Government and Opposition to 1924

Question 1

What event caused Ebert to need to intervene with steps to the post-war disturbances?

Answer 1

the 1918 revolution

Question 2

What were some of Ebert’s steps to solve the post-war disturbances?

Answer 2

• formed a provisional government - ‘the council of the peoples commissars’ - making fun of communists to attempt to win support of soviets/ the people
• Ebert-Groener Pact
• agreed to the armistice

Question 3

What is the Ebert-Groener Pact?

Answer 3

• Groener = right wing army general
• agreed to suppress lingering revolutionary activity
• military maintain authority

Question 4

What did Ebert have to struggle with in terms of opposition?

Answer 4

attempted coups and opposition from the left and right

Question 5

What are some broad examples of opposition from the left?

Answer 5

• sparticists revolt
• communist (KPD) boycotts
• comintern backed activism

Question 6

Who were the leaders of the Spartacist revolt?

Answer 6

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg

Question 7

How did Liebknecht and Luxemburg raise moral for their cause?

Answer 7

giving speeches and encouraging a workers’ rebellion

Question 8

What were the beliefs of the spartacists?

Answer 8

opposed war and to redistribute wealth

Question 9

What did Ebert do to crush the growing Spartacist Leauge?

Answer 9

sent in the Freikorps

Question 10

Who were the Freikorps?

Answer 10

ex-military soldiers

Question 11

What was the consequence of the uprising being crushed?

Answer 11

the left no longer saw the SPD as a saviour but now as their enemy & they felt horribly betrayed

Question 12

What was the role of the KPD in the left wing opposition?

Answer 12

they boycotted the January 1919 election and encouraged worker agitation

Question 13

Why did the KPD boycott the election?

Answer 13

they opposed Ebert’s dealing with the post war disturbances such as his order to put down a sailor’s pay demonstration by force

Question 14

What did Marxists believe about Germany during this period?

Answer 14

thought it was ripe for revolution and Comintern backed activism (socialist)

Question 15

Where were lots of strikes beginning to occur and what is their significance?

Answer 15

Halle and the Ruhr valley - industrial areas supplying around 80% of the country’s coal

Question 16

What were demands of the industrial workers?

Answer 16

workers’ control over industry, a government based on workers’ soviets and shorter hours

Question 17

How did Ebert deal with the wave of strikes?

Answer 17

Freikorps

Question 18

How did the wave of left wing disputes effect the government and the peoples opinions of the government?

Answer 18

• gov never severely threatened due to the use of the Freikorps
• law-abiding middle classes feared that the gov were not fully in control

Question 19

What was the common opinion from the right wing on the new Republic?

Answer 19

• hostile
• believed that the 1918 Revolution was the cause for military collapse
• created the ‘stab-in-the-back’ myth
• hated the treaty of Versailles

Question 20

What type of people consisted of the right wing which would explain their hatred for the new Republic?

Answer 20

Junker military aristocracy - traditionalists

Question 21

What right wing revolution took place in 1920?

Answer 21

The Kapp Putsch

Question 22

What was the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 22

• right wing troops marched to Berlin
• Wolfgang Kapp proclaimed himself as chancellor
• Berlin brought to a stand still due to ordinary workers striking

Question 23

What can be said is the reason that the Kapp Putsch collapsed?

Answer 23

the strikes by ordinary workers that brought Berlin to the standstill that caused Kapp to flee

Question 24

What are some of the key takeaways from the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 24

• army was not to be trusted
• the workers as a group held great power
• without support from the army the Republic was weak

Question 25

How were right wing protestors treated compared to left wing?

Answer 25

harsh treatment suffered by left wing - as all those with power (judges) were right wing

Question 26

What term of the treaty of Versailles caused the most tension between Germany and other countries?

Answer 26

the £6.6 billion fine in reperations

Question 27

What treaty did Germany negotiate in order for economic cooperation with the USSR?

Answer 27

Treaty of Rapallo

Question 28

What was the consequence of an economic alliance between the USSR and Germany?

Answer 28

French and Belgian troops invaded and occupied the Ruhr to take coal, steel, and manufactured goods as reparations

Question 29

How did the government respond to the French occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 29

passive resistance - Germans refused to work for the French

Question 30

What were German workers given whilst passively resisting?

Answer 30

strike pay

Question 31

What was the effect on the Ruhr due to passive resistance?

Answer 31

overall output fell by 1/5

Question 32

What was the economic effect of the strike pay and the occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 32

hyperinflation

Question 33

What were the political effects of the occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 33

provoked further political uprisings forcing Ebert to utilise Article 48

Question 34

How does Hitler link to the occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 34

• Beer Hall Putsch
• an attempted national uprising
• Hitler imprisoned due to attempted right wing coup

Question 35

What political parties were most popular in the Republic in 1919?

Answer 35

those who wanted a representative democracy e.g.,
- SPD (dominated)
- Zentrum
- DDP

Question 36

How did the popular political parties change by 1920?

Answer 36

more extremist parties (left and right) such as the USPD and the DNVP

Question 37

What issues undermined the political situation in the Republic?

Answer 37

economic situation caused by the treaty of Versailles and the occupation of the Ruhr

Question 38

What policy was introduced to cooperate with the treaty of Versailles?

Answer 38

fulfilment