SOCIETY / EXTREMIST THREATS 1918-1924 Flashcards
WHEN did the Weimar government extend health insurance and HOW?
1919 - to different social groups, including the disabled or women without their own income
WHEN was the Imperial Youth Welfare Act made?
1922
WHAT did the Imperial Youth Welfare Act do?
All children had the right to education and each Lander had to set up youth offices for child protection
WHEN was a maximum working week set in Germany and to WHAT?
In 1919, the maximum working week was set to 48 hours
WHEN was the Spartacist Uprising?
5th - 15th January 1919
HOW MANY protested during the Spartacist Uprising?
5,000, led by the KPD and the USPD
WHY did the Spartacist Uprising fail?
- They were unable to decide upon any firm direction as its leaders were theorists not strategists
- Ebert ordered the Freikorps to crush the revolt
- Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested and shot
HOW MANY died during/after the Spartacist Uprising?
17 Freikorps and 156 Spartacists were confirmed to be killed but some socialists say 2,000 - 3,000 demonstrators were shot
WHAT were the consequences of the Spartacist Uprising?
Ebert’s request for the Freikorps and army to suppress the revolt split the left and the KPD never forgave him.
WHO were the Freikorps?
Paramilitary groups of nationalist, anti-republican (usually) ex-soldiers who often worked with the army and sometimes helped the government (often to stop communist rebellions)
WHAT did Major Schulz famously say to his Freikorps troops?
That it was “a lot better to kill a few innocent people than to let one guilty person escape”
WHEN was the Raterepublik?
6th April - 3rd May 1919
WHAT was the Raterepublik?
Bavarian left-wing rebellion against the Freikorps after their leader was murdered
HOW was the Raterepublik ‘resolved’?
1) Almost 30,000 Freikorps and soldiers entered and ‘secured’ Munich in bloody street fighting.
2) Afterwards, a 400,000 strong Citizen’s Defence Force was founded in Bavaria to ‘protect’ the state from the left
WHAT is an example of the extreme treatment of the left by authorities during the early Weimar years?
The Hamburg rising (1923) was a KPD rebellion where after the rebels quietly left, 100 were shot and 1,400 were arrested despite only 300 being active participants
WHO were Organisation Consul?
A former Freikorps group known as the Ehrhardt Brigade who were one of the disbanded Freikorps groups that caused the Kapp Putsch
WHAT were some paramilitary groups for extremist parties?
- The Red Front (KPD)
- The Stahlhelm (DNVP)
- The SA (NSDAP)
WHEN was the Kapp Putsch?
12th March - 18th March 1920
WHAT was the Kapp Putsch?
Freikorps rebellion where 12,000 men marched into Berlin, unopposed as German Army commander von Seeckt refused to order regular soldiers to fire on them
HOW was the Kapp Putsch brought to an end?
Ebert called for the most powerful general strike in German history, bringing the country to a halt
HOW MANY went on strike to stop the Kapp Putsch?
12 million workers
HOW were the participants in the Kapp Putsch treated?
Very leniently. Only one was punished while over half were granted amnesty (an official pardon)
HOW were participants of the Ruhr uprising treated?
Extremely harshly. Many were illegally executed by the Freikorps. It is thought that the Red Ruhr army saw up to 1,000 casualties.
WHAT was the Ruhr uprising?
The Ruhr refused to rejoin Germany after Ebert called of the nationwide strikes (after the Kapp Putsch) and declared themselves as an independent state.
HOW MANY political assassinations were there between 1919 and 1923?
376
WHAT percentage of political assassinations were by each political wing?
95% were by the right wing, against the left while 5% were by the left against the right
WHO was Walther Rathenau?
A Jewish politician who had helped arrange the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles who was assassinated by Organisation Consul in 1922
WHEN was Walther Rathenau assassinated and what were the consequences?
June 1922:
Many demonstrated in Berlin against his assassination and he became almost a democratic martyr for Weimar
