The Weimar Republic 1918-29

Question 1

when was the war
when was the armistice signed
what was Germany experiencing at this time

Answer 1

war: 1914-1918
armistice signed: 11th November 1918
By this time Germany was experiencing widespread unrest which eventually ended in a revolution

Question 2

why was the war devastating for Germany

Answer 2

• near the war’s end German people were suffering severe hardship
• the allies had set up naval blockades which prevented imports of food and essential goods and by 1918 many people faced starvation
• public opinion turned against Kaiser Wilhelm II who ruled the German empire like a king. Many Germans wanted a democracy and an end to the war. There was widespread unrest
• In November 1918 some members of the German navy rebelled and refused to board their ships
• In Hanover, German troops refused to control rioters
• A Jewish communist called Kurt Eisner encouraged a general uprising which sparked mass strikes in Munich

Question 3

how did social unrest in 1918 turn inti a revolution

Answer 3

• by November 1918 the situation in Germany verged on the edge of a civil war.
• A huge public protest was held in Berlin and members of the SPD (social democratic party) called for the Kaisers resignation
• 9th November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and two socialist parties the Social Democratic Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) declared a republic
• 10 November 1918 all the state leaders that had been appointed by the monarch left their posts and new revolutionary state governments took over instead. The monarchy had been abolished and Germany had the chance to become a democracy

Question 4

when did Kaiser Wilhelm abdicate

Answer 4

9th November 1918

Question 5

what is a republic

Answer 5

a country ruled without a monarch and power is held by the people via elected representatives

Question 6

what was Germany made up of

Answer 6

Germany was made up of 18 states and each one had its own government. The national government decided national affairs and the state governments dealt with more local affairs.

the German states could pass laws going against the Reichstag

Question 7

discuss the signing of the armistice

Answer 7

11th November 1918

• a ceasefire to end WW1 was agreed
• the allies (Britain, France and the USA) signed an armistice (truce) with Germany
• the new republic was under pressure to sign as the government didn’t think Germany could continue fighting as its military morale was low and people were starving
• the armistice wasn’t supported by some right-wing Germans who saw the truce as a betrayal and believed Germany could still win the war

Question 8

what was the Council of People’s representatives

Answer 8

After the Kaisers abdication Germany was disorganised and different political parties claimed control over different towns
a temporary national government was established consisting of the SPD and USPD
it was called the Council of People’s representatives
It controlled Germany until January 1919 when elections were held for a new Reichstag (parliament)

Question 9

what was the Weimar Republic

Answer 9

• the first Germany had been governed as a democracy
• designed to give the German people a voice
• It had major flaws in its constitution that made it weak
• In January 1919 the Council of People’s Representatives organised elections to create a new Parliament as Germany was now a democracy and the people would say how the country was run
• Fredrich Ebert became the first President with Philip Scheidemann as Chancellor
• Ebert was leader of the SPD (a moderate party of socialists)
• February 1919 the members of the new Reichstag met at Weimar to create a new constitution for Germany. The constitution decided how the government would be organised and established its main principles

Question 10

how did the constitution organise the German system of government

Answer 10

President:

• elected every 7 years by German people
• Chooses the Chancellor and is head of the army
• the president had the most power but the Chancellor was in charge of the day-to-day running of the government
• Can dissolve the Reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution

Reichstag:

• the new German Parliament
• Members are elected every 4 years using proportional representation
• parties in the Reichstag were elected by the German people
• controlled taxation on the people

Reichsrat:

• Second less powerful house of parliament
• consists of members from each local region
• can delay measures passed by the Reichstag

Question 11

what is proportional representation

Answer 11

where the proportion of seats a party wins in parliament is roughly the same as the proportion of the total votes they win

Question 12

how was the constitution fair

Answer 12

• even small political parties were given seats in the Reichstag if they got 0.4% of the vote or above
• the constitution allows women to vote for the first time
• lowered the voting age to 20 so more Germans could vote and the German public had greater power

