Political instability and extremism (1919-1924) Germany

Question 1

When was the Spartacus uprising of 1919?

Answer 1

January 5th - jan 13th 1919

Question 2

Who lead the sparticist uprising in Berlin on the 5th January 1919

Answer 2

Rosa Luxembourg and Karl liebknecht

Question 3

Causes and events of the sparticist uprising on the 5th January 1919

Answer 3

Causes:
-wanted to overthrow Ebert’s government and set up a revolutionary communist regime in Berlin, Germany.
-events :
-poorly prepared as the sparticist league had failed to secure the support of the working class in Berlin, claimed to be acting on behalf of th3 working class. Also had a lack of support which meant that it failed to achieve the objectives which it set out to achieve
-general groener had few regular military units at his command so had to rely on the new irregular forces of the friekorps to crush the sparticist revolt.
-was eventually crushed by the friekorps though the use of violent street fighting
-the leaders of the sparticist revolt (Luxembourg and Liebknecht were executed

Question 4

Why did the government of Ebert want to crush the sparticist revolt of January 1919?

Answer 4

-Wanted to clear the way for elections for a constituent assembly to take place
- constituent assembly is an organisation which is set up with the aim of writing/drafting a constitution
- ebert was very concious that he hadn’t been elected in a democratic way and wanted to ensure that he ran the country as democratically as possible as he was the former leader of the SPD and the socialist party stood for democracy

Question 5

Left wing risings - march 1919

Answer 5

March 1919 - sparticist rising in Berlin and a communist government was formed in the German state of Bavaria
- the Weimar Republic managed to suppress the sparticist rising and suppress the communist government in bavaria

Question 6

Left wing risings - April 1919

Answer 6

April 1919 -
- strikes in Halle and the Arthur valley ( industrial heartlands of Germany)
- workers wanted more control over their industries,shorter hours and the government to be made up of workers councils/ based on workers councils ( very left wing ideals)

Question 7

Left wing risings 1920

Answer 7

1920-
- the left wing workers defeated the right wing Kapp putsch -> strength of the Weimar Republic that it hadn’t collapsed and had the power to call on the left to defeat a right wing threat.
- communist red army formed made up of 50,000 people
- workers siezed control of the Rhur -> slowed down economic production of the wiener republic
-Halle and Dresden 1000 workers and 250 soldiers died-> troubles

Question 8

Left wing risings 1921 march

Answer 8

March 1921-
- KPD attempted to force a Revolution, started in Saxonny however the risings were crushed by the police, 145 people killed

Question 9

Causes of the Kapp Putsch (February 1920)

Answer 9

• govt had to reduce their army as a result of the treaty of Versailles and had to start to put into t effect the terms of the treaty of Versailles in January 1920
  -the defence minister (Noske) had to disband some friekorps units
• disbanded two friekorps units which were made up of 12,000 men
• general lutwiz refused to disband some friekorps units and was arrested
• outwits marched his troops though Berlin in protest and gained support from other sympathetic officers who agreed with the cause
• was supported by Wolfgang Kapp who wanted to organise a putsch

Question 10

What is a putsch?

Answer 10

-A putsch is essentially a military coup, putsch is the German word for a military coup
- a coup is a forceful seizure of power from the government usually by the military or other armed forces

Question 11

Consequences and impacts of the Kapp putsch ( February 1920) - right wing threats to the Weimar Republic

Answer 11

Consequences:
-eberts governement had to withdraw to Dresden as it was so dangerous in Berlin that they couldn’t stay there without threatening the collapse of the Weimar Republic
-regular army was called upon to crush the rising but they couldn’t as it was felt wrong for german military to fire on german military
- failed to gain widespread support from the right and the civilians ( Ludendorff and seeklt didn’t have much support for it)
- Berlin was at a standstill and the putsch collapsed in four days

Question 12

How many political assassinations by the right went unpunished ?

Answer 12

326 right wing political assassinations/ murders went unpunished

Question 13

Why did so many political assassinations from the right go unpunished ?

