germany 1890-1945 Flashcards

1
Q

what year did kaiser wilhelm II become emperor of germany?

A

1888

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2
Q

what year did germany unite?

A

1871

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3
Q

what year did the naval race to expand germany’s navy to the size of britain’s begin?

A

1898

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4
Q

what year did ww1 begin?

A

1914

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5
Q

what year did kaiser wilhelm II abdicate?

A

1918

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6
Q

what year did ww1 end?

A

1918

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7
Q

what year was the spartacus league revolt?

A

1919

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8
Q

what year was the treaty of versailles signed?

A

1919

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9
Q

what year did the weimar constitution get established?

A

1919

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10
Q

what year was the nazi party founded?

A

1920

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11
Q

what year was the kapp putsch?

A

1920

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12
Q

what year was the hilter youth founded?

A

1922

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13
Q

what year did french and belgium troops invade the ruhr?

A

1923

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14
Q

what year did the munich putsch occur?

A

1923

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15
Q

what year was the dawes plan proposed?

A

1924

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16
Q

what year did hindenburg become president?

A

1925

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17
Q

what year did germany join the league of nations?

A

1926

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18
Q

what year was the young plan proposed?

A

1929

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19
Q

what year was the wall street crash?

A

1929

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20
Q

when was germany effected by the great depression?

A

1930

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21
Q

what year was hitler named chancellor?

A

1933

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22
Q

when did hilter become germany’s dictator?

A

1934

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23
Q

what year was the night of the long knives?

A

1934

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24
Q

what year did the kristallnact occur?

A

1938

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25
Q

what year did germany invade poland causing the start of ww2?

A

1939

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26
Q

what year did the wannsee conference occur?

A

1942

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27
Q

what year did hilter commit suicide?

A

1945

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28
Q

what year did ww2 end?

A

1945

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29
Q

prussia was the most powerful germanic state, what were they very keen on?

A

militarism - the belief that a country should have strong armed forces.
(prussia had advanced weapons)

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30
Q

ruling in germany before weimar republic: most powerful -> least powerful

A

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

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31
Q

what was 2 problems faced by kaiser wilhelm II when ruling germany?

A

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.

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32
Q

what is weltpolitik and what did it mean for germany?

A

‘world policy’
transform germany into global power - taking over other nations : east africa, togo etc

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33
Q

how did kaiser wilhelm II protect his new empire?

A

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)

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34
Q

what’s happened due to the 1898-1912 naval laws?

A

germany’s navy rapidly increased in size
huge sums of money was spent
taxes were raised
money was borrowed
leaving them in debt

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35
Q

what did general ludendorff recommend to a german politician?

A

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

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36
Q

what was the mutiny in 1918?

A

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

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37
Q

who took over from kaiser wilhelm?

A

friedrich ebert - the leader of the spd

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38
Q

impact of war
germany was left bankrupt, what was four reasons why?

A

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

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39
Q

impact of war
the war had divided german society further, what two reasons impacted this?

A

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

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40
Q

impact of war
germany has become more politically unstable, what were two reasons that impacted this?

A

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

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41
Q

what was the spartacist uprising?

A

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)

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42
Q

what year was ebert friedrich voted as the german president?

A

1919

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43
Q

what were two weaknesses of the weimar government?

A

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

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44
Q

what was the structure of the weimar government?

A

the president
-> the chancellor
->the reichstag
-> the german people

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45
Q

facts about the presidents:

A

elected every 7 years
controlled army, navy and air force
in crisis he could rule on his own without getting support of the reichstag by issuing special emergency decree law known as article 48

46
Q

facts about chancellor:

A

chosen by president
responsible for running the country
must have support of at least half the politicians in the reichstag to introduce new laws

47
Q

facts about the reichstag:

A

discussed and introduced laws
members of the right stag were elected every four years
voting system used was proportional representation, meaning that the number of mps in political party were based on the number of votes they had

48
Q

facts about the german people within the weimar government?

A

men and woman could vote if they are over the age of 20
they elected the president and politicians

49
Q

name six punishments that the treaty stated:

A

germany must pay the cost of war which was set at 6.6 billion
the reparations is to be paid to the winners in instalments until 1988
germany can only have a small army of 100,000 soldiers, a small navy of six battleships and no submarines, tanks or air force
germany must hand over its colonies to winning countries
no german soldiers should enter the rhineland

50
Q

what three reasons made germany hate the treaty of versailles?

A

felt it was too harsh - they had took away large areas of land, had to pay a large amount of money and felt humiliated and angry with the way the country had been treated
germany hated the fact the treaty had been forced on them - they called it a diktat
many germans felt they had not really lost the war, and instead germany’s new politicians had betrayed the country

51
Q

what happened in 1922 when germany couldn’t pay the reparations?

