but the reichstag couldn’t put forward its own legislation and had no say in who became chancellor or who served in the government
What is the Budesrat
Members are representatives from each state in the German empire. Its consent is needed for all legislation (but can be overruled by the Kaiser). The bundesrat was more powerful than the reichstag - it was only accountable to the Kaiser
What was the Chancellor
Runs the government and proposes new legislation. Does Not need the support of the Reichstag or the Bundesrat to stay in power.
When did Kaiser Wilhelm abdicate and what happened afterwards
Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on the 9th November 1918 in response to huge public protests and members of the Social Democratic Party calling for Kaiser’s resignation - a republic was then to be set up in his place by the SDP
What was proportional representation
very modern and fair voting system where a party gets a number of seats directly proportional to the % of votes it got. if your party got 12% of the votes in Germany then they would get 12% of the seats in the reichstag
however this led to lots of tiny parties getting seats. Because no party ever gets over 50% of all votes, no government ever had a majority so decisions needed other parties to agree - and often they didn’t. governments had to be coalitions - made up of members from several parties who often disagreed
What is Article 48
The 48th article of the constitution that allowed the president to rule by decree in an emergency which meant that he could make decisions and laws without having to ask the reichstag to vote on it. this was initially designed to protect germany incase of an emergency.
however this meant that the president could rule as a dictator in an emergency and it was also not specific on what is defined as an emergency. this clause was open to abuse and needed the president to be honest and want to protect the republic.
Who was the first president of the new Weimar Republic
Ebert
What power did the president have and how was he regulated
- elected every 7 years by the german people
- chooses the chancellor and is head of the army
- can dissolve the reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution
The president had the most power but the chancellor was in charge of the day to day running of the government.
What was the Reichstag in the Weimar era and how was it regulated
- The new German Parliament
- Members are elected every 4 years using proportional representation
What was the Reichstag in the Weimar era and how was it regulated
- Second (less powerful) house of parliament
- Consists of members from each local region
- Can delay measures passed by the reichstag
Strengths of the Weimar constitution
- ALL GERMANS HAD THE RIGHT TO VOTE AT THE AGE OF 20 - few countries in the world allowed everyone to vote
- PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION WAS IN THEORY A FAIRER SYSTEM - Each party got a number of seats in proportion to the % of votes they got
- THE PRESIDENT HAD VERY SIMILAR POWERS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA - his power was very strong, so he could protect the republic in a crisis
- FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF NEWSPAPERS, FREEDOM TO SET UP TRADE UNIONS and ANYONE could form a POLITICAL PARTY - all of these were completely new freedoms for germany and very modern for the time
Weaknesses of the Weimar constitution
- PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION meant that whatever government or party was in power it was ALWAYS WEAK. Governments always had to COMPROMISE and decisions could take a LONG TIME. There were lots of elections because parties REFUSED TO AGREE.
- ARTICLE 48 WOULD LATER BE ABUSED BY HITLER to make himself a dictator legally
- In 1919 the republic already had loads of ENEMIES. This constitution was too fair - it gave these people the vote and the right to create their own parties - LIKE THE NAZIS
- Being asked to vote was seen as a sign of WEAKNESS by many germans who were used to following orders
When was the treaty of versailles signed
June 1919
What were the 4 Main terms of the Treaty
- War guilt clause - this caused the germans to feel extremely humiliated and angry as they believed that they were not the only ones to blame for the war (Clause 231)
- Germany’s armed forces were reduced to 100,000 men. They were not allowed armored vehicles, aircrafts or submarines and could only have 6 war ships and the Rhineland had to be demilitarized for 15 years. This left the germans feeling vulnerable and humiliated because they were once proud of their armed forces now they were severely reduced and left feeling unable to defend from threat
- Forced to pay reparations of £6600 million (£6.6 billion)
- Germany lost its empire - 13% of land was lost for germany
Alsace Lorraine - France
Saar land - LoN for 15 years
Austria - no anschluss
North Schleswig - Denmark
Posen, West Prussia, Polish corridor - Poland
Danzig (95% are germans) - LoN
Memel - Lithuania
these germans who are now forced to live in a new country are now denied of their national self determination - Remember these terms by using the BRAT mnemonic
- Blame
- Reparations
- Army
- Territory
How did the treaty of versailles make the people of germany feel towards the Weimar republic
The treaty of Versailles caused resentment towards the Weimar Republic from the German people.