Answer 13

Because the judiciary and other government officials were right wing sympathisers and therefore were more lenient towards the right wing as a result of this

Question 14

Assassination of erzberger by the right wing

Answer 14

• Matthias erzberger was the former finance minister of the Weimar Republic
• led the German delegation for the signing of the armistice in 1918 and signed the treaty of Versailles (28th June 1919)
• would have been considered to be a November criminal by members of the right as they saw the individuals who allowed for the German surrmeder in work war one to be criminals and should be treated as such
• assassinated in the Black Forest by two members of the organisation consul

Question 15

What was the organisation consul?

Answer 15

The organisation consul was a ultra nationalistic paramilitary terrorist anti semetic organisation who were made up of ex friekorps members who had been disbanded in the lead up to / following from the Kapp putsch (5-13th January 1920)

Question 16

Who called off passive resistance in the Rhur and when ?

Answer 16

-The government of Gustavo stress,an called off passive resistance in the Rhur in September 1923.
-Passive resistance ( January - September 1923)

Question 17

Why did the calling off of passive resistance anger many nationalistic right wing parties/ figures?

Answer 17

• felt that they had been betrayed as they hadn’t managed to defeat the French of win any concessions with regards to ur treaty of Versailles and war reparations off the French as a result of the German passive resistance in response to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Rhur in January 1923

Question 18

Who was Gustavo Von khar and what was his role ?

Answer 18

Gustav Von khar was appointed state commissioner In the independant German state of bavaria in September 1923 in response to the calling off of passive resistance in the Rhur valley

Question 19

How did hitler become the leader of NSDAP (the nazi party) ?

Answer 19

• hitler was very patriotic and during World War One he volunteered for the German army and fought on the western front in France and became a highly decorated corporal
  -was outraged by the signing of the armistice in november 1918 and agreed that the only reason which Germany lost World War One was due to the stab in the back myth
• worked as a political agent in the army after WW1 and went to investigate the Nazi party
• agreed with their ideals and became the leader of NSDAP In 1921 and the party became dedicated to overthrowing the Weimar Republic
• was unknown to the rest of Germany and was just a small party in Munich in bavaria which were ultra nationalistic

Question 20

What was the cause of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch ( november 1923)?

Answer 20

• hitler wanted to overthrow the Weimar republic and believed that the only chance that he had to do so was in November 1923 due to the social unrest which had been caused by the callling off of the passive resistance in the Rhur valley by stresseman’s government

Question 21

Events of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch

Answer 21

• hitler needed the support of German high command (Von Khar,Von Ludlow and Von sielzer and general Ludendorff as although Ludendorff had arguably least Germany to loose World War One he was still very highly respected in the German army, the friekorps and the SA) in order to create a successful putsch
• felt that a forceful seizure of power in the form of a putsch was the only way forward
• burst into a beer hall in Munich where Von khar,Lusslow and sielzer were having a meeting of over 2000 men
• surrounded the beer hall with the SA and held khar and lusslow at gun point until they agreed to support him
• they said that they wanted to go and see their wives first and he let them go and they rang the army and got them to come and crush the uprising
  -these figures wanted a putsch but looked down on hitler and they felt that it wasn’t appropriate timing for a putsch whereas Hitler disagreed
  -9th November 1923 ->. March on Berlin, Nazis vs the normal army
• hitler fell and dislocated his shoulder and there was a lot of casualties on both sides, essentially defeated by the political and the army

Question 22

What happened to Hitler and the Nazi party after the attempted Munich beer hall putsch in November 1923?

Answer 22

• hitler was sentenced to high treason and was meant to serve a 5 year sentence in prison and complete hard labour but he only ended up serving 9 months in prison and was treated well and highly respected in prison
• Ludendorff walked up to the police and handed himself in and said that he had been on a walk and wasn’t involved in the putsch and the judiciary and the police believed him and didn’t charge him ( I don’t think)
• the judiciary famines largely unchanged since the Second riech ( the jailer riech) and many members of the judiciary were right wing sympathisers and favoured the right over the left at this time.

Question 23

Events of the hitler trial

Answer 23

• got up and made a speech and used it as a form of Nazi propoganda in effect
  -gained lots of support from the general public
• demigourge-> a politican who benefits when people are desperate and easy to convince to sway to extremist beliefs eg. Trump