Germany: Weimar Flashcards
January elections
. Sweeping victory for parties favouring democracy
. SPD, USPD, Zentrum: won 80% of vote between em
. Newly elected assembly met in Weimar in Feb 1919 . Berlin: violent clashes between Spartacists and military was reckoned to be too dangerous
Hugo Preuss
. A liberal law professor, already begun work on new constitution + assembly debated his proposals
. He favoured a strong central gov, others wanted more decentralised federal structure that’d give power to individual Lander
. Compromise: accepted by 262 votes to 72 in Aug
New Constitution
. Lander govs given control of their police, schools + judges
. Taxation + military in hands of central gov
. Prussia + Bavaria also lost their monarchies
New Constitution - President (Head of State)
. Elected every 7yrs by men + women over 20
. Appointed + dismissed ministers + could dissolve Reichstag + call new elections
. Supreme commander of the armed forces
. Under Article 48: reserve powers to rule by decree in an emergency without the Reichstag’s consent
. Answerable to the Reichstag
New Constitution - Chancellor
. Appointed by President . Had to have support of at least half the Reichstag . Proposed new laws to Reichstag . Drafts laws for Reichstag to debate . Advised by The Reichsrat
New Constitution - The Reichsrat
. The 2nd chamber of the German parliament, made up of 67 reps from separate 17 states
. Repped in proportion to population, but no state had 40%+ of the seats to prevent Prussian dominance
. Could provide advice on laws but could be overridden by the Reichstag
New Constitution - Individual voter’s rights
. Vote for Reichstag every 4yrs + Pres for every 7yrs
. Vote occasionally on important issues
. ‘All Germans are equal before the law’
. Freedom of speech, conscience and travel
. Right to belong to trade unions, political parties etc
. Employees equal rights w employers to determine working conditions + wages
. Use intellectual + physical powers in interest of community
New Constitution - the Reichstag
. Elected every 4yrs by all Germans over 20 using proportional representation
. Chancellor + ministers responsible to Reichstag
. Voted on budget; new laws had to originate in Reichstag and required approval of a majority of Reichstag deputies
New Constitution - Other features
. Supreme court, independent of the Reichstag and the President
. The Republic had a federal system whereby there were separate state govs in the 17 Lander which kept control of their own internal affairs
Spartacists
. Angered by the dismissal of prominent USPD officials, a left wing demonstration broke out 5 Jan
. Karl Liebknecht + Rosa Luxembourg gave speeches to encourage the workers’ rebellion + inspire them to overthrow the SPD gov before elections took place
. SPD’s newspaper offices were occupied + a revolutionary committee formed
Ebert’s response to Spartacists
. He turned to General Noske, Defense Minister
. Noske acted severely, using bands of Freikorps who hated Communists
. 10-12 Jan: savage street fighting, 100+ workers killed
. Rosa + Karl captured + killed despite gov orders
. Left wing no longer saw SPD as their saviour but as their enemy, felt v betrayed
Other left wing unrest 1919
- March ‘19: another Spartacist uprising in Berlin
. Communist Gov established in Bavaria after Kurt Eisner’s assassination in Feb, worker’s soviets announced in Munich - April-May: strikes in Halle + Ruhr valley, demanded worker’s control over industry, a gov based on soviets + shorter hrs. Gov called on Freikorps, 1200 workers killed in Berlin, further 700 in Bavaria - new Communist gov overthrown in favour of right wing regime
Other left wing unrest 1920
. March: General strike in Berlin helped defeat right wing coup. ‘Red army’ formed of 50,000 workers + seized control of Ruhr. Also struggles in Halle + Dresden: 1000+ workers + 250 soldiers + police killed
. Dec: USPD (400,000 members) voted to join KPD (78,000 members). Increased left wing strength + confidence
Other left wing unrest 1921-23
. March ‘21: attempted Communist rising in Merseburg in Saxony. Strike disruption in Hamburg + Ruhr. Risings crushed + 145 killed in Ruhr
. ‘23: further strike activity, at a time of economic collapse, w main centres being in Saxony + Hamburg
. Also 22 political assassinations during period
Right wing Opposition
. ‘stab in the back’ myth: victory snatched from Germany by revolutionary disruption
. hatred of Treaty of Versailles
. referred to treaty as a ‘diktat’ - ‘dictated’ peace without Germany’s consultation
. hostility directed at politicians for agreeing to it
Harbors of right wing opposition
. Freikorps
. Army
. Large landowners, industrialists, civil servants, police + judges were traditional, conservative
. Bc of wealth + influence, they wielded considerable amount of power
Right wing opposition - 1920
. Jan: the gov started to reduce size of army + to disband some Freikorps units in accordance w demands of Treaty of Versailles
. Feb: Noske ordered 2 Freikorps units, stationed 12 miles from Berlin + comprising 12,000 men to disband
- General Walther von Luttwitz, commanding general, refused + gov ordered his arrest
Kapp Putsch
. March ‘20: Luttwitz + Freikorps leader, Captain Hermann Erhardt, sympathisers + politician Wolfgang Kapp marched troops into Berlin
. Kapp proclaimed himself Chancellor
. Ebert’s gov fled to Dresden + ordered army to crush
. General von Seeckt: “Troops do not fire on troops”
. Workers called a strike across all of Germany
