Nazism and The Rise of Hitler

Question 1

When did Germany surrender to the Allies?

Answer 1

May 1945

Question 2

What did Hitler do after Germany surrendered?

Answer 2

Hitler, Goebbels (Propaganda Minister), and his entire family committed suicide in April.

Question 3

What was set up at the end of the war and why?

Answer 3

At the end of the war, The International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg was set up to prosecute Nazi war criminals from Crimes against, Peace/Humanity, and War Crimes.

Question 4

Under the shadow of WW2, what did Germany do?

Answer 4

They waged a genocidal war leading to the mass murder of selected groups of innocent European civilians:
- Jews = 6 million
- Gypsies = 200,000
- Polish civilians = 1 million
- Germans = 70,000 (Mentally/Physically disabled)
- Innumerable political opponents

Question 5

What was the unprecedented killing method devised by the Nazis?

Answer 5

Gassing people at killing centers (Concentration Camps) like Auschwitz.

Question 6

The Nuremberg Trial sentenced ___________ to death. What happened to the rest.

Answer 6

11 leading Nazis. Many others were imprisoned for life.

Question 7

Although retribution came, the punishment of the Nazis was _____________.

Answer 7

far short of the brutality and extent of their crimes. {The Allies didn’t want to be as harsh on the defeated Germany as they had been after the first world war.}

Question 8

Defines genocidal.

Answer 8

Killing on a large scale resulting in the destruction of large sections of people.

Question 9

Germany fought WW1 along with _________ against ___________.

Answer 9

the Austrian Empire, the Allies (France, England, Russia)

Question 10

The war ended up eventually _____________.

Answer 10

draining Europe of all its resources

Question 11

Germany made initial gains by _____________.

Answer 11

occupying France and Belgium

Question 12

The Allies were strengthened by the _________ in ________.

Answer 12

US entry, 1917

Question 13

WW1 ended with _________.

Answer 13

The Allies defeating Germany and the Central Powers in November 1918.

Question 14

The defeat of the Imperial Germany, gave ____________.

Answer 14

an opportunity to parliamentary parties to recast Germany’s polity.

Question 15

Describe these parliamentary parties.

Answer 15

A National Assembly met at Weimar and established a democratic constitution with a federal structure.

Deputies were elected to the German Parliament (Reichstag), on the basis of equal and universal votes cast by all adults (including women).

Question 16

The Republic was not received well by its own people largely because of __________.

Answer 16

the terms it was forced to accept after Germany’s defeat at the end of WW1.

Question 17

What did Germany lose in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 17

The peace treaties with the Allies was humiliating and harsh.

Germany Lost:
- its overseas territories
- 1/10 of its population
- 13% of its territories
- 75% of its iron
- 26% of its coal
- they demilitarized Germany
- they occupied the resource-rich Rhineland for most of the 1920’s

Question 18

To whom did Germany lose all this?

Answer 18

To:
- France
- Poland
- Lithuania
- Denmark

Question 19

What was the War Guilt Clause?

Answer 19

It held Germany responsible for the war and damages the Allied countries suffered.

Question 20

How much compensation did Germany pay?

Answer 20

6 billion euros

Question 21

The people didn’t like the Weimar Republic because__________.

Answer 21

they held them responsible for the defeat in the war and the disgrace at Versailles.

Question 22

The ware had a devastating impact on the entire continent ____________ and __________. It went form a county of ___________ to a country of _________.

Answer 22

psychologically, financially
creditors, debtors

Question 23

How was the infant Weimar republic made to pay for the sins of the old empire?

Answer 23

They carried the burden of the war guilt and national humiliation and were financially crippled by being forced to pay compensation.

Those who supported the Weimar Republic:
- Socialists
- Catholics
- Democrats
became easy targets for the conservative nationalist circles.

They were mockingly called the November Criminals.

Question 24

What were the deep imprints left by the WW1?

Answer 24

• The soldiers came to placed above civilians
• Politicians and publicist laid great stress that
  men should be aggressive, strong, and
  masculine

Question 25

Talk about the war propaganda.

Answer 25

The media glorified trench life.
Aggressive war propaganda and national honor occupied center stage in the public sphere.
Popular support grew for conservative dictatorships.

Question 26

What did the soldiers in the trenches actually go through in the trenches?

Answer 26

The soldiers live miserable lives in the trenches trapped with rats feeding on corpses.
They faced:
- poisonous gas
- enemy shelling
- witnessed their ranks reducing rapidly

Question 27

Why would democracy not work in Germany?

Answer 27

It was a young a fragile idea which could not survive the instabilities of interwar Europe.

Question 28

The birth of the Weimar Republic coincided with the uprising of the ___________on the pattern of the ______________.

Answer 28

Spartacist League
Bolshevik Revolution

Question 29

The political atmosphere in Berlin was charged with demands for __________.

Answer 29

Soviet-style governance

Question 30

The people opposed to the soviet-style governance were the __________.

Answer 30

Socialists, Catholics, and Democrats who met in Weimar and gave shape to the democratic republic.

Question 31

What did the Weimar Republic do about the uprising?

Answer 31

They crushed it with the help of a war veterans organization (Free Corps)

Question 32

How did the Spartacists react to this?

Answer 32

The anguished Spartacists found the Communist Part of Germany.

The Communists and the Socialists became unreconcilable.

The could not make common cause against Hitler.

Both revolutionaries and militant nationalists craved for radical solution.

Question 33

Political radicalization was heightened by the ________.

Answer 33

economic crises of 1923

Question 34

How did Germany fight the war?

Answer 34

On loans and they had to pay war reparations in gold.

Question 35

What did this war do to the gold resources?

Answer 35

It depleted gold reserves at a time where resources were scarce.

Question 36

What happened when Germany refused to pay in 1923?

Answer 36

The French occupied its leading industrial area, Ruhr, to claim its coal.

Question 37

How did Germany retaliate?

Answer 37

With passive resistance, the printed paper currency recklessly.

Question 38

What did this lead to?

Answer 38

With too much printed money in circulation, the value of the German mark fell.