A

when germans announced that they couldn’t afford to pay the reparations french and belgium didn’t believe them and decided to take what they were owed by force
in 1923, 60,000 french and belgium soldiers marched into the ruhr, a rich industrial area of germany and took control
they took goods and food from the shops
the german government ordered workers not to fight back and instead go on strike and not help the soldiers remove good from the country -this is known as passive resistance
french and belgium soldiers killed over 100 strikers and threw out 15,000 people from their homes
german government decided to carry on paying the workers on strike as they were doing what the government told them to do
germany was running short of money and as they weren’t producing coal iron and steel to sell to other nations
to pay their workers, the governments printed large amounts of money
the workers began to spend their money quickly in response shopkeepers put up their prices
german government responded by printing, even more money to help people buy things
the more money printed the faster prices went up and soon workers were being paid twice a day
they carried their wages around in wheelbarrows which wasn’t even enough to buy a meal
german government lost a lot of support as people’s savings had become worthless and hyperinflation relation had occurred

52
Q

four ways hyperinflation impacted germans:

A

people with savings were the biggest losers as the money lost all its value
elderly people who lived on fixed pensions from their income couldn’t buy what they needed
small businesses collapsed as normal trade became impossible because of daily price changes
people who’d borrowed money, found it easy to pay of their debt

53
Q

what was the kapp putsch?

A

it was a right-wing group that tried to take over germany
in 1920, he gathered around 5000 free corps to take over the capital
he aimed to eventually take over the whole country and make the army, strong again and recover the land that was lost by the treaty
the kapp putsch didn’t have support of the workers and they all went on strike
after only 100 hours, kapp gave in and fled abroad

54
Q

what was the munich putsch?

A

in 1923, hitler interrupted a meeting and fired a bullet into the ceiling and announce that he would march to Berlin and take over the whole country
general ludendorff knew about the plan and said he supported Hitler, however he informed the police
hitler’s stormtroopers took control of government buildings, and arrested officials
hitler and his supporters were met by armed forces and hitler was taken to prison
this made hitler realise he would have to win power democratically instead of forcefully

55
Q

what was the rentenmark solution?

A

to fix the hyperinflation crisis, stresseman created a new currency called the rentenmark causing the end of hyperinflation

56
Q

what was the dawes plan?

A

stresseman met with the american vice president and arranged for the usa to lend money to germany, so they could pay the reparations so that Belgium in French troops would leave the ruhr

57
Q

what was the young plan?

A

the negotiation of putting the reparations down from 6.6 to 1.8

58
Q

what was the locarno pact?

A

as germany status in the world declined stressemantried to improve Germany’s relationship with other nations
they signed a pact with britain, france, belgium, italy promising never to invade each other

59
Q

what was the kellogg-briand pact?

A

the countries in the league of nations agreed to never go to war unless it was to defend themselves if they were attacked

60
Q

what were the problems in the weimar republic after they tried to recover?

A

there were still many political parties in germany, and no single party could get enough votes to rule on their own
political parties with extreme ideas continued to hate the politicians in the reichstag
there were large groups of people in the germany society that were in trouble, for example farmers incomes were really low
much of the recovery was created by the americans loans, what if the americans want their money back?

61
Q

what impact did americas great depression have on germany?

A

the usa used to buy goods from germany but they couldn’t afford them anymore
germany factories goods were not selling so factories shut down and people became jobless
american banks wanted back the money lent in the war to germany
german banks tried to get money back from businesses who couldn’t pay so went bankrupt
support for extreme parties grew

62
Q

how did the great depression aid the growth of the nazi party?

A

nazis preached that: the treaty of versailles was a crime to germany, jews were to blame for the economic collapse, germany should be reborn to be strong and powerful
as the depression left people desperate they believed hilter

63
Q

how did the weimar government aid the growth of the nazi party?

A

germans were unhappy with the weimar government
politicians could work out how to help the unemployed and get germany out of the depression
people were drawn to more political parties

64
Q

how did the appeal of hilter aid the nazi party’s growth?

A

he was charismatic, and could make people believe that he could make germany a strong nation
he was a powerful speaker

65
Q

how did the fear of other extremist parties aid the growth of the nazi party?

A

german communists were attempting to take over germany
middle & upper class germans (particularly business & land owners) were frightened of communism as they didn’t want to loose their wealth and status
communists didn’t believe in religious institutions - this scared church goers
hilter said he would fight against communism

66
Q

how did the nazi party structure, method and tactics aid their growth?

A

nazi officials were set up all over germany - they protected meetings and influenced voters at elections
used propaganda - make joseph goebbels the chief of this
hitler went to parades and rallies
set up the hitler youth organisation
constantly used the radio

67
Q

who voted for the nazis?

