Germany Flashcards
What was the Weimar Republic?
A new government led by Friedrich Ebert, that signed an armistice with the Allies, and set up the Weimar Constitution
What was the Weimar constitution?
President elected by the people
Laws were made in Reichstag
Everyone over the age of 20 could vote
Bill of Rights
Proportional representation
What could the president do?
Control armed forces
Elect Chancellor
Proportional representation
Where the number of seats a party wins in parliament is worked out as a proportion of the number of votes they win
Who were the November Criminals?
What the Weimar Republic was called when they signed the Treaty of Versailles
What happened on the 5th January 1919?
The Spartacist Uprising
What was the Spartacist Uprising?
Spartacists tried to seize power in Berlin
Inspired by Bolshevik revolution in Russia
Weimar Republic gave weapons to 4000 Freikorps and crushed the Uprising
What happened in 1920?
The Kapp Putsch
What was the Kapp Putsch?
5000 Freikorps led by Wolfgang Kapp tried to seize power in Berlin
Workers called general strike and ended the Putsch
Was the Weimar government doomed from the start?
The enemies of the government hated each other more than they hated the Weimar government, so it wasn’t doomed from the start
What was 1923?
The Year of Crisis
What happened in the Year of Crisis?
French invasion of the Ruhr
Hyperinflation
Munich Putsch
Stresemann appointed Chancellor
What was the French invasion of the Ruhr?
In 1922 Germany couldn’t pay reparations. France did not believe this, so French troops invaded the Ruhr, but the workers in the Ruhr went on strike
What was the Ruhr?
Germany’s most valuable industrial area
Hyperinflation
When production can’t keep up with the amount of money there is, so the money keeps losing its value
What was hyperinflation?
The government printed more money to pay reparations - the Mark became worthless and Germans lost their savings and pensions
What was the Munich Putsch?
Nazi attempt to overthrow government, however police suppressed the Putsch
Who was Gustav Stresemann?
Chancellor of Germany from August 1923 - October 1929
Led Germany back to recovery
What did Stresemann do?
Introduced Rentenmark to make currency stable
Told workers in Ruhr to return to work
Dawes Plan
Locarno Treaty
Young Plan
What was the Dawes Plan?
Reorganised reparation payments
What was the Locarno Treaty?
Western borders of Germany were agreed
What was the Young Plan?
Reparations reduced by three-quarters
Germany given 59 years to pay them
Why did the Nazis fail to get into power before 1928?
Lacked support of working class
1924-1929 was a time of peace
Nazi ideas were too extreme
What led to Hitler’s rise to power?
External factors
Internal factors
External factors that led to Hitler’s rise to power
Wall Street Crash:
Impact of Depression made Weimar Government look weak
Increased support for extreme parties
What was the Impact of the Depression?
Businesses went bankrupt
Farmers struggled and went out of business
Unemployment reached 6 million
How did the Wall Street Crash make the Weimar government look weak?
Politicians couldn’t agree what to do
At first, they did nothing
Then they reduced money spent, which made the government unpopular
How did the Wall Street Crash increase the support for extreme parties?
Many blamed the government, and started to criticise the democratic system. People started to vote for more extreme parties
Internal factors that led to Hitler’s rise to power
Hitler’s leadership skills
Nazi promises
Fear of communism
Weak opposition
How did Hitler’s leadership skills lead to Hitler’s rise to power?
He was a powerful and inspiring speaker
He was able to fill audiences with a sense of hope
How did Nazi promises lead to Hitler’s rise to power?
The Nazi concentrated on issues that Germans were worried about
- Promised to reverse Treaty of Versailles
- Create jobs
- Solve economic crisis
How did Nazi propaganda lead to Hitler’s rise to power?
Organised by Josef Goebbels:
- Used loudspeakers and films to spread their message
- Used mass rallies and marches to give impression of discipline and order
- Used propaganda poster with simple slogans to spread key ideas
How did the fear of communism lead to Hitler’s rise to power?
Support for communism increased from 1930 to 1932
In Germany, people began to fear that communists would take over the country
How did weak opposition lead to Hitler’s rise to power?
Communists and Social Democrats were not prepared to work together
People lost trust in parties that ruled during the Depression
How was Hitler made Chancellor?
Nazis needed majority to control Reichstag
Hitler demanded to be Chancellor
However, Hindenburg refused
What happened when Hindenburg refused to make Hitler Chancellor?
Hindenburg appointed Von Papen
However he did not have the support of the Reichstag
Then, Hindenburg chose Von Schleicher as Chancellor
What happened when Von Schleicher was elected as Chancellor?
Von Papen wanted revenge
He thought he could use the Nazi Party to get power for himself
So Hindenburg appointed Von Papen as Chancellor and Hitler as vice chancellor
What happened after Hitler was appointed Vice Chancellor?
