Histor Yr 10 unit 1-causes of ww1 Flashcards
The weaknesses of the weimar government
1.Development of Article 48
this allowed the chancellor emergency decree powers to protect the republic from crises however it had no clear definition on what a crisis was
2.% of total vote= the amount of seats you gain in the reichstag (govt) so if extremist groups eg communists Nazis got popular they could control govt
The punishments of the treaty of Versailles and their impact on the weimar government
punishments: Germany was to take full responsibility for the war including deaths and devastation it caused forced to pay reparations of over 6.6 billion pounds in damages caused by war give control of important mining facilities to the French as compensation . it lost 10% of its European territory 12.5% of its population now living in other countries + a 16% decrease in
coal production and a 48% decrease in iron production.
* Army was limited to 100,000 men and conscription was banned. Additionally, they were allowed no submarines
or airplanes and only allowed 6 battleships.
* The new government had no choice but to accept these punishments huge amounts of
unpopularity aimed at the new Weimar Republic
Reasons for the instability of the weimar republic by 1923
As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the dramatic political changes in Germany and
the need to deal with the cost of the war, the first years of the Weimar Republic were
characterized by crisis after crisis.
* Political challenges:
* January 1919 ‐ Spartacist Uprising
* Communist led rebellion in Berlin that wanted to bring a communist style government to Germany.
* March 1920 – Kapp Putsch (right‐wing nationalist inc. former members of the military)
* Attempt to set up a new government in Berlin.
* March 1923 – Munich Putsch
* Attempt by the Nazi Party to overthrow the German government.
* Financial challenges:
* Failure to make reparation payments to the French French occupying the Ruhr region in 1923
to take goods by force.
* The government responded to this problem by printing more money hyperinflation.
* As a result of hyperinflation prices ran out of control and the German currency became worthless.
* E.g. one loaf of bread that cost 250 marks in January 1923, cost 200,000 million marks in November
reasons for the recovery of the weimar republic throughout the golden age
The recovery was stimulated by: * Chancellor Gustav Stresemann (Aug‐Nov 1923) was responsible for bringing stability back to government and the
economy end of hyperinflation.
* American provided American with 800 million gold marks to kick‐start its economy (Dawes Plan).
* Reparation payments were reduced and the amount of time to pay them was increased (Young Plan)
limitations for the recovery
- Limitations of recovery: * German people were still suspicious of democracy frequent changes of government throughout the period.
- Germany is continuing to pay reparations and deal with the punishments of the Treaty of Versailles.
- Germany’s economic recovery was dependent on loans coming in from the USA.
- Extremist parties still had influence. Communists were a potential threat, and the Nazis were rebuilding their
party. - Some viewed the cultural changes as a threat to traditional German values.
- Stresemann died in 1929
impacts of the great depression on germany
The US gave Germany 90 days to begin repaying the loans given during the Dawes Plan.
* US Hawley‐Smoot Tariffs less German goods being exported to USA decrease in
profits.
* Due to financial struggles businesses and factories had to close down German industrial
production decreased by 58% in comparison to 1928 levels.
* Unemployment grew rapidly (650,000 in 1928 6.1 million in 1933) mass poverty.
* Unity within government breaks down President Hindenburg and Chancellor Bruning
ruling my decree, but this still fails to halt the impacts of the depression.
* Due to the suffering of the German people, extremist political parties began to increase in
popularity esp. Nazi Party and Communist Party.
‐ Definition of Appeasement
- Appeasement = a diplomatic strategy that focuses on making concessions to an aggressive foreign power
to avoid war
Reasons for the development of Appeasement
- British political concerns
- The Great Depression caused massive unemployment in Great Britain rallies and demonstrations against the
government. - There was concern that another war may put a strain on the relationship between Britain and its dominions
(eg. Australia and Canada) and that its colonies may look to break away from British rule. - Sympathy for Germany
- Many in Britain felt that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh on the Germans and that their actions
under Hitler were justified. - Fear of communism
- There was a belief that Hitler may be the lesser of two evils when compared to Josef Stalin’s USSR. A strong
Germany, that was an ally of Britain, would act as a good barrier to any potential communism expansion
Definition of US isolationism.
