Section 1 : The establishment and early years of the Weimar Republic, 1918-24

Question 1

1. IMPACT OF WAR, THE POLITICAL CRISES OF OCTOBER TO NOVEMEBER 1918, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION

Question 2

The abdication of the Kaiser.

Question 3

Timeline leading towards the abdication of the Kaiser:

1918
29 September: Ludendorff called for armistice negotiations

30 September: Kaiser promised political reform

1 October: Prince Max of Baden formed new government

28 October: Kaiser introduced further reforms making the Chancellor accountable to the Reichstag

30 October: Naval mutiny at Wilhelmshaven

3 November: Naval mutiny spread to Kiel

8 November: Revolt in Bavaria led to declaration of Bavarian Socialist Republic

9 November: Declaration if a German Republic in Berlin and abdication of the Kaiser.

Question 4

what are 6 points that show Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate because of the events of Autumn 1918 ?

Answer 4

• End of September 1918 - Germany army on the western front was on the brink of defeat and its High Command, led by General Ludendorff, wanted to negotiate an armistice with the Allies.
• Ludendorff understood that the Allied Leaders (specifically President Wilson of USA) would not negotiate with an autocratic monarch. There were attempts in early October to reform the German political system by giving the Reichstag more power, but these reforms did not go far enough to satisfy the Allies.
• News that Germany was on the brink of defeat shattered the morale of the German people. This added to the discontent that has resulted from the years of hardships due to the war effort. Workers in large cities began too threaten strike action, in Munich 8 November, a Bavarian republic was declared.
• There was also discontent among the German armed forces - soldiers and sailors lost respect for their officers. 3 November - there was a muting at the naval base in Kiel.
• Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils, similar to the Soviets that has been set up in Russian during the 1917 revolution, were established in parts of Germany.
• Threat of General Strike - led to the collapse of the Kaiser’s government on 9 November. The chancellor, Prince Max, resigned and the head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Friedrich Ebert, became the leader of the new government.
• Later on 9 November - General Groener told the Kaiser that the army would nit fight for him. Kaiser had no choice but to abdicate.

Question 5

The struggle for power

Question 6

Key chronology

1918
10 November: Ebert Groener Pact

11 November: Armistice signed with Allies

6 December: Spartacist demonstrations in Berlin

23-24 December: Sailor’s revolt in Britain put down by the army

1919
6 January: Spartacist revolt suppressed by army and Freikorps

19 January: Elections for the Constituent Assembly

July: Constitution of the new German Republic approved by Reichstag.

Question 7

Following the abdication of the Kaiser, a struggle for power ensued, in which differnet politucal groups wied for control yo shape the future political, economic and social structure of Germany.

Answer 7

• Freidrich Ebert, leader of the moderate social SPD, did not belive in violent revolution. he wanted to build a democratic, parliametary system of governemnt, and his first priority was to organise elections for a Constituent Assembly which would draw up a new constiution.
• In Berlin and other major cities, there was ongoing disorder as unemployed ex-soldiers and discontended workers became embroiled in demonstrations,s trikes and violent clashes with the police and army.
• Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils regarded themselves as rival sources of power and demanded radical and immediate change, includng the confiscation of land from the aristocarcy, the nationalisation of important industries, and democractic control over the army, the civil service and the judicial system. Left-wing political groups, such as the USPD and the Spartacists, supported three demands.
• The role of the army was crucial in the struggle for power. The army’s new leader, General Groener, valued or der and discipline and was determined to defeat any attempt at a communist revolution. To this end, he agreed a Pact with Ebert to support the government as long as the Chancellor promised to resist radical change to the army
• Decemebr 1918 - the army intervened to stop a Spartacist demonstration in Berlin and then crushed a sailors’ anti-governement revolt.
• January 1919 - Spartacists attempted an armed uprising against the goevrnemnt in Berlin. Led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the insurgents occupied public buildings and news paper offices. With limited support, the risnig was defeated by the army and the Freikorps (paramilitary orgnaisations made up of former soldiers) in brutal street fighting. Both Liebknecht and Luxumberg were killed after being captured.

Question 8

2. THE IMPACT OF THE VERSAILLES SETTLEMENT ON GERMANY

Answer 8

• 28 June 1919 - signed the peace treaty to end the war between Germany and the Allies.
• Punished Germany for its role in starting WW1 and for the damage to life and property caused by the war.
• It had profound impact on German politics throughout the lifetime of the Weimar Republic.

