Key Terms Weimar Germany

Question 1

Reparations

Answer 1

Compensation payments to countries affected by the war

Question 2

Abdication

Answer 2

When the monarch resigns from the throne

Question 3

Kaiser

Answer 3

German emperor

Question 4

Republic

Answer 4

A country without a monarch (but with a president)

Question 5

Armistice

Answer 5

The ceasefire at the end of WWI

Question 6

Article 231 (War Guilt Clause)

Answer 6

An part of the Treaty of Versailles where Germany had to admit they were fully to blame for WWI

Question 7

Revolution

Answer 7

Overthrow of the government

Question 8

Diktat

Answer 8

A dictated peace used in Germany to describe TofV because Germany had no say in the treaty.

Question 9

Weimar Republic

Answer 9

The government replacing the Kaiser

Question 10

Spartacists

Answer 10

A group of German radical socialists formed in 1916 and revolted in 1919

Question 11

Treaty of Versailles

Answer 11

A document signed by Germany and allies, ending war. Controversial because of excessive harsh treatment of Germany.

Question 12

Kapp Putsch

Answer 12

A group of German nationalists/fascists formed in 1920 attempting to overthrow democratically elected government in Germany in 1920.

Question 13

Proportional Representation

Answer 13

Electoral system where parties gained seats in proportion to the percentage of votes cast for them - meant many coalitions and nobody could agree in Reichstag.

Question 14

Stab-in-the-back Theory

Answer 14

Theory that Germany was going to win the war but the Republic who signed the TofV lost the war.

Question 15

Passively resistant

Answer 15

Demonstrating without using violence

Question 16

Hyperinflation

Answer 16

Process of money becoming worthless and this occurred when too much money was printed in Germany in 1923.

Question 17

Ruhr

Answer 17

Main industrial area of Germany in the northwest where the French expelled people from in 1923.

Question 18

Constitution

Answer 18

The laws that make up a country

Question 19

President

Answer 19

The elected head of a republican state

Question 20

Gustav Stresemann

Answer 20

Chancellor in 1923 and Foreign Minister in 1923-29: he took Weimar Germany out of darkest hour to so-called Golden Age (fixed hyperinflation)

Question 21

The Dawes Plan

Answer 21

USA lent money to Germany to help pay reparations in 1924

Question 22

Rentenmark

Answer 22

The currency issued in 1923 by Gustav Stresemann to stop hyperinflation.

Question 23

Freikorps

Answer 23

Ex-military soldiers, rose in rebellion

Question 24

Fascist

Answer 24

Radical authoritarian, extreme right-wing, intolerant of different beliefs

Question 25

Putsch

Answer 25

Violent attempt to overthrow the government

Question 26

Locarno Treaties

Answer 26

Stresemann proposed in 1929 that France, Germany and Belgium should recognise as permanent thei

Question 27

'Golden Age'

Answer 27

A period in time when everything improved for Germany: culturally, economically and politically

Question 28

Nazi

Answer 28

A member of National Socialist German Worker's party

Question 29

Ebert

Answer 29

President of Germany 1919-25. He was first democratically elected president and first of Weimar Republic.

Question 30

Freikorps

Answer 30

Ex-soldiers in Germany after WWI

Question 31

Kapp Putsch

Answer 31

Attempt to overthrow democratically elected government in Germany in 1920 by Wolfgang Kapp ordering Freikorps to seize Berlin and establish a new right-wing nationalist government

Question 32

November Criminals

Answer 32

The German politicians who signed the TofV. This was a term of abuse exploited by extreme parties in Germany, especially the Nazis, to undermine democracy.

Question 33

Putsch

Answer 33

Revolt designed to overthrow the existing government, most commonly associated with the Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the Nazi's attempted Putsch in Munich in 1923.

Question 34

Rhineland

Answer 34

Area of Germany which bordered France. The TofV said it was demilitarised - not German forces allowed there.

Question 35

Socialism

Answer 35

Political system in which government takes strong control of economic and social life. In theory socialist societies would eventually become Communist societies

Question 36

Nationalism

Answer 36

Strong sense of pride in your own country, sometimes directed aggressively towards other countries or minority groups

Question 37

Spartacists

Answer 37

Communists in Germany in 1919 who wanted a revolution in Germany similar to the 1917 revolution in Russia - revolted in Berlin but army and Freikorps defeated them

Question 38

Trade Union

Answer 38

Organisation which represents workers

Question 39

Young Plan

Answer 39

American economic plan in 1929 to reorganise reparation payments to make it easier for Germany to pay