Question 13

what were the weaknesses of the German Weimar Republic Constitution

Answer 13

even though it was more democratic it didn’t prove to be very efficient

• proportional representation meant that even parties with a small number of votes were guaranteed to get into the Reichstag meaning it was difficult to make decisions because there were so many parties all with different points of views. It also allowed extremist parties to get into the Reichstag
• Under Article 48 when a decision couldn’t be reached or a law needed to be passed as an emergency the President could suspend the constitution and pass laws without the Reichstag’s consent. This power was only meant to be used in an emergency but it became a useful way if getting around disagreements that took place in the Reichstag meaning it undermined the new democracy. It was abused by the president

Question 14

what was article 48

Answer 14

Under Article 48 when a decision couldn’t be reached or a law needed to be passed as an emergency the President could suspend the constitution and pass laws without the Reichstag’s consent. This power was only meant to be used in an emergency but it became a useful way if getting around disagreements that took place in the Reichstag meaning it undermined the new democracy. It was abused by the president

Question 15

what was proportional representation

Answer 15

proportional representation meant that even parties with a small number of votes were guaranteed to get into the Reichstag meaning it was difficult to make decisions because there were so many parties all with different points of views. It also allowed extremist parties to get into the Reichstag

Question 16

when was the treaty of Versailles signed

Answer 16

28th June 1919

Question 17

what was the treaty of Versailles

Answer 17

• after the armistice a peace treaty called the treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany
• the terms of the treaty were mostly decided by the Allied leaders (David Lloyd George of Britain/ Georges Clemenceau of France/ Woodrow Wilson of USA)
• The new German government wasn’t invited to the peace conference in 1919 and had no say in the Versailles Treaty
• At first Ebert refused to sign the treaty but in the end he had little choice as Germany was too weak to resist the rising conflict
• On 28th June 1919 he accepted the terms and signed
• As a result the Weimar republic became associated with the pain and humiliation caused by the treaty of Versailles
• the treaty was very unpopular in Germany and many Germans resented the new government for accepting its terms

Question 18

what were the terms f the treaty of Versailles

Answer 18

• Article 231 of the treaty said Germany had to take the blame for the war, the War-Guilt-Clause. Many Germans didn’t agree with this and were humiliated by having to accept total blame
• Germany’s armed forces were reduced to 100,000 men and they weren’t allowed to have any armoured vehicles or submarines, only 6 warships which made German people feel vulnerable
• Germany was forced to pay £6600 million in reparations for the damage caused by German forces in the war. The amount was decided in 1921 but was later changed. The heavy reparations seemed unfair to Germans and would cause lasting damage to Germany’s economy
• Germany lost it empire, areas around the world that used to belong to Germany were now called mandates. They were put under the control of the league of nations and organisation which aimed to settle international disputed peacefully. People opposed the losses in territory especially when people in German colonies were forced to become part of a new nation
• the German military was banned form the Rhineland (an area of Germany on its western border with France) which left Germany open to attack from the west.

Question 19

discuss the betrayal Germans felt by the Weimar Republic

Answer 19

The treaty of Versailles causes resentment towards the Weimar Republic

• Germans called the treaty a ‘diktat’ meaning a treaty forced upon Germany and many blamed Ebert for accepting its term
• some believed the treaty signing was a stab in the back

Question 20

what was the stab in the back

Answer 20

some Germans believed the armistice was a mistake and that Germany could have won the war. They felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by the Weimar politicians who brought the treaty of Versailles upon Germany unnecessarily
The Weimar politicians involved in signing the armistice became known as the November Criminals

Question 21

how did the treaty of Versailles play a part in the failure of the Weimar republic

Answer 21

the treaty of Versailles played an important part in the failure of the Weimar Republic as it harmed the Republic’s popularity and created economic and social unrest that hindered the government for years

