The Aftermath of the First World War and the Weimar Republic

Question 1

Violent opposition between 1919-1923

Answer 1

1. Spartacists 6 January 1919
   - Led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebkneckt
   - they believed Germany should be led by soviets, not by the Reichstag as Ebert wanted.
   - now calling themselves the German communist party KPD
   - launched a putsch (rising) against the new govt
   - the putsch was crushed by the army supported by the free corps - a right-wing volunteer army mainly comprised of ex soldiers.
   - by Jan 15th the rising was over and both spartacist leaders and many of their followers had been murdered creating long term division between the SPD and KPD which prevented them ever co-operating together against right wing
2. Red Rising 1920
   - in 1920 the govt faced another threat, this time from workers in the Ruhr (Germany’s industrial heartland) who had been on strike in reaction to the Kapp putsch
   - when the putsch ended the communists among the Ruhrs workforce stayed in strike and formed their own red army
   - their aim was the gain concessions from the govt they had helped save
   - this was crushed by the army supporting by some of the free corps who had just tried to overthrow the govt
3. Assassinations 1920-22
   - Between 1920-22, 354 murders were carried out by right wingers including the assassination of foreign minister Walter Rathenau in June 1922
   - the punishments were usually insignificant e.g Rathenau’s assassins served on average 4 years imprisonment
   - at the same time those responsible for the 22 murders by the left wing during these years were usually givin the death sentence of severe punishment.
4. The Kapp Putsch
   - on 13th March 1920 the free corps led by an extreme nationalist journalist and politician Wolfgang Kapp seized key locations in Berlin
   - they were angry at the reduction in the size of the army as demanded by the treaty of Versailles
   - Ebert ordered the army to attack but it refused, stating “the Germany army does not fire on the German army” and the govt was forced to flee.
   - workers in Berlin and elsewhere responded to a call for help from the govt and organised a shutdown.
   - within four days their strike brought Berlin to standstill
   - with his putsch defeated Kapp fled the country
   - in the aftermath the free corps were broken up and the govt took no action on the army

Question 2

What was the impact and German people’s reactions to World War One

Answer 2

Initially most Germans welcomed the war but discontent soon emerged due to:

• increasing food and fuel shortages
• a decline in the value of the currency
• an increase in ill health

Although people were being told the war was going well, by October 1918 the government knew that it was lost.

• Over 6 million soldiers had either been killed or wounded
• the most recent military attack had failed
• Germany’s allies (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and turkey) were close to defeat
• the army was exhausted and troops were deserting

So in later October 2018 the Kaiser was persuaded to make Germany into a constitutional monarchy.

• The changes the Kaiser made to the government were not enough for those who wanted to see Germany made into a republic.
• On 3 Nov 1918 a revolt broke out at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven naval bases. Local workers joined in and protests spread across Germany.
• Russian-style workers councils were set up
• in a week Berlin had been brought to a standstill by a general strike
• socialist republics had been set up in Bavaria and Saxony.
• with Germany facing revolution the Kaiser was persuaded to abdicate on 9 Nov 1918
• at the same time Prince Max was replaced by social democrat party (SDP) leader Friedrich Ebert.

Social democrat leader SPD Friedrich Ebert who replaced the Kaiser made the following changes;
- he set up a new government and declared Germany a republic
- he made a deal with the head of the army, general Wilhelm Groener were he agreed to maintain the power of the army, judiciary and civil service and resist the growth of communism. Groener agreed to support the new government
- on Nov 11 1918 Germany signed and armistice ending the fighting in the war
These events shocked most ordinary Germans who had been led to believe the war was going well. Their anger was directed at the new government
- just as the Kaiser and army had wanted

Question 3

Terms and reactions to the treaty of Versailles.

Answer 3

1. Arms
   - to stop Germany going to war again, especially with France, the Rhineland - bordering France, was demilitarised, to ensure this happened it was occupied with allied troops for 15 years
   - army limited to 100,000 men and no conscription
   - navy limited to 15,000 sailors and 6 battleships, no U-boats/submarines
   - airforce was forbidden
2. War guilt and reparations
   - Germany had to admit that it had caused ww1 under article 231 of the treaty
   - it had to pay reparations to the allies of £6.6 billion
3. Land and territory
   - Germany lost territory to France, Belgium and Poland; the latter via the polish corridor which partitioned the country
   - lost all oversea colonies
   - Anschluss with Austria was forbidden
   - in Schleswig, Allenstein, Marienwerder and Silesia, the allies organised plebiscites to decide who would govern the regions

In total Germany lost;

• 13% of land
• 12% of its population (approx 6 million)
• 15% of agricultural production
• 48% of iron production (similar for steel)
• 16% coal production

In addition all profits from the Saar coalfields were to go to France for 15 years.

