The establishment of the Weimar Republic Flashcards
How did WW1 lead to the German Revolution of 1918-1919?
WW1 had taken a great toll on the German people. Over a million German soldiers were dead and around 750,000 civilians died during the war from the effects of starvation and disease. In August 1918, the Allies counter-attacked and within a few weeks had recaptured all the land that the Germans had gained in the past three months. They offered peace only under the condition that the Kaiser abdicated but he refused.
What was the German Revolution of 1918?
25th October 1918 - Sailors mutinied after naval commanders decided to send their ships out to fight the British fleet in one last bid for glory. This was followed by strikes and demonstrations throughout Germany against the war and the Kaiser.
6th November 1918 - Soldiers’ and workers’ councils had taken control in many cities with the main aim of ending the war.
7th November 1918- The Social Democrats, the leading party in the Reichstag, said they would join the revolution if the Kaiser didn’t abdicate.
9th November 1918 - There was a general strike in Berlin where armed workers and soldiers roamed the streets. The Social Democrats announced the abdication of the Kaiser and the setting up of a German Republic. Ebert took over as chancellor. They were scared that extremists would gain control of the revolution.
How did the Weimar Republic come to power?
After the abdication of the Kaiser, Ebert, as chancellor, promised national elections for a new National Assembly. These took place on January 19th 1919 and Ebert’s SDP won 40% of the seat.
What was the Weimar Constitution?
It was a republic which guaranteed every German citizen the freedom of speech and religion. All citizens over 20 were given the right to vote.
The President was elected every 7 years and could use Article 48. This allowed him to protect the country in a crisis but could also give the wrong person full control of the country.
The chancellor (head of government) was appointed by the president and had to hold the support of the Reichstag majority.
The Reichstag was run under the system of proportional representation. This meant that there was never a strong government because no one party could get a majority, so governments had to be coalitions.
The Weimar Republic also consisted of 18 states, organised as a federation. This meant that each state had its own parliament, passed its own laws and ran its own police force. However, they had more limited power and could be overruled by national government.
What were the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles signed on June 28th 1919?
Germany lost:
- 13% of its European territory
- 11 of its colonies in Africa and the Far East
- 48% of its iron production
- 15% of its coal reserves
- 6 million of its people
Military restrictions:
- Army limited to 100,000 men
- No troops allowed in the Rhineland
- It wasn’t allowed an air force
- No tanks, submarines or air force
(France wanted to weaken German armed forces to prevent future attacks from Germany)
Other conditions:
- War Guilt Clause (most Germans believed they had been forced into war and that all countries involved should take responsibility, they hated this clause because it meant that the Allies were justified in giving Germany such a harsh treaty)
- 6.6 billion pounds in reparations
How did the treaty decrease support for the Weimar Republic?
The Weimar politicians were labelled the ‘November criminals’, and there were rumours that the German army had been ‘stabbed in the back’.
In March 1920, the Freikorps marched to Berlin and declared Dr Wolfgang Kapp an extreme nationalist, as Germany’s new leader. The German army refused to stop the Freikorps as they felt sympathy for the aims of the Kapp Putsch. This showed that the government had little military power and couldn’t control its own capital.
It failed because Ebert encouraged the people to go on general strike to stop the revolt. Essential supplies such as gas, water and electricity were disrupted by the strikes and the city was unable to function. Kapp fled to Sweden and the city was brought back into control.
What was the early opposition faced by the Weimar republic?
From the 5th to 12th of January 1919, the Spartacist attempted to set up a communist government in Berlin.
5th January 1919, the Spartacists captured the headquarters of the government’s newspaper and the telegraph bureau and tried to bring about a general strike. The government found it difficult to put down this revolt because the treaty had limited the German army. So they turned to the Freikorps, who hated communism, to crush the uprising. On 10th January 1919, they took over Spartacist headquarters and by 15th January 1919, 100 Spartacists were killed compared to 13 Freikorps. The Communists were robbed of their leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were murdered by the Freikorps.
What treaty was Germany expecting?
In January 1918, the US president, Wilson, had produced a list of ‘Fourteen Points’, which gave Germans hope that the treaty would be fair.
What was the occupation of the Ruhr 1923?
The Treaty of Versailles made the close to bankrupt Germany of 1918 even worse by making them pay huge amounts of reparations whilst taking away their income-generating areas.
- The Occupation of the Ruhr
The Allies needed reparation payments from Germany to repay loans taken during the war to countries such as the USA. By late 1922, Germany had failed to pay some instalments. In December 1922, it missed another payment so the French and Belgians decided to take payments in the form of industrial products.
In January 1923, Belgian and French troops invaded the Ruhr (centre of Germany’s production of iron, coal and steel). The Weimar republic couldn’t take military action so it encouraged workers in the Ruhr to carry out a campaign of passive resistance. German workers:
- went on strike and stopped producing goods that the French could seize
- damaged factories and mines so production had to stop (arson and sabotage)
What was the response of the occupation of the Ruhr?
France brought in their own workers, but there was fighting between the French and the Germans, over 100 French civilians were killed by the occupying forces.
The Weimar government had a temporary popularity because they had resisted France and provided strike pay for the workers involved in passive resistance. However, this was one of the reasons for hyperinflation, as the German government was forced to print more money to pay the striking workers.
What were the effects of hyperinflation?
By 1923, the government had 300 paper mills and 200 printing shops whose only job was to print money. The government was forced to print money in WW1 to pay for the cost of the war, after the Treaty of Versailles to pay for reparations, and after the invasion of the Ruhr to pay the striking workers.
The people who suffered most were the middle classes who saw their savings and businesses destroyed. This forced millions into poverty. In 1914, 1 dollar was worth 4 marks, but by November 1923, 1 dollar was worth 4.2 billion marks.
Some benefited, such as those with loans and mortgages. People who owned land were also generally protected, as well as farmers because the food they produced could be sold at higher prices.