Question 22

why was their widespread discontent in the first four years of the Weimar Republic

Answer 22

The first four years of the Weimar Republic (1919-1923) were dominated by political, social and economic unrest and it created hardship for the German people and fuelled criticism of Ebert’s government

• By 1919 thousands of Germans were poor and starving and an influenza epidemic has killed thousands
• Many Germans denied they had lost the war and blamed the November Criminals who agreed to sign the armistice and the treaty of Versailles. Jews and Communists were also blamed
• the government was seen as weak and ineffective
• the treaty of Versailles made living conditions worse

Question 23

what was the Spartacist Revolt

Answer 23

JANUARY 1919

• the extreme left wanted a revolution
• In January 1919 communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to take over Berlin
• They took control of important buildings like newspaper headquarters and 50,000 workers went on strike in support of the left-wing revolution
• Ebert asked for help from the right-wing Freikorps (ex-German soldiers) to stop the rebellion
• Over 100 workers were killed
• The Freikorps’ use of violence caused a split between on the left between the SPD and the communists
• Rosa and Karl were killed

Question 24

what was the Kapp Putsch

Answer 24

MARCH 1920

• the right also rebelled against the Weimar government
• In March 1920 some of the Freikorps themselves took part in the Kapp Putsch led by Wolfgang Kapp
• They wanted to create a new right-wing government
• The Freikorps marched into Berlin to overthrow the Weimar regime
• But German workers opposed the Putsch and staged a general strike
• Berlin was paralysed and Kapp was forced to give up
• Even after the Putsch failed threats to the government remained and in 1922 some former Freikorps members assassinated Walter Rathenau who had been Foreign minister and was Jew
• As Germanys economic problems got worse after the war anti-Semitic feeling increased

Question 25

what does anti-Semitic mean

Answer 25

anti-jewish

Question 26

what is dolchstass

Answer 26

the right wing belief that Germany could have won WW1 but was betrayed

Question 27

Anschluss

Answer 27

no union allowed with Germany

Question 28

what happened in 1923

Answer 28

• Germany could no longer meet the reparations payments set out by the ToV
• France and Belgium decided to take Germany’s resources instead so they occupied the Ruhr which was the richest industrial part of Germany. This gave them access to Germany’s coal and iron reserves and this occupation led to fury in Germany and caused a huge strike in the Ruhr
• German industry was devastated again. Germany tried to solve her debt problem by printing more money but this plunged the economy into hyperinflation
• In 1918 an egg cost 1/4 of a mark and by 1923 one egg cost 80 million marks

Question 29

what were the consequences of hyperinflation in Germany

Answer 29

• Germany’s currency became worthless and nobody wanted to trade with Germany so shortages of food and good got worse
• Bank savings also became worthless hitting the middle classes the hardest
• By 1923 even basic necessities were hard to get hold of. The German people were undergoing immense hardship which they’d now come to associate with the rise of the Weimar Republic

Question 30

who became chancellor in 1923

Answer 30

August - November 1923
Gustav Stresemann became Chancellor of the Weimar Republic. His domestic and international policies helped the German economy to recover resulting in the ‘golden years’ of the Weimar Republic. He made important changes to help Germany recover from its economic crisis

Question 31

what did Stresemann do to help Germany’s economy recover

Answer 31

• September 1923 he ended the strike in the Ruhr reducing tension between Germany, France and Belgium and meant the government could stop compensation payments to strikers
• November 1923 Stresemann replaced the German Mark with the Rentenmark to stabilise Germany’s currency
• Stresemann created the ‘great coalition’ which was a group of moderate, pro-democracy socialist parties in the Reichstag who agreed I work together. This allowed parliament to make decisions more quickly

Question 32

what did Stresemann become in November 1923

Answer 32

he became foreign minister
he tried to cooperate more with other countries and build better international relationships and Germany’s economy prospered as a result