4. Reactions to the treaty
   - many Germans outraged and christened the treaty a diktat
   - turned on politicians who signed the armistice in Nov 1918 which led to the treaty
   - they argued Germany had been betrayed by these politicians and labelled them the ‘November criminals’
   - the German govt resigned rather than sign the treaty but a new govt signed the treaty faced with the threat of renewed war on 28 June 1919

Question 4

Explain the 1923 economic crisis.

1. Leading up to
2. Worsening
3. Causes and impacts
4. Solution
5. Recovery

Answer 4

1. Long before 1923 the German economy was in trouble;
   - money had been borrowed to pay for war and these loans now had to be repaid
   - inflation was growing
   - Germany had lost important agricultural and industrial areas in ToV
   - the govt was borrowing and printing more money

• in Jan 1921 the situation deteriorated when the allies announced Germany’s reparations of £6.6 billion
• Germany scrapped the first instalment together but in December 1922 announced it could not afford the next payment and asked for a break
• France refused and in Jan 1923 France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland to take what they were owed.
• the govt ordered workers in the Ruhr to engage in passive resistance making economic problems even worse.

2. Passive resistance made things worse as:
   - the richest part of the country wasn’t producing anything, reducing the countries income
   - Germany started importing goods which cost more money
   - Ruhr workers still had to be paid even though they weren’t working.
   - faced with passive resistance invading forces killed 130 people and expelled at least 150,000 Germans
3. The govts solution to its economic problems was to print more and more money and by Autumn 1923 Germany was experiencing hyperinflation. Those particularly effected were;
   - the poor who had little to nothing
   - those living on a fixed income I.e. Pensioners
   - farmers
   - owners of small businesses
   - the middle classes who’s savings were rendered worthless by hyperinflation
   With money worthless Germany developed a barter economy - exchange of goods for services rather than money.

Not everyone suffered, those who’s wealth was not in money were unaffected, while people with debts or mortgages were able to pay of loans taken out when money was worth more, cheaply with worthless currency.

4. The crisis ended in the collapse of the govt, in August president Ebert used his powers under article 48 to form a new govt led by gustav stresemann. Stresemann ended the crisis by:
   - ordering an end to passive resistance
   - reducing govt spending
   - agreeing to resume paying reparations - realising this was the only way to get the French and Belgian out of the Ruhr
   - establishing in Nov 1923 a new bank - the reichsbank and a new currency - the rentenmark

Although Stresemann’s actions restored economic stability, the crisis had destroyed the confidence of significant no.s of Germans especially the middle class, in the Weimar govt

5. Stresemann - now Germany’s foreign minister produced a series of agreements including:

The Dawes plan (1924) - with key allied leaders, Germany was allowed to pay reduced reparation payments for a longer time but the amount of £6.6 billion remained the same.

The Young plan (1929) - reduced reparations to 1.8 billion and have the German govt even longer to pay it.

Question 5

Stresemann’s foreign agreements

Answer 5

Locarno treaties (1925) - Germany, France and Belgium agreed to accept their common borders. Shortly after French and Belgian troops withdrew from the Ruhr

League of Nations (1926) - Germany was allowed to join, previously refused membership when it was set up in 1919 as result of the Paris peace settlement

Kellogg-Briand pact (1928) - stated countries would use peaceful means to solve disagreements

Rhineland (1930) - allied troops returned home

Question 6

Negative aspects of the golden twenties

Answer 6

• following Ebert’s death in 1925 field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg was elected president. He was not overly enthusiastic about Germany being a democracy
• political parties were getting on better because there was nothing to fall out over, even so,no govt lasted longer than 2 years.
• industry was growing unsteady
• agriculture was in depression
• unemployment was increasing
• welfare costs were up
• the govt was spending more than it was making
• Beneath the surface there remained desire to reverse the terms of ToV
• Germany over reliant on American loans, Stresemann said it was ‘dancing on a volcano’

Question 7

What recoveries did Stresemann make during 1923-29?

Answer 7

• heavy industry had recovered to its pre-1914 levels
• exports were rising
• wages were increasing
• social welfare provision had improved
• infrastructure was being developed
• there were no more putsches
• the results of the 1928 elections showed people were supporting moderate rather than extremist parties

Question 8

What disasters happened in 1929 and what happened to Germany’s economy because of it?

