Germany dates Flashcards
World War 1
1914-18
G. gov.’s debt trebled from 50bn to 150bn marks
by 1918
unrest & anger at conditions in G. grew into revolution calling for Kaiser to abdicate
by Nov 1918
G. Navy (in port of Kiel) mutinied & refused to follow orders
Oct 1918
workers in Munich declared general strike & took control of gov.
Nov 1918
Kaiser fled G. & went into exile in Holland
9th Nov 1918
Ebert arranged for national election to be held
Jan 1919
29 diff. parties
in 1920s
9 diff. coalition gov.s
1919-23
Matthias Erzeberger (on behalf of gov.) signed surrender & armistice
11th Nov 1918
peace treaty signed in a French palace at Versailles, near Paris
June 1919
Spartacists began revolt & called for uprising of all workers
Jan 1919
(Spartacist League) over 100,000 workers took to streets & soon had control of Berlin
6th Jan 1919
~200 freikorps units in G.
by Jan 1919
(Spartacist League) Freikorps in control of streets
13th Jan 1919
Karl Liebknecht & Rosa Luxemburg arrested & killed by Freikorps without trial
16th Jan 1919
further Communist uprising in Berlin
Mar 1919
Ebert’s gov. relied on Freikorps to help defeat Communists
1919-21
Ebert’s gov. announced plans to reduce size of army & disband Freikorps
Mar 1920
elections … SPD lost over 1/3 seats, ‘moderate’ parties only had 45% seats & extremist parties had 20% seats
1920
Hugo Haase (member of Ebert’s gov.) murdered
1919
Matthias Erzeberger shot & killed
1921
Walter Rathenau, Foreign Minister, murdered
XJuneX 1922
376 political assassinations
1919-22
(ToV) G. econ. on verge of collapse
by 1920
G. failed to send coal to France from Ruhr coalfields
Dec 1922
France invaded & occupied Ruhr
Jan 1923
gov. had 300 paper mills & 2,000 printing shops dedicated to printing banknotes
by 1923
… loaf of bread = 1 mark, … loaf of bread = 200,000bn marks
1919
1923
Stresemann created new state-owned bank - Rentenbank = issued new currency Rentenmark
1923
Stresemann agreed to ‘Dawes Plan’
XAprX 1924
industrial output doubled
1923-28
Stresemann agreed to ‘Young Plan’
1929
living standards had suffered because of economic problems … -> many gradual social improvements after …
1918-23
1924
… over 4% total workforce unemp. … unemp. fell to 2 million & … 1.3 million
1924
1926
by 1928
real wages increased by 25%
1925-28
shortened working week from 50 hours to 46 hours
1927
Locarno Pact
1925
Stresemann awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1926
G. invited to join League of Nations
1926
Kellogg-Briand Pact
1928
Unemployment Insurance Act
1927
… shortage of 1 million homes -> … gov. introduced new 15% ‘rent tax’ to fund creation of building associations
by 1923
1925
new building associations built over 64,000 homes
1925-29
Reich Pension Law
1920
Social Democrats (SPD) came to power … & …(first week new Rep.) gave women right to vote & stand for elections
1918
Nov 1918
32 women had been elected to Reichstag & almost 10% members female
by 1926
Stresemann said G. econ. ‘only flourishing on the surface … the German economy is dancing on a volcano’
1929
agricultural production only at 79% of pre-war levels
by 1929
German National Party (DNVP) still 2nd largest party with 73 seats
by 1928
although Communists (KPD) lost support in … still 4th largest party … with 54 seats
1920s
by 1928
over 180,000 middle-class workers seeking work
1929
H. = main speaker at 31 out of 46 party meetings
1919-20
NSDAP only 23 members in … , by … 3,000 members
Sep 1919
Sep 1920
H. & Anton Drexler co-wrote party’s ‘Twenty-Five Point Programme’
XFebX 1920
H. formed the Sturmabteilung (SA) (run by Ernst Rohm)
XAugX 1921
SA numbered ~800 … & … this had risen to 55,000
by Aug 1922
Nov 1923
NSDAP had over 50,000 members & had built up strong base of support in Bavaria, where NSDAP Munich headquarters located
by 1923
Mussolini led supporters in a ‘March on Rome’
1922
Munich Putsch
Nov 1923
(Munich Putsch) ban on NSDAP lifted
XFebX 1925
share prices began to fall on Wall Street stock exchange in New York
XOctX 1929
in … G. industrial output fell by 10%, in .. fell by 40%
1929
1931
6.1 million people unemp., included 40% factory workers & 60% university graduates
Jan 1933
(WSC) … wages = 70% of … levels
by 1932
1928
Heinrich Bruning = Chancellor
1929-32
(WSC) Reichstag rejected Bruning’s policies
by July 1930
(WSC) Reichstag met 94 times in …. & only 13 times in …
1930
1932
had been only 5 presidential decrees in … , by … Bruning had issued 66
1930
1932
Bruning resigned
30th May 1932
NSDAP had become largest party in Reichstag with 230 seats
by July 1932
whereas 10% voters supported KPD in … Reichstag elections 15% supported in … elections > KPD gained 89 seats in … Reichstag elections
1928
1932
July 1932
NSDAP prop. made little reference to NSDAP or policies, just used striking images of H.
by 1932
‘Hitler over Germany’ campaign
1930-32
Red Front Fighters numbered over 130,000 however SA numbered well over 400,000
by 1932
(WSC) Joseph Goebbels in charge of NSDAP prop.