A

farmers - greatly affected by the depression & hated communists - nazis promised to give them a better life & stop communists
women - nazis are strong believers in family life, morals & discipline
middle class & rich - didn’t want to loose their wealth & status

68
Q

how did hilter become chancellor?

A

gained a lot of seats in reichstag
used a lot of propaganda
there was lots of violence on the streets between parties - for example nazis beat up communists
in 1932 nazis were the most popular party
many chancellors had come and gone so in 1933 hindenburg elected hilter as chancellor
hindenburg tried to limit hitlers power (he was allowed a cabinet of 2)

69
Q

what happened to the reichstag in 1933?

A

burned down
a communist van de lubbe was arrested and blamed
hitler said it was part of a communist ploy to take over the country

70
Q

how did hilter act about the reichstag fire?

A

hilter passed a special emergency ‘protection law’ to deal with the communist threat
he introduced a decree ‘protection for the people and state’ and banned communists from taking part in elections
4000 communists were thrown in prison
hilter got a pass for the enabling act to control the country without anyone stopping him
formed a concentration camp (dachau) and the gestapo

71
Q

how did hilter eliminate his opposition?

A

banned trade unions
banned all political parties
when hindenburg died he took over and became president
he made the army swear on oath to him

72
Q

what was the night of the long knives?

A

hitler felt threatened by the power of the army and sa, so he decided to take action
röhm the head of the sa wanted to merge the army and sa together and there was rumours he wanted to take over from hitler
hitler killed röhm, and 400 other people
this meant that hilter had no more threats
the police state was formed led by himmler

73
Q

what schemes and programs did the nazis set up?

A

the national labour service - hands of job for men ages 18 - 25
public work schemes - building of motorways, schools , hospitals etc
rearmament - rebuilding the armed forces & conscription for males for 2 years
invisible employment - for example didn’t count jews in unemployment numbers

74
Q

how did hitler and goering make germany self sufficient?

A

four year plan
main priority was increase military production, ordered lots of weapons etc providing lots of jobs
nazis tried to help farmer

75
Q

what two schemes did the german labour front run?

A

beauty of labour - improving working environment
strength through joy - organising leisure activities to encourage work

76
Q

what year did nazis attack the ussr (russia)?

A

1941
unsuccessful as it was freezing and their guns couldn’t fire

77
Q

what impact did ww2 have on rationing?

A

supplies were given to soldiers
servere food shortages in germany in 1939
food and clothing were rationed
the nazis told the german people they must commit to winning the war

78
Q

what impact did ww2 have in labour and refugees?

A

in 1942 the country was to organise for total war meaning everything focused on war
factories had women working as men were at ease and 7 million foreign workers had been brought in to work as slave labours

79
Q

what impact did ww2 have on bombing?

A

britain and america destroyed german cities with bombs
there was no electricity, water, transportation and a few homes
many deaths
caused flooding & gas explosions

80
Q

how did hitler control young people outside of school?

A

hitler wanted to train up disciplined and heathy teenagers
set up hitler youth in 1922
banned all other youth groups in 1933
in 1936 hitler made a law for the incorporation of german youth meaning hitler youth was legally as important as school and home
controlled all sports and youth competitions
membership for hitler youth was compulsory in 1939

81
Q

german boys in hitler youth:

A

learned military skills - marching, fight with knives, fire a gun etc
learned the importance of loyalty
go many times a week
focused on competition, heroism and leadership
pepare boys for future roles as soldiers
little fellow 6-10
young folk 10-14
hitler youth 14-18

82
Q

german girls in the hitler youth:

A

taught how to be good wives and mothers
went on matches and camps
learn to keep fit, cook, look after babies to prepare for childhood
young girls 10-14
league of german girls 14-17

83
Q

who’s the edelweiss pirates?

A

working class boys and girls who opposed nazis
sang songs like hitler youth but changed words
taunt and attack hitler youth members
boys and girls with no care about sex
created anti nazi slogans
beat up nazi officials
in 1944 killed the gestapo chief

nazis hung 12 edelweiss pirates

84
Q

who were the swing group?

A

middle class youths
opposed nazis, drank alcohol and danced to jazz (hitler hated it)
wore english style clothes, girls wore makeup

harshly punished

85
Q

who were the white rose group?

A

against the slaughter of jews and polish
munich university students
distributed anti nazi leaflets
called for the end of the war
called for the end of discrimination towards jews

many arrested and 6 killed

86
Q

what was women’s role in nazi germany?

A

the nazis felt it was women’s duty to stay at home and have lots of children and support their husbands
kinder, kitchen, küche (children, church, cooking)
many females who had jobs were sacked
women were banned for the jury service as they ‘could not think without emotion’
banned for smoking, wearing heals etc
loads were given to newly weds to encourage them to have children
nazis banned abortions and contraception
the motherhood medal was awarded to women depending on how many children they have birthed

87
Q

why did christian’s support the nazis?

