The Nazis

Question 1

What did the spartacists want?

Answer 1

THEY WERE GERMAN COMMUNISTS

• They didn’t want elections as they believed the parliament would only help the rich.
• They wanted soldiers and workers councils to rule German
• They wanted to take control of Germany by armed revolt (armed people trying to overthrow the government)
• They would kill anyone who got in their way and tried to stop them

Question 2

The freikorps

Answer 2

= Loyal ex-soldiers organised to fight the spartacists

• They hated the spartacists because they believed they had lost the war due to the revolutionary groups like the spartacists had stabbed them in the back

Question 3

What powers did the president have?

Answer 3

• The president had the power to appoint and dismiss the chancellor
• Able to rule alone in national emergencies ended article 48 (rule by presidential decree)
• He can dissolve the reichstag(parliament) but fresh election had to be held within a set time period
• Was elected by universal suffrage every 7 years

Question 4

The Weimar constitution strengths + weaknesses

Answer 4

Strengths-
•The rules meant the Weimar Republic could claim to be one of the most advanced democracies in Europe
•The fundamental laws guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of worship, rights of privacy and freedom from arrest without trial
•The system meant German people were able to choose their leaders, as the president was directly elected and the chancellor had to have support of the majority in the Reichstag

Weaknesses-
• No one party could get a majority (more than half the seats available) and so governments had to be coalitions, I.e governments made up of combinations of parties
• If the president thought there was an emergency he could use article 48 to suspend democracy for a while and rule by decree (laws he could impose without anyone’s agreement)

Question 5

Why did people vote for the nazis?

Answer 5

• The nazis offered solutions to weimars problems which appealed to many Germans
• The nazis had very effective election campaign methods ; “hitler over Germany” first politician to use an aeroplane to speak across the country
• Some germans liked the promises the nazis made to end Versailles, crush communism and restore German pride
• Many people hated the Weimar system. It was weak and the economy unstable, the nazis had never served in a government so they were a solution not a problem