The Weimar Republic Flashcards
What is a republic?
a country without a king or queen
What is the Reichstag?
the German parliament
What is a democracy?
where the government is elected
What is a constitution?
the way a government is set up
When Germany dropped out of the First World War, what did Kaiser Wilhelm ll do?
Abdicated and fled the country
What happened in January 1919?
Elections held for a new Reichstag
What then happened in February 1919?
In Weimar, a new government was agreed
After 1919, what type of government did Germany get?
parliamentary democracy
What were the 5 great difficulties at the beginning of Weimar?
1) left wing rebellions
2) all people were angry with it
3) right-wing rebellions and terrorists
4) invasion and inflation
5) Munich Putsch
Who was Gustav Stressemann?
the new chancellor of Weimar
When Stresemann was chancellor, what did he do well? 3
1) economic prosperity
2) foreign policy successes
3) cultural flowering
When was the Wall Street Crash?
1929
After the Wall Street Crash, what happened in Germany? 3
1) unemployment
2) Nazi party grew more powerful
3) In 1933, Hitler became chancellor
Before the Weimar republic came in, who could vote?
Men over 25 only
Before the Weimar republic, who did the electors vote for?
Reichstag
Before the Weimar republic, who controlled the army, appointed the government and called the reichstag?
The Kaiser ( head of monarch)
After the Weimar republic, who could now vote?
men and women over 20
After the Weimar republic, who did the electors vote for?
The president and the Reichstag
After the Weimar republic, who controlled the army?
the president
After the Weimar republic, from the Reichstag what is selected?
the government
what was fair about the way seats were allocated in the new Weimar constitution?
political parties were given seats depending on how many votes they got
What is proportional seating?
partied got reichstag seats in proportion to the amount of votes they got nation-wide
Who were the Freikorps?
bands of right-wing ex soliders
What were the 5 problems of the Weimar repubic in 1919-23? ILRIM
I-ineffective L-left-wing rebellions R-right-wing terrorism I-invasion/inflation M-munich putsh
what made the constitution ineffective? 5
article 48
proportional voting
German states ignored government
the army was not under full government control
most government officials wanted to destroy the government.
What did article 48 say?
in an emergency the president had sole power
Whats the problem with proportional voting?
impossible to establish who had the majority
Explain the Spartacists uprising
Jan 1919- Spartacists rebelled in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht- they wanted to follow in the Russians footsteps
Explain another left-wing rebellions act
1919- communists workers council took power over all of Germany and a communist people’s government took power in Bavaria
What happened at the Kapp Putsch?
1920- Freikorps brigade rebelled against the treaty led by Wolfgang Kapp, took over Berlin and tried to bring back the kaiser.
Who murdered Rathenau and why?
national terrorist groups because he made a treaty with Russia