A

both believed in the importance of marriage, family and moral values
both feared communism - communist were anti religious
hitler promised to respect the catholic church

88
Q

what was the nazis and the catholic churches relationship?

A

in 1933 hitler and the pope signed a concordat agreeing not to interfere with one and another
hilter broke the agreement
hitler felt catholics listened more to the pope
he arrested catholic priests and closed catholic youth groups and schools
in 1937 the pope issued a statement called ‘with burning anxiety’ saying that the nazis were hostile
a catholic leader criticised the nazis use of euthanasia and concentration camps - he was put on house arrest until the end of the war

89
Q

what was the relationship between the nazis and protestant church?

A

some people admired hitlers views on morals etc and they wanted to know what the church would be like under hitlers control
these people were called german christian’s
they often wore nazi uniforms and used the slogan ‘swastika on our chest, cross in our hearts’
some hated this as they believed nazi views opposed christianity
a confessional church was formed who opened criticised the nazis
however nazis attacked back and arrested many priests and sent the lead to a concentration camp

90
Q

who were welcomed into nazi germany?

A

pure aryans (athletic, blue eyed, blonde hair)
physically and mentally healthy people
socially useful
welcome nazism

encouraged to have racially pure children
all aryan men have children
contribute to national community

91
Q

who were considered as a threat to nazi germany?

A

alcoholics
prostitutes
homosexuals
people who have committed crimes
gypsies
jews

92
Q

what was the sterilisation law and what year was it introduced?

A

1933
allowed nazis to sterilise people who were ill, tramps, beggars
350,000 people had been sterilised

93
Q

when did the undesirables start being sent to concentration camps?

A

1936

94
Q

what was the euthanasia camps and when did it start?

A

1939
exterminate mentally ill
6000 handicapped babies, children and teenagers were killed

95
Q

what were the nuremberg laws and what year did they occur?

A

1935
banned as aryans from marrying jews (any marriages already taken place were declared invalid)
all jews had their citizenship removed

96
Q

what’s antisemitism?

A

the hatred for jews

97
Q

why were jews targeted?

A

hitler blamed them for the defeat of ww1 and because they often had very good jobs

98
Q

what discrimination against the jews occurred in 1933?

A

banned from many jobs like teacher etc
ss and sa boycotted jewish shops and businesses and marked them with the star of david

99
Q

name 7 ways jews were discriminated against from 1938 onwards:

A

jews had to declare their finances so that the government could take them
male jews had to take the name ‘israel’ and female jews had to take the name ‘sara’
jewish passports had to be stamped with letter J
jews had to hand in jewellery, gold, silver anythung valuable to the police
jews could be evicted from their homes
jews weren’t aloud to leave their homes until 8pm in winter and 9pm in summer
jewish children were excluded from schools

100
Q

what was kristallnacht?

A

in 1938 a young german killed a german diplomat
nazis used this to launch revenge on jews
they ran riot, smashing up jewish shops and workplaces
91 jews killed
hundreds of synagogues burned down
20,000 jews taken to concentration camps

101
Q

what year did hitler decide to evict all jews from germany?

A

1939

102
Q

what was some of hitler methods to deal with the jews?

A

bricking them into ghettos
sending them to work in labour camps
execution squads
concentration camps

103
Q

what year was the final solution and what was it?

A

1942
wannsee conference
discussing how to kill all jews
working them to death, poising them in gas chambers
6 death camps were built

104
Q

name 3 concentration camps:

A

dachau
auschwitz
treblinka

105
Q

how did himmler contribute to the fear and terror?

A

controlled all police forces
reported to hitler

106
Q

how did concentration camps contribute to the fear and terror?

A

anyone the nazi disliked was sent to them
inmates were forced to work hard and tortured or worked to death

107
Q

how did the ss contribute to the fear and terror?

A

they could arrest anyone for any reason, search homes and seize properties

108
Q

how did the gestapo contribute to the fear and terror?

A

the gestapo spied on people they thought might be a threat
they tapped telephone calls and opened mail
they had the power to arrest, imprison without trial

109
Q

how did nazis control arts and culture?

A

set up a organisation called the chamber of culture
all activities had to give the message that nazis beliefs and ideas were correct
goebbels approved all film scripts
music had to be german or austrian
plays should focus on germany history and politics
list of banned books
art show pure german figures
held the olympic games in berlin to show how great nazi germany was

110
Q

what was passive resistance?

A

when germans showed they didn’t support nazis publicly by refusing to do what they were told

111
Q

what year and what was the july bomb plot?

A

1944
operation valkeryrie
colonel claus von stauffenberg agreed to be part of a group that would detonate a bomb where hitler was meeting other nazi officials
they hoped then to take over and end the war and change germany for the better
killed 4 men
only injured hitler - bursting his eardrums
stauffenberg executed