Political authority 1914-1919 Flashcards
What was Burgfriede? When was it?
- August 1914
- All parties (incl. SPD) join forces in pledging support for German war effort
- Trade unions also promise not to disrupt war production with strike action
What were war credits? How popular was the vote to allow them in the Reichstag at first?
- Allowed the government to raise money by selling war bonds to the public (which they guaranteed would be repaid with interest)
- Was passed unanimously thanks to Burgfriede
What was ‘Siegfriede’? Who supplied propaganda around this? Which demographic supported Siegfriede?
- Literally means ’the blessed peace of victory’. In other words, the glory that would come after the war was over. Siegfriede would be the result of land annexations to establish Germany’s dominance in Europe
- Pan-German League encouraged support for this
- Aristocrats and middle class all liked the idea of new farming lands to the East, industrial sites to the West, and African colonies. Reichstag also supported this idea until 1917, and Bethmann-Hollweg outlined a “programme” for it too. Even some socialists accepted this idea! (though most socialists had thought Germany was fighting a defensive war and so didn’t like the idea of Siegfriede.
What made morale decline by 1916?
- Death
- Wartime shortages
- Decline in living standards
What did Bethmann-Hollweg try to make the Kaiser promise to keep the socialists on side in the war? When?
- January 1916
- Promises reform to the Prussian Constitution
- Insufficient in preventing the breakdown of Burgfriede
What happened in August 1916 that was a political turning point?
Kaiser appointed Paul von Hindenburg as the army chief of staff and Erich von Ludendorff as his deputy
What did the Kaiser do to seemingly turn the country into a military dictatorship?
- Surrendered his supreme command to Hindenburg
- Allowed Hindenburg superiority over the Chancellor
How did complete political breakdown come about?
- Increasing strikes and disturbances for peace
- Calls for reform of the German constitution and the Prussian Lander
- Escalated after the 1916-17 turnip winter
- Split in the SPD in April 1917 which formed the USPD, a party with a commitment to ending the war
What was Wilson’s Fourteen Points?
- Wilson = idealist
- 14 points attempted to fairly deal with the aftermath of war
- A few points deliberately punished Germany (eg. giving Alsace-Lorraine back to France)
- However, he supported the League of Nations monitoring future dispute
- Also endorsed self-determination for races to rule themselves and only general disarmament. Comforted German Generals
How did the Reichstag first intervene in the war? When? Who proposed it?
- July 1917
- Passed the Peace Resolution
- Proposed by Matthias Erzberger, Zentrum politician
- Called for an end to war without annexation
- SPD, USPD, Zentrum in favour; Conservatives against
How many votes was the Peace Resolution passed by?
212 votes to 126
Why was Bethmann-Hollweg replaced? Who replaced him? When?
- Accused of being unable to control the Reichstag
- Replaced by George Michaelis
- July 1917
How did Michaelis get round the peace resolution?
He accepted the resolution but accepted it only in the way he interpreted it. This meant he could get more war credits
Who led the Fatherland Party? What was it?
Wolfgang Kapp and Admiral Tirpitz
Who took over as chancellor on the 1st October 1918?
Prince Max von Baden
When did Prince Max ask for an armistice?
October 3rd 1918
Why did Ludendorff have to resign? When?
Tried to order army generals to resist surrender after Prince Max had asked for an armistice. Seemed to have lost touch with reality by October 1918
What did the revolution from above mean?
- Germany becomes a parliamentary monarchy
- Kaiser’s power over the army curtailed
- Prussian three class voting system abolished
What was the Bavarian socialist republic?
- Uprising in Munich, Nov 1918
- Kurt Eisner elected as president and a republic proclaimed
- Eisner shot dead after a defeat in January 1919 elections
Why did crews at Wilhelmshaven mutiny on October 29th/30th?
They were ordered to make an attack that would be suicidal against British ships blockading North Sea ports
What mutiny took place after the Wilhelmshaven mutiny?
- Kiel mutiny
- 8 sailors shot dead on the first day
- Councils of workers created modelled after the soviets
- ## Independent republic created
When did the Kaiser appoint Hindenburg as his Chief of Staff?
1916
What did Germans do to glorify Hindenburg during the war (that also raised funds for war)
They had a statue of Hindenburg that you could buy a nail and put a nail in him, supposedly to signify national unity
Who played a part in ensuring that Bethmann Hollweg resigned?
Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided to bully him out of power when they decided they wanted a “proper” war chancellor. They were the ones who claimed he couldn’t handle the Reichstag.