. Berlin to a standstill, Putsch collapsed after 4 days
Result of Kapp Putsch
. Kapp + Luttwitz forced to flee
. Showed the army couldn’t be trusted
. Without army support, Weimar gov weak
. The leniency shown by right wing judges towards those brought to trial, only one defendant punished, contrasted strongly w harsh treatment of left wing
Right-wing leagues
. Vaterlandische Verbande (Patriotic Leagues)
. Committed to elimination of prominent politicians + those who betrayed Germany
. Often formed from old Freikorps units + acted as fiercely anti-Republican paramilitaries
. Some actively supported by regular army
Victims of Right Wing Leagues
. USPD Hugo Haase shot in front of the Reichstag in Oct 1919
. Aug 1921: former Finance Minister Matthias Erzberger, assassinated by terrorist league ‘Organisation Consul’
. June 1922: Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau killed by same organisation
. 354 right wing political assassinations 1919-23
‘For the Protection of the Republic’
. July 1922, 5 year law
. Placed severe penalties on those involved in conspiracy to murder
. Outlawed extreme organisations, Organisation Consul forced to disband
. Limited effect bc right wing sympathies of judges
. Conservative gov in Bavaria refused to implement
. 326 right wing murders unpunished, only 1 convicted + sentenced to severe punishment before 1923
Reparations
. £6.6bil in total, 66 annual instalments of £100mil
. 1923: Inter-Allied Commission declared Germany were in arrears w timber + coal payments
. 11 Jan: French + Belgian troops went into Ruhr to take coal, steel + manufactured goods from Germany as reparations
Occupation of the Ruhr
. Gov responded w ‘passive resistance’, Germans refused to work for the French
. Workers given strike pay + told not to co-operate
. French reacted brutally: shooting, hostages, aggressive house searches
. 132 lost their lives, 150,000 expelled from area
. French brought in own workers, but by May 1923 mines were producing only third of average for 1922 + overall output in Ruhr fell by a fifth
Result of Ruhr Occupation
. More political uprisings, Ebert used Article 48
. He transferred power from Lander to regional military commanders in Sep 1923 + appointed new Reich Commissioner, replacing democratically elected SPD
. Attempted Putsch by General Buchrucker Oct 1923, crushed by army, but a month later another came in Munich in Bavaria by the Nazis
Bavaria
. Since attempted Communist takeover defeated May 1919, led by right wing gov
. Paramilitaries continued to flourish
. Leaders of cons state were outraged by ending of passive resistance by Stresemann, Sep 1923
. Plans to overthrow federal gov
Nazi Party
. Hitler turned DAP, formed Sep 1919 by Anton Drexler to NSDAP, ‘National Socialist German Worker’s Party’
. By Nov 1913 it had attracted 55,000 members
. Anti-democratic and authoritarian, proclaiming superiority of German race
. Had paramilitary force: SA
. Wide ranging 25 point programme Feb 1920 attracted support from sympathetic Bavarians
Beer Hall Putsch
. Nov 1923: Hitler tried to get Commander in Chief of Bavarian Army Lossow and State Governor Kahr to support, but they were unconvinced by this ‘upstart’ and used police to crush the rising
. Nazi Party banned and Hitler imprisoned, only sentenced 5yrs due to right wing judicial leniency, and served 9 months
Beer Hall Putsch in practice
. 8 Nov 1923: Hitler burst into beer hall where Lossow and Kahr were addressing a meeting
. Hall filled with SA men + he announced ‘national revolution’ had begun
. Persuaded at gunpoint to agree to plan and to install Ludendorff as new Commander-In-Chief
. SA unable to gain control, Ludendorff let off
Hitler’s history with DAP
. Sep 1919: attended a meeting as Bavarian Army ‘education officer’ (spy); joined party and became committee member
. Feb 1920: drew up 25 Point programme and changed name to ‘National Socialist German Worker’s Party’
. July 1921: Hitler took over leadership
. August: SA established
Ideology of Nazi Party
. Nationalist: anti-Semitic, democratic, Communist
. Socialist: anti-capitalist (favoured abolition of unearned income, nationalisation of businesses, and end of department stores)
. While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf, included:
- superiority of Aryan race
- Social Darwinism: Germans ‘master race’
- Lebensruam: more territory for growing population
- Fuhrerprinzip: all powerful leader
1920 elections
. Swing away from moderate centre-left parties, who took only 44.6% of vote + to extreme left + right
. USPD: 22 seats in 1919, 83 seats in 1920
. DNVP: 44 seats in 1919, 71 in 1920
. SPD (pro Weimar) 163 in 1919, 103 in 1920
. Electorate torn between Communist fear + hostility to politicians who signed Treaty Of Versailles
. SPD had to form coalition w right wing DVP
Economic problems and concerns about reparations
. Brought Fehrenbach’s gov down
. Fehrenbach’s successor, Joseph Wirth of Zentrum , adopted policy of Erfullungspolitik (fulfillment policy)
. Intended to show German good faith in the hope that Allies wold be encouraged to scale down or reverse decisions
. Co-operation with the Treaty of Versailles, characterised Weimar foreign policy
Response to Wirth’s policies
. Attacked by the right + he found it difficult to hold gov together
. Replaced by Cuno, had to deal w French invasion of Ruhr, runaway inflation, + threats of uprisings
. His successor, Stresemann only lasted 100 days as chancellor but provided political stabilities
. 8 diff govs in first four years of Republic
