How Serious Were The Challenges To The Weimar Republic 1919-1923 Flashcards
What system of election in the Weimar Republic is blamed for the weakness of the Republic?
Proportional Representation
How many different cabinet were there between February 1919 to January 1933?
20
Who was the first president of Weimar?
Ebert, who died in 1925
What was Hindenburg’s views on the Republic or democracy?
Has little sympathy for either, being a military officer
What was Article 48 of the Weimar constitution?
The president could rule by emergency degree, and suspend the constitution, which happened in 1923-1924 during the Ruhr and hyperinflation crisis and again from 1930-1933
Who was foreign minster from 1923 to 1929?
Gustav Stresemann
Who was army minister from 1920 to 1928?
Otto Gessler
What were historian Richard J. Evans comments on Article 48?
‘Weimar Germany constitution was no worse than the constitution of most other countries in the 1920s’
What led to the resignation of the Independent Socialists of People’s Representatives and the formation of the Spartacists, the foreigners of the Communist or KPD party?
The decision to give power to parliament and a lack of reform after WW1
When did the Spartacists attempt to seize power in Berlin?
January 1919, from 5 to 12 January
What was the problem with the Communist revolt in 1919?
Too few workers, trade unions and Social Democrats supported the rising, with inadequate armed forces and the revolt not spreading, the Spartacists were doomed
Who suppressed the Spartacist uprising?
The Freikorps
Who led the Spartacist uprising?
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
In 1919 where were soviets or workers councils set up?
In cities like Munich and Bremen, though crushed by the Freikorps
When were the KPD able to take much of the Ruhr?
In March 1920
Why was the Kapp Putsch a serious threat?
Because the army refused to crush the rising, forcing the government to flee
Who defeated the Kapp Putsch?
The trade unions, who called a general strike, paralysing public services, defeating the rising
Where did the Kapp Putsch install a right-wing government?
Bavaria
Which elections showed gains for the right wing, and loss for democratic parties like the SPD?
June 1920 elections
When did the Nazi’s begin to plan a putsch in Munich before marching on Berlin to establish a military dictatorship with Ludendorff?
September 1923
When did the Munich Putsch start?
8th November 1923
What sentence was Hitler given for the Munich Putsch?
Minimum sentence and told that he would be released early on probation
Why did the governments of France and Belgium send troops to occupy Ruhr in January 1923?
Because Germany fell behind in its reparations payment of coal and timber
Why did the German government have to print more money in 1923?
To pay the striking German workers in the Ruhr
When had the German currency become virtually worthless with starvation breaking out in Germany?
August 1923, because of the printing of money
What was formed because of hyperinflation?
The ‘Great Coalition’ under Gustav Stresemann as chancellor and the passive resistance in the Rihr ended
Why did Stresemann have little choice in ending the passive resistance in the Ruhr?
Some of the DNVP were planning a coup to bring in a dictatorship
The KPD were planning uprisings in Saxony, Hamburg and Thuringia
There were plans for a nationalist coup in Bavaria
Because of the cost of war and reparations what was the value of the mark to dollar in January 1919?
8.9 marks to a dollar
What was the value of marks to dollars in January 1922?
493.2 marks in January 1922
What was the exchange rates of marks to a dollar in October 1923?
4,200,000,000,000 to a dollar
What flourished under hyperinflation
Black market and gambling
What were the positive actions taken by Stresemann?
Ended passive resistance
Co-operated with the Allies
Brought in a new currency and destroyed the old, worthless mark
