The Great Depression Flashcards
When was it?
October 1929, 24th 13million shares sold (Stresemann died, end of ‘golden age’ of Weimar Rep)
Effects on Germany?
- USA recalled loans made to Germany
- German businesses fired people and reduce wages (6million fired by 1932, 23million affected)
How were the workers/middle class affected?
Workers became unemployed and the middle class lost their savings/companies/homes
Why did the coalition gov collapse?
The SPD left the government and so there weren’t enough cabinet members
How did Heinrich Bruning (Centre Party), the new chancellor from March 1930, annoy the left wing/right wing?
They wanted higher benefits
They hated higher taxes
Bruning called an election (Sep 1930), what parties gained from this?
The Nazis had 107 seats and the Communists had 77 seats, support for democracy decreased
How did Bruning continue to govern?
By decree (article 48) but this made the Weimar Rep look more like a dictatorship than a democracy
The unemployed lived how?
Lived in camps in the forest, spending time on the streets (increased social disorder), fights between right and left wings