Isolationism = a commitment to avoiding alliances and
involvement in other nations politics to avoid being drawn
into any international crises inc. war. This became in the eyes of the American public as they frequently saw the impacts of ww1 and never wanted to be dragged in a European war again, also they felt as if they were unaffected by most wars due to America geographically being far from Europe
‐ How the USA ensured they remained isolated in the 1930s
When FDR took over as President in March 1933, he believed that it was necessary for the USA to participate
more actively in international affairs.
* Congress who FDR needed support from to pass his New Deal policies, was very much of the view that
the USA needed to remain isolated from international conflicts.
* This meant that as tensions rose in Europe over Nazi Germany’s acts of aggression, Congress pushed through a
series of Neutrality Acts that FDR had to agree to.
* First Neutrality Act 1935 * Prohibited the export of ‘arms, ammunition, and implements of war’ from the USA to foreign nations at war.
* Neutrality Act of 1937 * US citizens were forbidden from travelling on belligerent ships, and American merchant ships were prevented from transporting arms to belligerent nations even if those weapons were produced outside of the US.
* Neutrality Act of 1939 * The embargo on arms sales to waring nations was lifted but a ban on loans to waring nations remained in effect, and
American ships were barred from transporting goods to waring nations ports to prevent getting dragged in like ww1
* It was not until 1941, that the United States began to provide military aid without restrictions
‐ Aims of the League of Nations
To stop conflicts from breaking out around the world.
* To encourage disarmament.
* To improve life around the world by tackling contemporary issues like disease and working conditions.
Definition of the League of Nations.
a worldwide organisation involving most countries to stop international conflict after ww1
‐ Limitations of the League of Nations
The USA (one of the most powerful nations in the world) was never a member.
* It had no army to enforce its decisions.
* If nations didn’t agree with its aims it was easy to withdraw: * Germany was not allowed to enter until 1926 and Hitler withdrew them from it in October 1933.
* Japan withdrew in March 1933 when the League found Japan responsible for the invasion of Manchuria
- Key aspects of the Nazi’s 25 Point Programme.
- “We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation
(abolition) of the Treaty of Versailles.”, they wanted to stop following the treaty of Versailles - “We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people and colonisation for our surplus population they wanted their land back so they could feed their massive
population. - “We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life
for the citizens.” they wanted the govt to support them last couple=useless - “Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German
blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race…”Strong Anti-Semitism against all Jews(stabbed in the back myth) - “For the execution of all this, we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited
authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general, Wanted a strong govt really a dictatorship
- Significance of the failure of the Munich Putsch short term failure long term success
despite the plan failing horrifically leading to Hitlers arrest , the Nazis parties ban from the Reichstag and the deaths of few innocents, it ultimately succeeded b/c Hitler only served 7 months of his sentence and during this time he wrote his autobiographical manifesto – Men Kampf not to mention that during his trial it was used as a opportunity to Justify overthrowing the government and spreading his ideals as it was broadcasted and they became popular as he held similar beliefs to many German citizens at the time. This would soon become a best seller in Germany, selling millions of copies.
* Hitler came to the realisation that he would never come to power by revolution but instead he needed to use democratic means reorganization of the party so that it could compete in election nd even though the party was banned the officials didn’t care and it was still in the Reichstag essentially overnight Hitler became a house hold name
- Reasons for electoral success in July 1932.
Nazi propaganda portrayed Hitler as a strong leader + speeches were arranged in public
places and rallies were used to capture people’s enthusiasm. Basically an entire event
* Hitler’s policies focused on the concerns of ordinary Germans:
* anti‐communism
* anti‐Treaty of Versailles
* the desire to create a more equal and racially pure society (Volksgemeinschaft)
* the need to preserve traditional German values
* creation of a scapegoat for Germany’s problems = Jews
* Hitler became the sole authority in the Party. No dissent from his ideas was expected or
tolerated and this gave the party a clear focus.
* However, the biggest factor in the rise of the Nazi Party was failure of the Weimar
Government to successfully manage the Great Depression and out of desperation the German people turned to the Nazi party
- Importance of the Reichstag Fire to Hitler’s power
when the Reichstag fire occurred to the fault of a young Dutch communist boy placed on a young Dutch
communist.
* Hitler convinces President von Hindenburg that he needs to put in place
emergency legislation to prevent the Communists from launching a violent
uprising to derail Germany’s ‘national renewal’.
