germany 1890-1945 Flashcards
what year did kaiser wilhelm II become emperor of germany?
1888
what year did germany unite?
1871
what year did the naval race to expand germany’s navy to the size of britain’s begin?
1898
what year did ww1 begin?
1914
what year did kaiser wilhelm II abdicate?
1918
what year did ww1 end?
1918
what year was the spartacus league revolt?
1919
what year was the treaty of versailles signed?
1919
what year did the weimar constitution get established?
1919
what year was the nazi party founded?
1920
what year was the kapp putsch?
1920
what year was the hilter youth founded?
1922
what year did french and belgium troops invade the ruhr?
1923
what year did the munich putsch occur?
1923
what year was the dawes plan proposed?
1924
what year did hindenburg become president?
1925
what year did germany join the league of nations?
1926
what year was the young plan proposed?
1929
what year was the wall street crash?
1929
when was germany effected by the great depression?
1930
what year was hitler named chancellor?
1933
when did hilter become germany’s dictator?
1934
what year was the night of the long knives?
1934
what year did the kristallnact occur?
1938
what year did germany invade poland causing the start of ww2?
1939
what year did the wannsee conference occur?
1942
what year did hilter commit suicide?
1945
what year did ww2 end?
1945
prussia was the most powerful germanic state, what were they very keen on?
militarism - the belief that a country should have strong armed forces.
(prussia had advanced weapons)
ruling in germany before weimar republic: most powerful -> least powerful
kaiser - ruled over all states, could ignore all advice given
chancellor - advised kaiser
reichstag- elected by men 25+, discussed laws that kaiser brought up
bunsdrat - representatives from german states, also discussed laws
what was 2 problems faced by kaiser wilhelm II when ruling germany?
social democratic party (spd) - 1/3 germans voted for spd. they wanted kaiser to share power and improve workers rights and conditions. some wanted to rebel against kaiser. left wing but kaiser was right wing.
workers were unhappy - wages were low, working conditions were poor, food expensive. people joined trade unions and striked.
what is weltpolitik and what did it mean for germany?
‘world policy’
transform germany into global power - taking over other nations : east africa, togo etc
how did kaiser wilhelm II protect his new empire?
large, powerful navy of battleships.
-help take over countries & protect
-wanted to have a greater empire & navy than britain
-introduced naval laws between 1898 & 1912 (which spent lots of money leaving germany in dept)
what’s happened due to the 1898-1912 naval laws?
germany’s navy rapidly increased in size
huge sums of money was spent
taxes were raised
money was borrowed
leaving them in debt
what did general ludendorff recommend to a german politician?
he recommended that the british, french and american’s might treat germany more fairly if the country became democratic
kaiser shared more power with german parliament
however some said he should give up the throne & some talked about overthrowing him in a revolution
what was the mutiny in 1918?
in 1918, the germany navy was ordered to attack british ships
sailors refused to follow orders, as they no longer wanted to fight
the word spread about the mutiny and other ports nearby also refused to follow orders
the country was chaos and there was little the kaiser could do so he abdicated and secretly left Germany
who took over from kaiser wilhelm?
friedrich ebert - the leader of the spd
impact of war
germany was left bankrupt, what was four reasons why?
germany had borrowed money from abroad (the usa for example) for the war - this would need paying back
germany had lent some of its own money to its allies - would they ever get this back?
the war left over 600,000 widows and 2 million children without fathers - war pensions would cost the government a fortune
german factories were exhausted by the war - they were making guns, bullets and shells for war, instead of goods to sell abroad to make money
impact of war
the war had divided german society further, what two reasons impacted this?
many factory owners made a fortune during the war - german workers had restrictions on their wages
woman worked in factories during the war - some thought, this damaged traditional family values
impact of war
germany has become more politically unstable, what were two reasons that impacted this?
germany was stable and rich as a nation before the war - now there was mutiny and revolution
many people felt germany could’ve won the war - they felt they had been betrayed by the politicians (the “November criminals “) who had ended it and they refused to support them
what was the spartacist uprising?
the spartacist league were communists who wanted Germany to be run by a small council of soldiers and workers
in 1919 the spartacist try to take over berlin
they roamed the streets, firing guns and trying to take over important buildings
ebert responded with a violent solution
he sent a group of ex-soldiers known as the free corps to attack the spartacists
the free corps, recaptured the buildings and arrested the leaders of the spartacists (who were later murdered)
what year was ebert friedrich voted as the german president?
1919
what were two weaknesses of the weimar government?
proportional representation - meant that many different political parties were able to win seats in the reichstag, it was difficult to make decisions and introduce laws, with no majority the leading party had to do deals with smaller groups in order to get anything done, this made lawmaking a very slow process
many people didn’t like the new democratic system (judges, army, generals, upper-class, families, et cetera) as they longed for the good old days when the Kaiser ruled, furthermore, the weimar government linked to the surrender of the world war
what was the structure of the weimar government?
the president
-> the chancellor
->the reichstag
-> the german people