Question 33

what was the Dawes Plan

Answer 33

signed 1924
Stresemann secured France and Belgium’s withdrawal from the Ruhr and agreed more realistic payment dates for the reparations. The USA lent Germany £40 million to help it pay off its other debts.
the plan was successful in helping Germany’s economy but meant that Germany became completely dependent on USA

Question 34

what was the young plan

Answer 34

agreed in 1929
the allies agreed to reduce the reparations to a quarter of the original amount and Germany was given 59 years to pay them

Question 35

what was the Locarno Pact

Answer 35

signed in October 1925

Germany, France and Belgium agreed to respect their joint borders even those created as a result of the ToV

Question 36

when was Germany allowed to join the league of nations

Answer 36

1926 and Germany was re-established as an international power

Question 37

what was the Kellogg-Briand Pact

Answer 37

signed by Germany in 1928 alongside 65 other countries. they promised not to use violence to settle disputes

Question 38

what did Germany’s economic recovery help do

Answer 38

it helped restore faith in the Weimar Republic - there was strong support for pro-Weimar political parties in the 1928 elections

Question 39

discuss the end of Germany’s dependence on the US

Answer 39

• life was beginning to look better under the work of Stresemann
• But he died in October 1929 just before the disaster of the Wall Street Crash which was massive stock market crash in the USA which started a global economic depression
• the plans Stresemann had agreed only worked if the USA had enough money to keep lending to Germany but after the crash it didn’t

Question 40

when was the golden years

Answer 40

1924-1929

Question 41

what improved during the golden years and why

Answer 41

during the golden years living standards improved in the Weimar Republic as a result of Germany’s economic prosperity but also the reforms which took place through the 1920’s

unemployment
wages
housing

Question 42

how did unemployment improve in the golden years

Answer 42

the unemployed were more protected. In 1927 the government introduced unemployment insurance. workers could pay into the scheme and would receive cash benefits if they became unemployed.

Question 43

how did wages improve during the golden years

Answer 43

the working classes became more prosperous. Wages for industrial workers rose quickly in the late 1920’s.

Question 44

how did housing improve during the golden years

Answer 44

the government launched mass housing projects. more than 2 million new homes were built between 1924 and 1931 which also provided extra employment

Question 45

despite the improvements during the golden years what problems remained

Answer 45

• higher living standards could only be maintained with a strong economy and Germany’s was fragile
• the changes mainly helped the working classed and the middle classes couldn’t access the welfare benefits

not everyone benefited from higher standards of living. The middle classes felt ignored by the Weimar Government and their resentment made it easier for the government’s political opponents to gains support

Question 46

discuss women gaining more freedom and greater access to pubic life under the Weimar Republic

Answer 46

• politically given more representation
• awarded the vote and could enter politics more easily
• between 1919 and 1932, 112 women were elected to the Reichstag
• women showed they were capable workers during the war and the number of young women working increased
• the traditional role of the woman changed. New female sports, clubs and societies sprang up and women had more opportunities
• divorce became easier and the number of divorces rose

Question 47

what did the changes to the traditional role of woman do

Answer 47

these changes fuelled right-wing criticism as some German nationalists thought giving women more power and freedom threatened traditional family life and values in Germany

Question 48

discuss the cultural achievements of the Weimar Republic

Answer 48

• period of creativity and innovation
• freedom of expression generated new ideas
• artists began to question traditional forms and styles especially ones that focused on authority and militarism
• the were advances in the arts and some developments were bold and new like the drama of Bertholt Brecht
• The Bauhaus School of Design was highly influential especially in the fine arts and architecture
• There were also important changes in music, literature and cinema. German films were successful such as Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang
• The Weimar Republic encouraged new ways of critical thinking at places like Frankfurt University and a cabaret culture developed in Berlin

But not all Germans liked the rejection of traditional forms and values in Weimar culture. Some were afraid it symbolised a loss of German tradition