Question 9

Treaty of Versailles, 1919

Answer 9

*Germans from across the political spectrum hated the Treaty Versailles
- German delegation to the Peace Conference was not allowed to participate in the discussions about the terms of the Treaty.
- Once the Allies had agreed on the terms of the treaty, the German government was allowed to suggest only minor changes.
- German government was given 7 days to accept or reject the treaty. Rejection would have led to a resumption of the fighting. The German army High Command advised that military resistance would be futile.
- Divisions in Germany over whether to sign the Treaty led to a political crisis and the fall of the Scheidemann government.

Question 10

What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919 ?

Answer 10

• All German colonies surrendered to the League of Nations
• Huge losses of land - for example - Alsace-Lorraine to France of parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland
• Lack of control of parts of Germany. For example the coalfields of the Saar are out under French control. Also the Rhineland was demilitarised.
• Germany has to pay reparations of £6.6 billion
• German and Austria were forbidden from uniting
• Germany’s army was limited to 100,000 men with no conscription.
• No aircraft or submarines. The German navy was limited to 6 battleships.

Question 11

The political impact of the Versailles Treaty in Germany

Answer 11

The Treaty both United and divided German opinion. Most Germans agreed that:
- The Treaty was a ‘dictated peace’ which had humiliated a proud and powerful country.
- The ‘war guilt cause’ was unfair because Germans had believed that they were fighting a just war.
- The reparations were too harsh and worse severe economic problems.
- They had been denied their right to national self-determination, which that of smaller nations such as the Poles and the Czechs had been respected.

On the other hand, the deep political divisions in Germany were made worse by the signing of the Treaty.

Question 12

What were the reactions to the Treaty from abroad ?

Answer 12

The Treaty was darwn up by Allied powers, but they dis not agree about its impact.

France : There was widespread feeling that Germany had been treated too leniently and a determination to strictly enforce the Treaty.

Britain : There was genral satisfaction that Germnay had been weakened as a great power, but reservations about the fairness and wisdom of the Treaty.

USA : There was widespread feeling that Germnay had been unfairly treated and that the USA should not continue to be involved in Europe’s squabbles.

Question 13

3. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN GERMANY,1919-24.

Question 14

What were the financial problems in the aftermath of the war ?

Answer 14

• 1919 : New Weimar Republic faced a serious debt in state finaces.
• Partly due : Legacy of the war as wartime governments had financed the war effort by borrowing and by printing more money.
• Governemnt debt grew and value of currency declined.
• Governements in the years 1919-23 undoubtedly made this situation worse:

Raising taxes, reducing expenditure, or a combination of both to reduce the debt would have been hughly unpopular anfd risked alienating support for the new Republic. Taxes were not increased and spending was increased –> Governments, therefore, continued to print more money and to borrow more –> This caused inflation to rise. Prices quadrupled between 1919 and 1920.

Positive outcomes :
- Many politicians and businessmen thought inflation was beneficial as it stimulated investment and economic growth and government debt became less of a burden.
- Devaluation of the mark : Germany’s exports became cheaper and foreign trade boomed.
- Unemployment was kept low.

Question 15

What were the impact of reparations ?

Answer 15

1921 The Allied Reparations Commission - set the level of reparations at £6.6 billion to be paid in annual instalments.

Politically
- Demand in 1921 that Germany accept the terms of the Allied Reparations Commission’s report provoked another political crisis in Germany
- Led to the resignation of the Fehrenbach government
- Again, Germnay was bitterly divided.

Economically
- Payment of reparations exacerbated Germany’s debt and inflation
- Gold reserves inadequate for the scale of the reparation payments
- Another part of reparation payments had to be made in coal, but Germany had lost a part of its coal reserves in the Versailles Treaty
- A further possible method of payment was in manufactured goods, but workers and manufacturers in the Allied countries would not agree to this as they regarded it as a threat to their jobs and businesses.
- Allies hampered Germany’s export trade by confiscating its merchant fleet and later by imposing high tariffs on import of German goods.
- Because the Allies were forcing Germany to pay reparations, but making it difficult for Germany to find the money to do so, Germany’s response was to print more money, thereby making inflation even worse and making the value of the mark fall even further.
- German governments in 1922 tried to negotiate a suspension of reparations payments for three years but the French would not agree.