Hindenburg and Von Papen thought that they could control Hitler
However Hindenburg died and Von Papen resigned
Then Hitler called another election
What happened after Hitler called another election?
Reichstag Fire
Enabling Act
Night of the Long Knives
Hitler become ‘Der Führer’
What was the Reichstag Fire?
A Communist called Van Der Lubbe was found at the scene
The Nazis claimed that this was the start of a Communist plot to take over Germany
The Communist Party was banned
Then the election was called
What happened at the election?
Enabling Act passed:
- Small parties were persuaded to vote
- Communists were banned
- Only Social Democrats voted against
- The law was passed with 444 votes to 94
What happened after the Enabling Act?
Trade unions banned
Political parties banned
Night of Long Knives
What was the Night of the Long Knives?
Ernst Rohm (leader of SA) and 200 other leaders killed
Hitler claimed Rohm was plotting against him
Hitler needed the support of the army
What happened after the Night of the Long Knives?
Hindenburg dies
Hitler becomes President
Army swears oath of loyalty (because he destroyed SA)
Nazi Germany aims
Nazi Terror
Propaganda
Economy
Women
Education
Youth Movements
Persecution of minorities
Persecution of the Jews
What was the aim of Nazi Terror?
Nazis wanted to remove all opposition and use terror as a way of controlling people
How did Nazi Terror achieve its aim?
Gestapo
Concentration camps
The courts
SS
Informers
Gestapo
Searched out opponents to the Nazis
They could arrest anyone
They could send anyone to concentration camps without trial
How did the courts achieve Nazi Terror?
Liberal or Jewish judges were replaced by Nazi supporters. 500 opponents of Hitler were sentenced to death
How did informers achieve Nazi Terror?
People were encouraged to report on anti-Nazi activity. Those accused were mainly killed in concentration camps
What was the aim of Propaganda?
Nazis wanted to control what people heard and read - they used the media to help mould the minds of the media
How did Propaganda achieve its aim?
Josef Goebbels
Radio
Film
Music
Literature
Rallies
All newspapers
How did Josef Goebbels achieve Propaganda?
All films, books, records, newspapers, radio broadcasts and posters were controlled (censorship)
How did radio achieve Propaganda?
Cheap radios were provided in order that all Germans could hear Hitler’s speeches (70% of German households had a radio by 1939)
What was the aim of the Economy?
Reducing unemployment would increase Hitler’s popularity
Autarky would help them during times of war
How did the Economy achieve its aim?
By reducing unemployment
How did Hitler reduce unemployment?
Public work programmes
Rearmament
Armed services
What was the aim of Women?
Nazis believed that German women should stay in the home and look after the children. They wanted women to be the centre of family life
How did Women achieve its aim?
Professional women were forced to give up their jobs
Marriage loans were given
The Honour Cross was given for having children
Unfit women were sterilised
What was the aim of Education?
Nazis controlled schools to ensure that the children were taught the Nazi way of seeing things
How did Education achieve its aim?
All teachers had to be Nazis
All lessons had to reflect Nazi beliefs
The education of girls concentrated on turning them into perfect Aryan mothers
Jewish teachers were sacked in 1933
What was the aim of Youth Movement?
To make young people grow up supporting the Nazis
How did Youth Movement achieve its aim?
Hitler Youth
League of German Maidens
What was the Hitler Youth?
10-18 year old boys
Activities involved war games
Boys wore military style uniforms
This was because Hitler wanted a strong army
What was the League of German Maidens?
Girls encouraged to be fit, healthy and taught to become mother
What was the aim of the Persecution of minorities?
The Nazis wanted to remove all people with physical or social defects to prevent the weakening of the German Aryan ‘Master race’
How was the Persecution of minorities achieved?
Physical and mentally handicapped were sterilised
Homosexuals and gypsies were sent to concentration camps
What was the aim of the Persecution of the Jews?
Hitler regarded the Jews as an inferiror race who had infected the Aryan master race and caused Germany many problems
How did the Persecution of the Jews achieve its aim?
Nuremberg Laws
Kristallnacht
Final Solution
What were the Nuremberg Laws?
Made it illegal for Jews to marry with Aryan Germans. Jews lost their right as German citizens, and were banned from public places
What was Kristallnacht?
Thousands of Jewish shops and synagogues were destroyed
40 000 Jews were sent to concentration camps
The trigger of this even was the shooting of a Nazi in Paris by a Jewish man
This was just an excuse to increase persecution of Jewish people
What was the Final Solution?
Systematic killing of 6 million Jews in extermination camps
What were the opposition of the Nazis?
Edelweiss Pirates
Stauffenberg Plot
Confessing Church