Answer 8

In October 1929

1. Gustav Stresemann died robbing the republic of one of its most able leaders.
2. The US economy collapsed with the Wall street crash as a result;
   - all US investment stopped
   - Americans who had invested in Germany demanded their money back as soon as the (mostly short term) agreements ended.

Germany’s already weak economy collapsed;

• prices and salaries fell
• industrial production halved
• businesses closed as demand for their products dried up
• unemployment increased
• homelessness increased as people could no longer afford rent.
• agriculture suffered as thousands of farmers went bankrupt

By September 1930 over 3 million Germans were unemployed (not including part time workers and those not registered as unemployed) while banks unable to repay loans shut down resulting in loss of savings for millions.

Question 9

Give an overview of the political collapse and the 1930 election.

Answer 9

• the grand coalition began to break up and in March 1930 chancellor Müller resigned
• Heinrich Brüning of the centre party took over but the govt remained divided
• several parties wanted to reduce welfare spending but the SPD refused
• with in months the govt collapsed and an election was announced for September 1930 the immediate cause was the reichstags refusal to support govt plans to cut spending and increase taxation

Election September 1930;

• in the election the Nazis (107 seats) and communists (77) increased their support.
• all parties committed to supporting Weimar and using democracy lost votes and seats in the Reichstag.
• Brüning remained chancellor despite not being able to form a stable govt.
• unable to get parliament to agree to his laws he was forced to ask president Hindenburg to use article 48. All key laws were passed this way for two years, undermining democracy.

Question 10

Name and explain the two parts of the new constitution which were strengths yet also weaknesses

Answer 10

1. Proportional representation
   - Strength? Gave all parties the chance of winning seats in parliament
   - Weakness? More parties elected made it harder for anyone to win a majority, allowed parties hostile to Weimar to get elected usually meaning governments were made up of a no. of parties (coalitions) who could fall out easily making laws difficult to pass. Lack of stability - 14 chancellors between 1919 - 1933
2. Article 48 - in crisis allows president to rule using emergency decrees if the government does not get enough support
   - strength? The country could still be governed in crisis
   - weakness? No definition of what constituted as ‘emergency’. Using article 48 meant the govt was not running the country which was undemocratic. If used too much and for too long it would undermine democracy

Question 11

Give and overview of the 25 point programme and the changes Hitler made to the Nazi party after it was released.

Answer 11

• Hitlers influence over the DAP was immediate, in Feb 1920 it launched a new manifesto, the 25 point programme most of which was Hitler’s work. It had a range of key ideas:
• desire to unite all Germans except German Jews
• destruction of the ToV
• need for lebensraum (living space) for the German population
• need for strong government

After the 25 point programme was released:

• the DAP was renamed the nationalist socialist German workers party (NSDAP or Nazi for short)
• the party adopted the swastika as its symbol
• it bought its own newspaper the Völkischer Beobachter the help spread its ideas
• in July 1921 after threatening to resign Hitler replaced Drexler as leader
• In Nov 1921 the SA was set up as the Nazis military wing - many of which had been free corps - were known as brown shirts because of their uniform. It had 15,000 members a year later.
• party membership grew but the Nazis remained a regional party with little influence beyond Bavaria

Question 12

Give an overview of Hitlers plans for the Munich putsch and how it was a failure.
Then the Nazis reorganisation and growth after the failure.

Answer 12

1. Plans
   Hitler was outraged at the mess Germany was in by late 1923. He believed the crisis provided him with the ideal opportunity to exploit Weimar’s problems. He decided to stage a putsch in Munich followed by an attack on Berlin.

On 8 Nov 1923 Hitler interrupted a meeting being held by the heads of the Bavarian govt, police and army, Gustav von Kahr, Hans von Seisser and Otto van Lossow. He forced the leaders to announce their support for the planned rising.

2. Failure
   Once free von Kahr, von Seisser and von Lossow organised the army to stop the intended putsch.

On 9th Nov armed police fired on a crowd of 2000+ Nazis marching towards the city centre. 16 died. Hitler fled and was later arrested for high treason.

He appeared to be finished but he turned his trial to his advantage using it to condemn the govt and spread his ideas. The massive media coverage gave him more publicity than he could have dreamt of.
The trial judges were sympathetic to his views and he was sentenced to just 5 years imprisonment.

Reorganisation and growth
Hitler only spent nine months in prison. While there he;
- wrote his ideas in his book ‘Mein Kampf’ (my struggle)
- decided the Nazis would gain power through election rather than force.