- The german people called the treaty ‘diktat’ (a treaty forced upon germany) and many blamed elbert for accepting its terms
- Some Germans believed the armistice was a mistake and that Germany could have won the war. They felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by the weimar politicians who brought the treaty of versailles on germany unnecessarily
they also felt vulnerable as they were sharing boarders with france who had just stripped away germany’s army severely and felt they could not defend themselves incase of an invasion or attack
What were extreme left/communists’ values and ideas
they believe that everyone should have equal pay and that no one should individually own anything - everything should be shared. they believe that all factories should be owned by workers who should share the profits equally
the Spartacists were extremely left wing groups
What were extreme right/fascists’ values and ideas
they believe in “survival of the fittest” - the best people, often the rich, deserve what they have because they are naturally better. Weak people should not be helped because the country only needs strong people.
the nazis were extremely left wing groups
What happened with the Spartacists in January 1919
Leaders: Karl Liebnecht & Rosa Luxembourg
Aims: to overthrow the weimar republic and create a communist government in germany
What did they do: Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to start a revolution in Berlin. They took control of important buildings such as newspaper headquarters and the telegraph bureau and gained the support of some working class as 50,000 workers went on strike in support of this left-wing revolution. They failed to capture anything else though and Ebert asked for help from the right-wing freikorps (ex-german soldiers) to stop the rebellion. Over 100 workers were killed. The freikorps’s use of violence cause a split on the left between social democratic party and the communists
What happened in The Kapp Putsch in March 1920
Political view: The Freikorps (extreme right wing)
Leaders: Wolfgang Kapp, one of the freikorps commanders
Aims: to overthrow the weimar republic and crete a military right wing dictatorship to ignore the ToV
What did they do: the freikorps marched into Berlin to overthrow the Weimar regime but German workers opposed the putsch and staged a general strike influenced by President Ebert - refusing to work for Kapp and the Freikorps. Berlin was paralysed and because the strike was so successful, Kapp was forced to give up
What happened in the Invasion of the Ruhr in January 1923
Leaders: French
What happened: in 1922, the Germans couldn’t pay their reparations on time to the french. Ebert tried to play for time and negotiate with the allies over the late payment but the French ran out of patience and in January 1923 invaded the ruhr. They started to take what the treaty of Versailles said they were owed - goods and raw materials. Violence flared up and relations between the Germans and the occupying French worsened and Germans were treated badly. The government ordered the 2 million workers in the ruhr to go on strike. This is called passive resistance. With nothing being produced by German workers, the French brought in their own workers. The German government started to print more money to keep paying striking workers in the ruhr…HYPERINFLATIONNN
What happened in the Munich Putsch in November 1923
Leader: Hitler
What happened: Hitler expected support from the right wing Bavarian government in Bavaria (Munich is Bavaria). He also thought he had support of the army. He was encouraged in this by Ludendorff (WW1 general) who said they sympathised with nazis. November 8th 1923, hitler arrived at a meeting von kahr was holding in Munich with 600 stormtroopers. He tried to convince Kahr at gunpoint to join the putsch. Interestingly when ludendorff arrived at the beer hall, von kahr appeared to be won over and the next day the SA (government officers) took over positions in munich. Even though von kahr “joined the putsch” no one seemed to remember that this was perhaps quite reluctantly and they freed him . He alerted the army police. Hitler marched in the city centre but was blocked by armed police. Firing broke out and 16 Nazis and 3 policemen were killed. Hitler and the other leaders were arrested.
When was the Munich Putsch
8th November 1923
When was the invasion of the Ruhr
January 1923
When was the Kapp Putsch
March 1920
Why did hyperinflation happen
The German government has to pay trillions of marks a week to pay workers in the Ruhr who were passively resisting (striking) the french. As the coal mines in the Ruhr were not producing coal, the government had to buy coal from abroad. The government printed more and more banknotes to pay for this. This caused HYPERINFLATION. This meant that the value of money went down as prices went up. The more money the government printed the faster prices of items went up.
