Kaiser's Germany Flashcards

1
Q

what did the growth of industrialisation under KWII mean for Germany?

A
  • better transport infrastructure (railways, trains, ships) leading to better communication lines and trade routes
  • by 1914, germany was a world leader in new industries (electrical products, chemical products [Bayer], automobiles [Daimler and Volkswagen])
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2
Q

what 2 processes started under KWII?

A

industrialisation and urbanisation

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3
Q

what did the growth of urbanisation under KWII mean for Germany?

A
  • between 1875 and 1910 berlin’s population doubled
  • by 1910 60% of germans lived in cities
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4
Q

by 1910, what % or germans lived in cities?

A

60%

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5
Q

when did the SPD become the largest party?

A

1912, where they had 1/3 of the seats

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6
Q

what were the effects of industrialisation & urbanisation under KWII?

A
  • larger working class
  • more rich land/factory owners & businessmen
  • low wages
  • poor working conditions
  • expensive food
  • disease and poverty
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7
Q

what proportion of the seats in the Reichstag did the SPD have, in 1912?

A

1/3

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8
Q

what were the aims of the SPD?

A

wanted more democracy & to improve working conditions

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9
Q

how many seats did the SPD have in the reichstag in 1887?

A

11

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10
Q

how many seats did the SPD have in the reichstag in 1903?

A

81

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11
Q

what were the effects of poverty & divided society under KWII?

A

growth of extremist views; extreme nationalists and those who wanted revolution

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12
Q

who backed industrialisation?

A

wealthy businessmen

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13
Q

in 1914, how many workers belonged to a trade union?

A

3 million

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14
Q

why were the aristocracy worried under KWII?

A

thought the SPD want revolution to overthrow monarchy, and destroy the class system

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15
Q

when was the Worker’s Protection Act?

A

1891

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16
Q

why did KWII pass the Worker’s Protection Act in 1891?

A

tried to stop people voting SPD

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17
Q

What did the Worker’s Protection Act do, 1891?

A
  • stricter regulations - greater workplace safety
  • banned work on Sundays
  • maximum working day of 11 hours for women & 10 hours for workers <16
  • prohibited night work by <16
  • banned <13 from working in industry
  • encouraged establishment of worker’s committees in factories to address disputes
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18
Q

when were the industrial courts est.?

A

1901

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19
Q

why were industrial courts set up?

A
  • to settle disputes between employer and employee
  • compulsory in towns where population exceeded 20,000
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20
Q

how was society under KWII divided?

A
  • some factory owners had become very rich in the war
  • junkers
  • poverty (restricted worker’s wages)
  • women in factories (trad. family values)
  • larger working class
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21
Q

who were the Junkers?

A
  • wealthy conservative landowners from Prussia
  • controlled Prussian Army (enormous influence over German foreign & domestic affairs)
  • strong supporters of German ruling family (Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty)
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22
Q

in what year did Germany produce more iron & steel & the same amount of coal as great britain?

A

1913

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23
Q

what were KWII’s priorities?

A
  • global power; weltpolitik
  • pride & interest in military
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24
Q

how did KWII attempt to gain global power?

A

late 1800s took over other nations (ie Africa)

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25
Q

why did KWII follow a policy of Weltpolitik?

A
  • to distract from socialism
  • wanted germany to be most powerful country in world
  • wanted to increase germany’s status
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26
Q

why did KWII have an interest and pride in the military?

A
  • wanted to rival great britain; take more land & protect current empire
  • people saw german power over britain and agreed to support kaiser’s other policies
  • created more work for businesses and industries
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27
Q

when were the Naval Laws?

A

1898-1912

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28
Q

when was the First Naval Law?

A

1898

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29
Q

when was the Second Naval Law?

A

1900

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30
Q

when was the Third Naval Law?

A

1906

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31
Q

when was the Final Naval Law?

A

1912

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32
Q

what did the First Naval Law do?

A

1898 - increased navy by 7 battleships

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33
Q

what did the Second Naval Law do?

A

1900 - doubled size of navy to 38 battleships

34
Q

what did the Third Naval Law do?

A

1906 - 6 more battleships; in response to britain launching the dreadnought, some german battleships became dreadnoughts too

35
Q

what did the Final Naval Law do?

A

1912 - Navy grew again

36
Q

how did KWII take a pride & interest in the military?

A
  • Naval Laws
  • spent lots of money - raised taxes (affected workers most), borrowed (State’s Debt increased to 490 billion marks by 1913)
  • expanded army too
  • encouraged patriotic and nationalist sentiment
37
Q

by 1913, what was the State’s Debt?

A

490 billion marks

38
Q

why did the SPD oppose the Naval Laws?

A

they were so expensive

39
Q

who influenced the Kaiser?

A

noble army officers, advisors and ministers; he sacked disagreeing ministers

40
Q

what was Germany like pre-1870?

A

collection of small states with a similar culture

41
Q

when and how was Germany formed?

A
  • in 1871
  • Prussian king wanted a union to gain more power - a series of wars were fought (France, Austria, Denmark feel threatened)
  • prussian king became kaiser as he held most power
42
Q

what was the role of the kaiser?

A

controlled foreign policy, army, navy - could ignore advice from advisors

43
Q

who was the chancellor? what was his role?