Question 16

The hyperinflation crisis of 1923

Answer 16

• Inflation was already high at the beginning of 1923.
• The impact of the Franco Belgian occupation of the Ruhr caused inflation in Germany to spiral out of control and reach the level of hyperinflation in October and November 1923.

1. January 1923 - French Belgian forces occupied Germany’s main industrial area in the Ruhr valley to extract reparations payments in the form of goods.
2. The Cuno government declared a policy of passive resistance to the occupation so workers in the are went on strike. The wages of the striking workers were paid by the government.
3. Tax revenue for the government was reduced.
4. Many goods in Germany were in short supply, further increasing prices.
5. The government printed more money to cover its debt.

Question 17

SOCIAL WELFARE

Answer 17

• Those involved in the revolution of November 1918 - the sailors, soldiers, workers who had helped bring down the kaiser - were motivated by a desire for a better freer life.
• The challenge for the politicians who wrote the Weimar Constitution in 1919, and for those who served in later coalition governments, was to enshrine those aspirations into new legal rights.
• One of the key rights set out in the constitution was that every German citizen should have the right to work or to welfare.
• This led to a series of reforms to the welfare system and employment rights.

KEY CHRONOLOGY OF SOCIAL WELFARE MEASURES

1919 : A law was passed limiting the working day to a maximum of 8 hours.

1919 : The state Health insurance system, was extended to include lives daughters and the disabled.

1919 : Aid for injured war veterans became the responsibility of national government; aid for war widows and orphans was increased.

1922 : All local authorities had to set up offices with responsibility for child protection.

• However, social welfare budget put a huge demand on the government.
• Printing of money was largely to pay out welfare benefits that the Weimar Republic was committed to providing, which exacerbated the hyperinflation crisis.

Question 18

What was the social impact of hyperinflation ?

Answer 18

Winners :
- Black marketeers who bought up food stocks and sold them at vastly inflated prices.
- Those who had debts, mortgages and loans did well since they could pay off the money they owned in worthless currency
- Hyperinflation also helped enterprising business people who took out new loans and repaid them once the currency devalued further.
- Those leasing out property on long-term fixed rents gained because the real value of the rents they were paying were decreasing
- Owners of foreign exchange and foreigners living in Germany could also benefit
- Countryside : most farmers coped well since food was in demand and money was less important in rural communities.

Losers :
- Pensioners were particularly badly hit, including war widows living no sate pensions
- Landlords reliant on fixed rents were hit badly
- Unskilled workers and those who did not belong in trade unions fared the worst. Although workers were given wage increases, these did not keep up with rising prices, so standards of living declined. by 1923, there was also an increase in unemployment and short time working; at the end of the year, only **29.3% **of the workforce was fully employed.
- Widespread malnutrition which was caused by the rapid rise in food prices. Death rates in large cities increased and suicide rates also went up.

Question 19

4. POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND EXTREMISM, 1919-24

Question 20

How was there a growth of political extremism ?

Answer 20

• Parties from the extreme left and the extreme right fought elections but also used their armed paramilitary squads to attack their opponents.
• Political violence became the norm.

Question 21

Describe the challenge from the left.

Answer 21

• Spartacists aimed for a communist revolution.
• November 1918 revolution had been betrayed by Ebert and the SPD.

They, and their heirs the KPD, attempted a number of armed revolts.
- January 1919 : Spartacists staged an armed uprising in Berlin which was brutally put down by the army and the Freikorps.
- March 1919 : Separatists attempted another armed rising in Berlin and a communist government was set up in Bavaria. Both were suppressed.
- March 1920 : General strike in Berlin helped to defeat the Kapp Putsch. Following this, the KPD formed a Red Army and seized control of the Ruhr, leading to armed clashes with the army and the Freikorps.
- other short-lived, left-wing revolts in 1920 occurred in Halle, Dresden, Saxony and Thuringia.
- March 1921 : KPD tried to stage a revolution, beginning with a rising Saxony. Disruption spread to the Ruhr and Hamburg but the risings were crushed.
- 1923 : during the hyperinflation crisis, a wave of strikes occurred in Saxony and Hamburg.

• All of these revolts failed or were ruthlessly crushed but they engendered a fear of communism among the middle class, driving nay to support right-wing parties.

Question 22

Describe the challenge from the right