When was hyperinflation at its worst in Germany
November 1923
How did hyperinflation affect the cost of a 1kg loaf of bread
price in summer of 1923:
1200 marks
price in november 1923:
428 billion marks
How did hyperinflation affect the cost of an egg
price in summer of 1923:
5000 marks
price in november 1923:
80 billion marks
How did hyperinflation affect the cost of a pair of shoes
price in summer of 1923 :
1 million marks
price in november 1923:
32 trillion marks
Who were winners during hyperinflation
- people with debts/who had taken out loans
- people on a weekly wage were okay
- rich who were wealthy in other ways such as owning land, having foreign currency or having valuable possessions
- many businessmen as they were able to take advantage of the small companies who were going bankrupt and take them over
Who were losers during hyperinflation
- old people living on fixed pensions or people who lived on their savings as now they were worth nothing
- people who were paid monthly as their wage never kept up with the inflation rate
- people who had lots of money in cash
- the middle class overall as they lost their savings
What were 2 other effects of hyperinflation
- people BLAMED THE WEIMAR GOVERNMENT for these problems. people like hitler saw a chance to overthrow it and he launched the munich putsch
- some jewish families kept their money in foreign banks so they were often unaffected as it was foreign currency. This led to HATRED OF THE JEWS which people like hitler seized on.
Who was Gustav Stresemann
Chancellor of Germany in 1923. He was one of the most able politicians of the Weimar Republic and he helped give solutions to several problems faced by Germany during this time.
How did Stresemann provide a solution to the problem of the French invading the Ruhr and what were the outcomes.
Solution: Streseman sent the Ruhr workers back to work for the French.
Pros: It meant that the workers were being paid again, helping the german economy and giving their families money
Cons: It was seen as a defeat - the government looked like they were giving in to the french. It also meant that Germany lost a huge amount of their steel production.
How did Stresemann provide a solution to Hyperinflation
Solution: Streseman stopped the government printing money. He scrapped the old currency (the mark) and brought in a new one - The Renten mark (temporary)
Pros: it stopped hyperinflation and made German money worth something again. People were able to buy goods and be properly paid, increasing confidence.
Cons: the damage was already done; groups of pensioners and middle class had already lost their life savings. Germans had gone through a year of misery and blamed the government for it. The new currency was better but never fully stable.
How did Stresemann provide a solution to the destroyed German economy
Solution: Streseman took out a huge loan from the USA called the Dawes Plan*
Pros: it gave Germany an injection of cash to help its people and invest in its industry. The hope was that the money would help Germany land back on its feet.
Cons: Unemployment still remained an issue though and Germany also had to pay back these loans eventually , and the USA could call them in any time (which will become a problem later)
How did Stresemann provide a solution to the massive reparations problem
Solution: the Dawes Plan* also restructured the reparations payments so that they were more affordable - less money each year but paid for longer
Pros: this gave Germany a bit more money to fund its recovery
Cons: the reparations would not be fully paid until the 1980s. Germany still could not really afford them.
How did Stresemann provide a solution to no countries trusting Germany
Solution: Streseman signed the Locarno Pact agreeing to never use violence to settle disputes again. The Young Plan (1929) basically agreed to the terms of the ToV in exchange for another loan.
Pros: Brings Germany into European politics again. Countries are willing to talk to Germany and deal with them again. This leads to more trust, more help and more foreign money coming in.
Cons: The Weimar Republic had to give in and accept the ToV. Many Germans hated the French and British still for the harsh peace terms.
What was the Dawes Plan
In November 1923 the German government agreed to start paying the reparations again. The allies then set up a committee under an American banker Charles Dawes to resolve the problems of how Germany was going to pay. The Dawes Plan of April 1924 made a huge loan of 800 million marks available to Germany. The idea was that the money would help rebuild German trade and industry. Money from that would then flow into the German government and they could pay regular reparations. The Dawes Plan also lowered reparation payments and also spread the load of payments. Germany’s payments would start at £50 million per year and would rise to £125 million over the next few years. After that time, payment would be linked to the prosperity of the German economy
When did Germany begin to industrialise and how much of Europe’s steel was it producing in 1914
it began to industrialise in the late 1800s
1914 Germany was producing 2/3s of europe’s steel
Name problems that the kaiser faced
workers were not happy with their low wages and poor working conditions so they joined trade unions to force the government to improve conditions - 3 million by 1914
rise of the Socialists meant that the german generals and the kaiser feared a communist uprising
spent a lot of money on the army which didn’t leave them a lot of money leftHow - ended up causing them to go in debt
How many workers ended up voting for the Social Democratic Party once they became more popular in 1912
1/3 of workers voted for them
What was the Turnip Winter during WW1 in 1916-17
Due to the naval blockade, the germans couldn’t be shipped in any food from boats and other countries so they ended up becoming very poor and ended up only really being able to eat turnips when it came to winter. this is one of the many reasons the ww1 ended (because germany just couldn’t afford another winter like this)
When did WW1 end
11th November 1918
When was the Weimar Republic declared
9th November 1918 (when the kaiser abdicated) and the lead was taken by Friedrich Ebert (of SDP - largest single party in the Reichstag)
when was the munich putsch
8th november 1923
what were the events of the munich putsch
IT WAS A FIASCO
Munich was in Bavaria where Hitler had most of his support. He therefore assumed that he had the support from the Bavarian government
Unsurprisingly he also assumed that he had the support of the army since Ludendorff had said that he sympathised with nazis ideas
November 8th 1923: Hitler arrived at a meeting von Kahr was holding in the Beer Hall and he tried to convince von Kahr to join the Putsch
Interestingly when Ludendorff arrived late, he saw that von Kahr had already been won over and the next day the SA had taken over key points in Munich
Call the police! Even though von Kahr had ‘joined’ the putsch no one seemed to remember that this was perhaps quite reluctantly and they freed him. He alerted the army and the police.