A
  • kaiser’s chief minister & appointed by him
  • runs gvt day to day - led the bundesrat by proposing new subjects, issues and laws to be discussed
  • proposed new legislation
  • didn’t need support of reichstag or bundesrat
44
Q

who were the Bundesrat? what did they do?

A
  • german federal council
  • state representatives who were consulted over govt policies and proposed laws to reichstag - in return, tehy approved any law the reichstag made
  • consent was necessary for all legislation, but they could be overruled
  • 17 out of 58 representatives were prussian
  • 14 votes were needed to veto any law passed by bundestag
45
Q

how many Bundesrat representatives were Prussian under KWII?

A

17 out of 58

46
Q

how many votes were needed to veto a law in the Bundesrat?

A

14 out of 58

47
Q

what was the Reichstag? what did it do?

A
  • national parliament
  • could give money to or refuse to fund the army every 5 years
  • 397 deputies
  • elected by men over 25 every 3 yrs after 1888
  • power to pass, alter and reject laws proposed by bundesrat or chancellor
  • but couldn’t put forward their own legislation
  • by the 1890s it had begun to grow and political parties had begun to form giving the deputies their own political agenda - they didn’t have huge power, but they could pressure the govt and influence public opinion
48
Q

how many deputies were in the Reichstag?

A

397

49
Q

who elected the Reichstag, under KWII?

A

men over 25 every 3 yrs after 1888

50
Q

what was the Landtag? what did it do?

A
  • mini-reichstag for each state
  • prussian landtag so influential it dwarfed all others
51
Q

when did Kaiser Wilhelm II become emperor?

A

1888

52
Q

how did the government raise revenue, under KWII?

A
  • germany was a federal state so individual states had the power to control income tac
  • difficult for central govt to raise enough tax for their budget
53
Q

When did WWI begin?

A

July 1914

54
Q

what were the initial feelings towards WWI by the German people?

A

hope - patriotic young people thought it would end quickly

55
Q

why did Germany suffer from shortages of food, clothes, medicine?

A

Britain’s navy stopped german supply ships

56
Q

in what year did 500 women gather in front of parliament to demand their men back?

A

1915

57
Q

when did the rationing of Potatoes, butter, sugar, meat, eggs, milk begin?

A

1916

58
Q

when was the turnip winter?

A

1916-17

59
Q

in what year did 10,000 workers in Berlin gather to shout ‘down with the government’?

A

1916

60
Q

what was the state of Germany by the end of WWI?

A
  • close to collapse
  • deadly flu spreading
  • surviving on turnips & bread
  • war demonstrations and talk of revolution
61
Q

when was the Kiel Mutiny?

A

28th October 1918

62
Q

what was the Kiel Mutiny?

A

sailors refused to follow orders and, instead, worked with workers to take over towns and set up workers’ councils

63
Q

what caused the Kiel Mutiny?

A
  • war weariness
  • allies said they would only end the war if the kaiser abdicated (he refused)
  • sailors told to fight british navy one last time (knew they could not win so refused)
64
Q

what were the effects of the Kiel Mutiny?

A

revolts, civil unrest, SPD falsely announced the kaiser abdicated

65
Q

when was General Ludendorff’s statement?

A

October 1918

66
Q

what were the main points of General Ludendorff’s statement?

A
  • Germany will never win the war
  • france, britain, and usa, will be fairer is germany is more democratic
67
Q

what was the effect of General Ludendorff’s statement?

A

main german political parties form new government and some power transferred to reichstag

68
Q

what was the economy like by the end of the Kaiser’s Germany?

A
  • virtually bankrupt - had lent money to allies, borrowed money from abroad, exhausted factories had produced guns etc not goods to sell, war pensions, war guilt, reparations
  • by 1918, industrial production was ~33% lower than it had been in 1913
  • debt had increased from 50 billion marks in 1914 to 150 billion in 1918
  • wealth gap - average 1918 worker wage was 60% of 1913 earnings but military factory owners became very rich
69
Q

by 1918, industrial production was what % lower than it had been in 1913?

A

33%

70
Q

what was the German State’s debt in 1914?

A

50 billion marks

71
Q

What was the German State’s debt in 1918?

A

150 billion marks

72
Q

how many war widows were in Germany by the end of WWI?

A

600,000

73
Q

describe the state of germany at end of wwi.

A
  • virually bankrupt
  • politically unstable
  • divided society
74
Q

how many fatherless children were there in Germany by the end of WWI?

A

2 million

75
Q

how many troops had died from fighting by the end of WWI?

A

2 million

76
Q

how many troops had been wounded from fighting by the end of WWI?

A

4 million

77
Q

how many german civilians had died from starvation by the end of WWI?

A

763,000

78
Q

how many german civilians had died from the flu pandemic by the end of WWI?

A

150,000

79
Q

when did the KWII abdicate and secretly leave germany?

A

November 1918

80
Q

who filled the power gap in Germany after the Kaiser’s abdication?

A
  • Council of People’s Representatives
  • SPD & USPD (independent social democratic party)
  • Ebert (SPD leader) became a temporary leader
  • controlled germany until jan 1919 elections for new reichstag
  • November Criminals