Following his release in Dec 1924 hitler;

• reestablished the Nazi party and began to set up branches across Germany, attempting to make it a national rather than regional organisation.
• The refounded party was based on the leadership principle (führerprinzip) which emphasised absolute obedience to Hitler.
• New Nazi groups established including the SS in 1925 and hitler youth in 1926
• however violence was not completely removed as a tactic. The SA was still involved in street fights especially against the KPD’s red fighting league when necessary.

Question 13

Outcome of the 1928 election for the Nazis

Answer 13

The reorganised party’s first electoral test came in 1928; it won only 12 seats. Since Germany appeared to be recovering economically and politically there seemed no reason to vote for a party who’s main aim was to destroy the Weimar system.

Question 14

Why was Hitler elected as chancellor in January 1933?

• increased support
• financial support
• Weimar
• 1932 elections and why Hitler wasn’t elected
• January 1933

Answer 14

1. Support for the Nazis increased:
   - under the direction of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazis used sophisticated methods of propaganda. Hitlers image and ideas could be seen and heard everywhere across Germany.

• the SA grew massively in size; they attacked opponents and disrupted their meetings
• Hitler was a talented speaker who portrayed an image of strength

Nazi policies focused on groups hit hardest by the Great Depression, telling then exactly what they wanted to hear

• they promised jobs and restoration of the economy to those who were starving, homeless&unemployed. Key phrase ‘bread and work’
• offered to overthrow ToV to those angry at Germany’s military weakness
• pointed to the Jews and communists as groups to blame for Germany’s problems.

2. Groups that were unlikely to ever support the Nazis:
3. Trade unions - Nazis keen to shut them down
4. Key industrial figures - Nazi indiscipline
5. Church leaders - Nazis threatened Christian values
6. Some female voters - anti-feminist nature of Nazi policies
7. Financial support
   - many Germans particularly leading industrialists such as Krupps and Thyssen feared growth of communism and sought the restoration of a strong govt. they were therefore willing to support the Nazis financially. Hitler promised to destroy Germany’s trade union movements when appointed chancellor.

He also had the support of Alfred Hugenberg, owner of many of Germany’s newspapers, he used his media empire to spread the Nazi message.

In order to avoid a repeat of the 1923 hyperinflation crisis Brüning:

• reduced public spending
• imposed tariffs on imports
• slashed payments to the unemployment
• introduced salary reduction for civil servants

These unpopular policies earned him the nickname of ‘hunger chancellor’. However by late 1932 there were some signs of recovery even though unemployed stood at over 6 million. In addition reparations were suspended in 1931 and cancelled completely in 1932.

4. 1932 elections
   1932 was the year four elections were held.

In March and April elections were held for the post of president. Hitler received over 30% of votes, Hindenburg received just under the 50% needed to win so a second round was needed. This time although Hitler increased his votes, Hindenburg was reelected.

Soon after, Hindenburg forced Brüning out by telling him he would not allow him to use article 48 anymore. The immediate cause of his dismissal were Brüning’s decision to;

• ban the SS and SA in April 1932 in response to high levels of violence. This concerned general Kurt von Schleicher, an influential presidential adviser. He believed that the time had come to co-operate with the Nazis.
• divide the large landed estates in Prussia, Hindenburg’s home state. This was too close too socialism for the presidents liking.

On von schleicher’s advice, Hindenburg appointed Franz von Papen as chancellor. He formed a new govt, removed the ban on the SS and SA, deposed the socialist govt in Prussia and called a general election for July 1932. As a result the Nazis became to
the largest party with 230 seats while the KPD also increased its support.

Following the July 1932 election hitler demanded chancellorship; Hindenburg refused and reappointed von Papen. With no support von Papen called yet another election.

The Nov 1932 election revealed a fall in Nazi support (196 seats) due to the start of economic recovery and disappointment among previous voters at Hitler’s failure to become chancellor. Results showed further increase for KPD (100).

As leader of the largest party Hitler again requested the position of chancellor. Again Hindenburg refused. Von Papen wanted to stay on, planning to replace the Reichstag and introduce a constitution allowing a dictatorial govt. he also intended to use the army to deal with opposition. Von Schleicher warned the president this could risk civil war.

5. January 1933
   Hindenburg now asked von Schleicher to take on chancellor. He only lasted 57 days, failing in attempts to strike a deal with some Nazis and trade unionists and incurring Hindenburg’s displeasure for requesting use of article 48.

Meanwhile others tried to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler. Involved was Von Papen who ensured the president he could control the Nazi leader and his son Oskar.
As well as this key land owners and business leaders were asking Hindenburg to create a stable and effective govt.

On 30 January 1933 Hitler was elected chancellor.