kaiser_to_fuhrer_1939-45_20230227145107 Flashcards
Invasion of France and Belgium
1940
Nazi-Soviet Pact
1939
Operation Barbarossa
1941
Support during war
- Early victories particularly France, Belgium and Poland- Hitler didn’t allow Speer to mobilise women- Impact of propaganda
Declining support in war
- Negative reaction to militarisation of Hitler Youth 1939- Around 250,000 German losses in Stalingrad- Soviet advances fear and threat of communism
Stalingrad Losses
-Around 250,000 German losses in Stalingrad
Rations during the war
- Extra Christmas Rations for those in strenuous jobs| - Until 1944 rations were in excess of minimum calories
Allied bombing
- 305,000 died- 2 million homes destroyed- 10,000’s killed in Hamburg 1943 and Dresden 1945
Propaganda during war
- Sportpalast speech 1943- Film Kolberg 1945- Adventures of Baron Munchasen 1943
Christian Opposition
- Bishop Galen attacked Aktion T4 euthanasia| - Dietrich Boehoeffer spoke out against regime in 1943 and executed in 1945
Youthful Opposition
- Eldelweiss Pirates 2000 member 1939 little physical opposition not able to bring down regime. Leaders executed in 1944- White Rose Group formed 1942, student movement distribute anti-Nazi messages. Hans and Sophie Schroll beheaded 1943.
Left Wing opposition
- Red Orchestra resistance cells there were 89 - 1941 in Berlin Robert Uhrig.- Rote Kappelle gained Nazi intellegence to Allies, distributed anti-Nazi leaflets
Conservative Opposition
1944 bomb plot - Assassinate Hitler, failed 22 Nazi’s were executed, Field Marshall Rommel was prevailed upon to commit suicide.
Why did Opposition fail?
- Stopped by effective Nazi intelligence service and unable to convince the public- Bomb Plot involved 22 of 2000 Generals- Terror State, concentration camps- Acted too late only started when war turned
Todt Military Preparations
- 1939 and 1941 military expenditure doubled| - 1941 55% of workforce involved in military production
Todt Military Failure
- 1941 Britain produced twice as many aircraft- USSR produced 2600 more tanks- Only 52% of women were working in factories
Military Inefficiencies
-Office of 4 year plan, SS HIMMLER, Ministry of Economics FUNK, Ministry of Armaments TODT and Gaulitiers intervened with production.
Actions of Speer
- Central Planning board economic organisation- Excluded military from planning- Concentration camp labour- Standardisation of armaments
Speer Successes
- Ammunition rose by 97%- Tank production rose by 25%- Total arms rose by 59%- Productivity per worker increased by 60% in munitions- 1942 - 1944 war production trebled
Ideology and war economy
- Ideological women not mobilised, reliance on badly treated foreign workers productivity 60-80%- Only 52% of women were working in factories- Hitler and WW1 link with what he thought lost them war
SS and war economy
- SS preoccupied with racial policy bad treatment and plunder didn’t help with efficiency- 6.4 million foreign workers badly treated productivity levels 60-80% of German labour- Racial inferiority
Foreign dependance and war economy
- 3 millions tons of oil from Romania biggest supplier- Total ores 13.4 million - 20.2 million tons from 1940-43- Stalins ‘Scorched Earth’ policy ruined idea war funding war
Allied Involvement
-1944 the Allies were dropping 650,000 bombs on factories and industrial citing in Germany on production lines they were dependant on
War and the Jewish Problem
- Poland 1939 around 3 millions Jews Ghettoised- Warsaw ghetto created 1940- Einzatsgruppen 1939- 1942 Wannsee Conference creation of final solution- Racial war to cleanse new 3rd Reich- Babi Yar massacre 33,700, General Erberhard in 2 days
Cumulative Radicalisation Holocaust
1939 - Jewish Curfew1941 - Forced to wear yellow star1941 - Jews deported from Germany1942 - Wannsee Conference creation of final solution1942 - German Jews sent to Auschwitz 1945 - 6 Million Jews killed1945 - 2 of every 3 European Jew killed
Hitler and the Holocaust
1941 - Initiated deportation of German Jews1941 - Hitler said Jews should be ‘executed as partizans’1939 - Reichstag speech if war Vernichtung (extermination) of European Jews
Army Bill
1913 - increase army to 870,000
Navy Bill
1900 - Increase fleet to 38 over next 20 years
Zabern Affair
1913 - Bethmann-Hollwegg vote of no confidence rejected 293:54
Accident Insurance
1900
Sickness Insurance
1903
Imperial Insurance Code
1911
Banning Child Labour
1908
Voting age
All men above 25 no property qualification
Rohl
Believed it was the personal rule of the Kaiser until WW1 true.
Karl Leibnacht
A figleaf for absolutism
Weltpolitik
Creation of an empire outside europe
Flottenpolitik
Creation of a fleet to control colonies
Prussia quote
Nothing but a vehicle for Prussian dominance
Prussia
17 votes need 14 to veto| Kaiser always King of Prussia, favouritism
SPD
1912 - 110 seats in Reichstag-SPD - Lost 38 to 43 overall HOTTENTOT UndemocraticCentre Party - Gained 5 to 105 overall
Wehler
Elites had power to manipulate Kaiser
Elites
Navy/Army laws, militaristic + business1902 tariff laws agrarian league1904 Herero, colonialism
Unfair Prussian system
1903 - SPD 23% of vote 7 seats| 1903 - DKP 16% of vote 212 seats
Economic
16% funded through tax, total cost of 8.4 million printed money, mark lost 75% of its value.
Social
Spanish flue 1918Food shortages 300,000 people died of starvationTurnip winter 1917Living standards reduced by 20-30%
Political
USPD 46 seats split from SPDBreaking Brugfriede Peace resolution 1917 passed Erzberger 212:126