1930-32
NSDAP owned 120 daily or weekly newspapers
by early 1930s
elections … NSDAP gained 60% vote in some rural areas
1930
middle class deserted more moderate parties & many switched to NSDAP
1929-32
general elections … Nazi Party won 107 seats in Reichstag
1930
(Hindenburg’s 2nd) presidential election
Apr 1932
Bruning banned SA & SS & announced plan to buy up land from large landowners to house unemp.
Apr 1932
Reichstag elections, NSDAP won 230 seats
July 1932
Hindenburg appointed von Schleicher as Chancellor
Dec 1932
H. legally appointed Chancellor of G.
30th Jan 1933
once Chancellor H. called general election for …
5th Mar 1933
Reichstag Fire
27th Feb 1933
Enabling Act
Mar 1933
SA entered offices of SPD & KPD destroying newspapers & confiscating funds > facing intimidation Socialists voluntarily gave up seats in Reichstag
May 1933
‘Law Against the Formation of Parties’
July 1933
Dachau opened
Mar 1933
… elections 95.2% of pop. voted for NSDAP & they won over 39 million votes
Nov 1933
the Night of the Long Knives
30th June 1934
60% of SA = unemp.
by 1930
death of Hindenburg & public vote to confirm H. as Fuhrer
Aug 1934
SS set up as personal bodyguard for H. with 240 members
1925
SS given famous black uniforms
1932
Gestapo set up = H.’s non-uniformed police force
1933
160,000 arrested for political offences
1939
150,000 people ‘under protective arrest’ in prisons
by 1939
534 people sentenced to death for political offences
1934-39
H. made Goebbels the Minister of People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda
1933
over 1,600 newspapers = shut down
1935
Prop. Ministry fully owned 82% of all media being published in G.
by 1944
Goebbels censored radio stations
after 1933
70% of G. homes owned radio
by 1939
every summer starting … Goebbels organised vast rallies in Nuremburg
1923
… Nuremburg rally involved over 700,000 people
1934
NSDAP set up Chamber of Culture
XSepX 1933
Goebbels organised ‘Book Burning’
1933
Goebbels set up Chamber of Visual Arts
1933
over 12,000 paintings & sculptures = removed from galleries by SS
1936
Berlin Olympics
1936
SS = over 250,000 members
by 1939
all police powers (including Gestapo) unified under Himmler’s control
by 1936
leaders of SPD newspaper ‘The Red Shock Troop’ arrested
1933
after assassination of Cologne Gestapo Chief 13 young people hanged
XNovX 1944
~160,000 people imprisoned (in conc. camps?)
1939
Reich Church (Protestant)
1936
Concordat with the Pope
1933
Jews banned from gov. jobs & Jewish teachers & civil servants sacked
XAprX 1933
Jews banned from inheriting land
XSepX 1933
Jews banned from Army
XMayX 1935???
local councils banned Jews from parks & swimming pools while others provided separate yellow park benches
1934
boycott of Jewish businesses
Mar 1933
Nuremburg Laws (included Reich Law on Citizenship & Reich Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour)
XSepX 1935
Kristallnacht
Nov 1933
8,000 homosexuals had been imprisoned
by 1938
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring
1933
T4 programme
1939
1.2 million boys being trained in small arms shooting
by 1938
all youth groups banned other than Nazi groups
1933
membership of H. Y. became compulsory
1939
200,000 teachers attended political education courses
by 1939
‘New Women’
1920s
1.7 million women had attended courses on childcare, cooking & sewing
by 1939
birth rate in G. had fallen to only 1 million births per year
by 1933
Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (marriage loans)
1933
~360,000 women had given up work to get married
by end of 1934
overall birth rate increased from 14.7 births per 1000 marriages in … to 19.6 in …
1933
1937
540 women gave birth in Lebensborn houses
1938-41
divorce laws changed to encourage childbirth
1938
during election campaign in … H. promised to take 800,000 women out of employment within 4 years
1932
Law for the Reduction of Unemployment (women out of work)
1933
grammar schools for girls banned
1937
num. female students entering higher education fell from 17,000 in … to 6,000 in …
1932
1939
Nazis launched ‘autobahn’ project
XSepX 1933
… autobahn project employed 125,000 men & … had built over 2,000 miles
by 1935
by 1938
H. introduced conscription for all young men
1935
over 1.3 million G. men in armed forces
by 1939
gov. spent 26bn marks per year on rearmament
by 1939
num. people employed in aviation had grown to 72,000
by 1935
Nazis spent 37bn marks on public works
1938
… KDF had over 35 million members & … 10 million workers took KDF holidays
by 1936
1938
SDA claimed 34,000 companies had improved facilities
by 1938
~400,000 people employed in RAD
by 1935
compulsory for all young men below 25 to serve for 6 months in RAD
from 1935
avg. wages increased from 86 marks per week in … to 109 marks per week in …
1933
1939
avg. working hours in industry increased from 42 hours per week in … to 49 in …
1933
1939
all basic groceries (except fish) cost more in … than …
1939
1933
