the establishment and development of the Weimar republic: 1919-jan 1933

Question 1

impact of the treaty of Versailles-war guilt clause

Answer 1

war guilt:

-forced to sign war guilt clause (article 231), accepting blame for war

Question 2

impact of the treaty of Versailles-reparations

Answer 2

• 1921, war reparations set at £6600 million.

- make substantial payments in kind, for example timber. coal from the Saar was given to France

Question 3

impact of the treaty of Versailles-disarmament

Answer 3

• not allowed conscription and reduce army to 100,000. with no tanks or big guns allowed.
• Rhineland demilitarized
• navy limited to 6 battleships, 6 cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. no submarines

Question 4

impact of the treaty of Versailles-maintaining peace

Answer 4

-had to accept League of nations, but couldn’t join

Question 5

key terms of the Weimar constitution-definition

Answer 5

Germany was declared a ‘democratic state’. Although it refrained the title of Reich (empire). It was a republic.

Question 6

key terms of the Weimar constitution-president

Answer 6

• people elected him every 7 years
• his powers included
• the right to dissolve the Reichstag
• the appointment of the chancellor
• the position of supreme commander of the armed forces
• article 48-capacity to rule by decree at a time of national emergency

Question 7

key terms of the Weimar constitution-

parliament- Reichstag

Answer 7

Reichstag:

• main representative assembly and law-making body of the parliament
• consisted of deputies elected every 4yrs based on proportional representation
• PR system allocated members to parliament from the official list of political party candidates
• they were distributed on the basis of one member for every 60,000 votes in an electoral district

Question 8

key terms of the Weimar constitution-

parliament- Reichsrat

Answer 8

• less important house
• made up of representatives from all of the 17 state regional governments which all held local responsibilities such as education, police ect
• could only initiate or delay proposals, Reichstag could always overrule it.

Question 9

key terms of the constitution- bill of rights

Answer 9

• drew up a range of individual rights
• outlined broad freedoms:
• personal library and the right to free speech
• freedom to censorship
• equality before the law of all Germans
• religious freedom (no state church allowed)
• also upheld a range of social rights for example, to provide welfare and the protection of labor