Germany (booklet one) Flashcards
When did WWI start and end?
1914 to 1918
How many Germans fought in WW1?
11 million
How many German troops died in WW1?
2 million
How many German troops were wounded in WW1?
4 million
How much did the German government debt increase from as a result of WW1?
5 billion marks to 150 billion marks
What did the British Navy do to German ports?
Blockaded them, so that supplies could not be brought in
How many Germans died as a result of food shortages?
Over 750,000
What options are many of the German people left with by 1918?
Revolts, Strike at the Stuttgart Daimler factory or Riots in Hanover
What did the army refuse to do to the rioters in Hanover?
Refuse to control them as they agreed with the riot
What were formed in many cities as a method of taking over the government?
Workers’ councils and soldiers’ councils
When was the Navy mutiny?
October 1918
Where was the German strike of 7 November 1918?
Munich, in the state of Bavaria
Who was the strike lead by?
Jewish communist named Kurt Eisener
Where was the Kaiser on 9 November 1918?
Army,headquarters in Spa 700 km from Berlin
Did the minister tell him to do to save Germany?
Abdicate
Did the Kaiser agree to abdicating at first?
No
What support did the Kaiser lose next?
The army
Who told him that he had lost support of the army?
General Willhelm Groener
What did the Kaiser do on the evening of November 9?
He abdicated
Where was he by the early morning of 10 November?
In exile in Holland
What does the term armistice mean?
To cease fighting
By signing the armistice, what was Germany doing?
Surrender to the allies, and admitting that they had lost WW1
When was the armistice signed?
11 November 1918
Who signed the armistice for Germany?
Matthias Erzberger
What was the Dolchstoss theory?
The Dolchstoss or the ‘stabbing in the back myth’ was a notion widely believed in the right wing circle in Germany, after 1918, that the German army did not lose WW1 on the battlefield, but instead was betrayed by politicians, who made the new Republic
Who were the November criminals?
The German government leaders who signed the armistice on November 11, 1918
Who announced the Kaiser’s abdication?
Philip Scheidemann one the leaders of the SDP
Would Germany be without the Kaiser?
A Republic
Who was the leader of the SPD?
Freidrich Ebert
Who handed the power over to Ebert on 9 November?
Max Von Baden, the Kaiser’s chancellor
Who did Ebert make an agreement with to block the power of the communists?
General Groener of the army
What did Ebert do to the Reichstag on 10 November?
He suspended it
What was the Reichstag temporarily replaced with?
Council of people’s representatives made up of six moderate politicians
What was this meant to prevent?
Anarchy and lawlessness
What did Ebert hope to establish soon?
A new constitution
Who did Ebert arrange to work with and support the worker’s and soldier’s council
Civil servants had worked under the Kaiser
What activities were the civil servants to focus on?
Collecting taxes and running public services such as schools
What did Ebert promised the army?
Not to take officer’s ranks or try to reform the army
What did General Groener promise?
But the army would support the Republic
What did Ebert from a certain industrial owners?
When new Republic would not confiscate land or factories from them, and there would be no nationalisation such as state controls of private industries
Name one industrial owner who supported Ebert?
Hugo Stinnes
Who is the leader of trade unions?
Carl Legien
What did Ebert promise Legein?
To try to get 8 hour working days for the working class
Why did Ebert want to elect a national assembly?
To create a new constitution for Germany
When were the elections for the national assembly?
19 January 1919
What percentages of eligible Germans voted?
82%
What percentages of the vote did the SPD get?
40%
What percentages of the vote did the central party get?
20%
When did the national assembly meet for the first time?
February 1919
Where do they meet?
Town of Weimar 250 km from Berlin
Why did they meet here?
Because it was too much violence in Berlin
When was a new constitution agreed?
31st of July 1919
How many votes for and how many voted against the new constitution?
262 votes for, 75 votes against
What was the name of the new Republic?
The Weimar Republic