Hitler marched into the city centre but he was blocked by armed police. Firing broke out and 16 nais and 3 policemen were killed. Hitler and other leaders were arrested.
(the SA is what was left of the Freikorps which had been broken up by the Weimar republic after the Kapp Putsch. They were led by Ernst Rohm)
What went wrong with the Munich Putsch
- not enough support (only a total of 3000 members in the whole nazi party - definitely not enough to take over the whole of germany)
- Ludendorff allowed von Kahr and the ministers to go home and “see their wives” as he assumed this would be okay and not that they would go and contact the Weimar government to mobilise an army.
- Ludendorff was late. Even at gunpoint , Kahr and the ministers wouldn’t support Hitler because they thought he was lying about Ludendorff supporting them. This wasted several hours until he eventually did show up.
Successed of the Munich Putsch?
- Reporters from Germany were at his trial - this meant that everything that hitler was saying was written down and published in newspapers read by german’s everywhere - this was huge publicity for the Nazis
- Hitler’ prison was very cushy - Landsburg Castle was more of a hotel than a prison. Hitler could have as many visitors as he wanted there and had a dedicated servant and could walk around whenever he wanted. He ran the Nazis FROM PRISON!?
- he had time to write “mein kampf” where he set out all his ideas for the Nazi party and Germany’s future
without the Munich Putsch the Nazis would have never become known throughout Germany like they were after the Munich Putsch. He also changed the Nazi party due to this failure. Without those changes the nazis would have remained a pathetic amateur party.
Why was 1924-1928 seen as the “Golden Age”
- Government started to become more stable and between this time there were far fewer elections because of disagreements
- people were no longer voting for extremist parties like the nazis or the communists
- economy was starting to do well in the Golden age thanks to Stresemann’s changes and the Dawes plan
- Production went to its highest in decades
-Germany became a leading exporter in the world for manufactured goods
What were some downsides during the Golden Age 1924-28
- Germany’s entire economy was based on American loans which could be recalled at any time
- unemployment was always a serious problem
- farming and agriculture did very badly
What was Weimar culture like in the Golden age 1924-28
NIGHT LIFE
vibrant night club scenes which involved risque songs and naked dancing. Berlin was famous for its transvestite balls. Sex was discussed more openly and homosexuality started to become less frowned upon
CINEMA
Marlene Dietrich became very famous as a film star starring in films such as Blue Angel. 1920 a Golden Age for German cinema.
ARCHITECTURE
Bauhaus - a new group of architects and designers emerged called the Bauhaus. They designed chairs, cupboards, town halls and enormous housing estates. They used only basic shapes and colours to save on money and time and were very modern for their time
THEATRE
Theatre and opera has long been popular in Germany - Zeit Theatre (theatre of the time) was popular
LITERATURE
The novelist Erich Remarque wrote the anti-war novel “all quiet on the western front”- following year it was made into a successful film.
ART
Grey Day by George Grosz (1921)
Grosz was wounded in the war and often shows disabled soldiers in his art. Joined communist party in 1918
What was the night of the Long Knivesö
Basically, Hitler wanted to side with the SS -led by Himmler - instead of the SA because the SA were outdated and were not only bringing a bad reputation to the nazis. The SS were more disciplined although smaller with only 100,000 men.
30th JUNE 1934 - Hitler used the SS to purge the SA. He has Ernst Röhm - leader of the SA killed and also killed 400 members of the Söeradicate other nazi threats such as former chancellor von Schleicher. Now there was no internal threats to the nazi party as Rohm was killed
