Lesson Two

Question 1

What was the Impact of the Treaty of Versailles on opposition in Weimar?

Answer 1

The new government were viewed as traitors by the German people for signing the Treaty. They were accused by the right-wing of ‘stabbing Germany in the Back’ by first agreeing peace with allies in November 1918 then signing the humiliating Treaty in 1919.

Question 2

What was the impact of proportional representation on opposition in Weimar?

Answer 2

This system allowed extremist parties to gain power in the parliament. Because of this the Weimar Republic faced opposition from powerful extremist parties from
both the left wing and the right wing, who either wanted to establish a one-party communist state following Marxist principles or favoured the return to a far more autocratic and powerful government.

Question 3

How did the Weimar government deal with extremism?

Answer 3

The Weimar government had frequently used the Freikorps to strengthen its limited military in order to crush left-wing uprisings in the early years of its existence. The Freikorps employed brutal tactics in disbanding such movements and were notorious for their violent tactics. Although they obliged the requests to attack communist movements, the Freikorps bore no allegiance to the republic as they desired to see a return to an authoritarian government in Germany.

Question 4

Spartacists. January 1919.

Answer 4

1. The Spartacists rose up in an attempt to seize control of
   government by force in order to create a Soviet Republic.
2. The government sent the army and the Freikorps to crush the revolt. After three days of fighting and over 100 deaths the Spartacists were successfully destroyed.

Question 5

Freikorps. March 1920.

Answer 5

1. The Kapp Putsch. Right-wingleaders led the Freikorps in a march to seize Berlin and install a new government with a right-wing journalist Wolfgang Kapp at its head.
2. The Reichwehr (the Republican Army) refused to attack the Putsch declaring that ‘troops do not fire upon troops’ and so the government was forced to flee, allowing the Freikorps to take Berlin. Instead the government called for a general strike that effectively crippled the poorly organised and hastily erected government of Kapp, which collapsed in merely three days.

Question 6

NSDAP (Nazi Party). November 1923.

Answer 6

1. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the small right-wing NSDAP,
   stormed a large rally in a beer hall in Munich, declaring a
   national revolution was taking place.
2. The subsequent march of the 2,000 strong NSDAP and their new supporters from the beer hall was stopped by 100 police. Fourteen of the NSDAP were killed as were four policemen. Hitler was arrested and charged with treason.