* development of the Reichstag Fire Decree = limitations placed on the
Communists and personal freedoms inc. a suspension of the right to
assembly, end of freedom of speech and the press and authorisation of the
police to carry out investigations without restraints. he essentially used it as an opportunity to get rid of his main competitor the communists as well as censoring any public opinion as he removed peoples freedom of speech and gave the police unchecked power
- Importance of the Enabling Act to Hitler’s power
- This emergency law would give the Nazi government four years of control over the creation and enforcement of laws in reality until Hitlers death without the consent of the
Reichstag. - The act was put to vote in the Reichstag and it passed with 441 votes for to
94 against. - This vote removed any opposition from the Reichstag and gave Hitler
dictatorial powers over Germany which he would not let go of until his
death.
Impact of the Night of the Long Knives
- Potential internal opposition to Hitler was removed.
- He was able to maintain the support of the German Army.
- He was able to reinforce the position of the furiously loyal SS
why did the night of the long knives occur?
SA=Original Nazi party army
. Despite the Enabling Act, Hitler was still aware that his position was somewhat vulnerable
if he was to lose the support of wealthy German businessmen and the Germany Army.
* The SA were a potential threat to this.
* Leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm, had been responsible for building the organisation from
60,000 members in 1930 to 4 million men by April 1934.
* Although the SA had been of great value to Hitler during his rise to power, by 1934 they
were becoming a problematic organisation and a potential liability to the Nazi Party giving Nazi party a bad name + were essentially thugs
* Members of the SA aggressively interfered in political meetings and used excessive violence against
opposition groups.
* Rohm was speaking of the need for a ‘second revolution’ in Germany that would further entrench Nazi
ideas.
* Hitler was unsure of the loyalty of the SA. He didn’t know if they were more loyal to Rohm or himself.
* Rohm was openly homosexual(gay) which undermined the new culture Hitler was intending to build.
True or false :Did the Nazi party originally want Hitler as their Chancellor?
No, They knew he was a nutjob even when his party won they still believed they could control him
Why did Japan want to invade the rest of China?
Marco polo Bridge incident which was really just used as an excuse they really wanted too invade china because of its immense resources, as well as its land for its surplus population + japan wanted to assert its dominance as the most powerful Asian country
What reason did Japan use for launching their invasion of China?
The Marco Polo Bridge incident where a skirmish between Japanese soldiers and Chinese soldiers occurred as a result of a Japanese soldier disappearing within china
What happened during the Nanjing Massacre?/rape of nanjing
On the 5th December 1937, Prince Yasuhiko Asaka arrives in Nanjing after a small battle and unspectacular to take command of the
Japanese forces taking the city. * By this point, the Chinese had managed to almost completely encircle the remaining 300,000 troops in the
vicinity of the city and that preliminary negotiations had suggested that the Chinese were ready to
surrender.
* However, Asaka issued an order to his men to ‘kill all captives’. * This order provided official sanction for the crimes that would take place during and, most notably, after the
battle.
* For 6 weeks, the population of Nanjing was subjected to unimaginable brutality deaths of
between 200,000 and 300,000 civilians and captured soldiers. * Men, women and children were all victims of this violence.
* Examples of the brutal actions of the Japanese military: * Chinese were buried alive and burnt to death
* POWs were used as bayonet and target practice for Japanese soldiers
* Soldiers would compete to kill the most Chinese POWs and civilians
* Tank units competed to run over as many civilians as possible
* 20,000 women were raped (many of them multiple times) and then murdered and this was the censored version the Japanese were ruthless, they dont play
How did the international community respond to the Japanese invasion and the Nanjing
Massacre
Despite condemning their actions, they did nothing, they didn’t place restrictions on japan they didn’t fight japan, not only that japan already left years prior to this they did not give a shit, still appeasement
context for the rage of soldiers in their brutality when executing Nanjing massacre
Japanese Army had considerable contempt for the Chinese population inc. civilians and felt they were racially
superior. Propaganda had reinforced this view of racial superiority for many years.
* Japanese military culture viewed surrender as a cowardly act and did not consider the good treatment of POWs to
be a priority.
* Frustration was growing amongst the Japanese troops at the level of resistance being given by the Chinese forces
(esp. at Shanghai).
* They were also frustrated at the lack of supplies (esp. food) and the lack of rest they were being provided by their
commanding officers.
* Japanese military discipline was maintained by harsh measures many troops needing an outlet for their
growing anger. The Chinese population was the group that would feel the full wrath of this anger
