weimar Flashcards
1
Q
what land was lost at versailles?
A
- all land gained from treaty of brest-litovsk
- upper silesia
- alsace and lorraine
- eupen and malmedy
- land rich in coal and iron
2
Q
when was the treaty of versailles signed?
A
june 28 1919
3
Q
what impact did versailles have on germany’s military?
A
- rhineland became demilitarised buffer zone
- germany army limited to 100k men + no tanks or heavy artillery
- no warships over 10k tonnes and no submarines
- not allowed an airforce
4
Q
what were the other terms of versailles?
A
- agreed that germany would have to pay reparations
- price was fixed in 2021 at 132k million gold marks
5
Q
when was weimar created?
A
- november 9 1918
- prince max announced wilhelms abdication
6
Q
what changes were made under prince max?
A
extended vote to all men
- ministers and army responsible to government
- october 28 1918 - navy refused to to sail against british fleet, caused strikes
- november 8 - bavaria broke away from germany and declared itself a republic
7
Q
when was the council of people’s representatives formed?
A
november 10 1918
led by ebert
8
Q
what did the copr do?
A
- faced similar problems as prince max
- biggest parties - spd and uspd (led by haase)
- november 11 - signed armistice
- december 19 - fixed elections for january 19 1919
9
Q
when was the ebert-groener pact signed and what was it?
A
november 10 1918
- army would support government as long as the government opposed left wing ideas of parties in the reichstag
10
Q
what was the spartacist union?
A
- broke away from uspd
- formed by liebknecht and luxemburg
- wanted - communist revolution, cancellation of national assembly, all large industrial companies seized, workers militias instead of police and army
11
Q
when was the spartacist uprising and what happened?
A
- january 5 1919 berlin
- took over newspaper offices and formed revolutionary committee
- crushed by freikorps
- january 15 1919 - luxemburg and liebknecht murdered by army
12
Q
how was the weimar constitution created?
A
- 82.7% of people voted - showed they wanted a democracy
- spd didn’t get a majority
- formed coalition with centre party and ddp (germany democratic party)
- ebert elected president on february 11
- weimar constitution passed by national assembly on july 31 1919
13
Q
what parties were there?
A
dnvp - right wing nationalists
dvp - moderate conservatives
centre party - largely catholic
ddp - liberal
spd - socialists
uspd - more radical leftists
kpd - communists
14
Q
what challenges were there to the constitution?
A
- unpopular after treaty of versailles
- stab in the back myth
- only took 60k votes to get a seat - hard to get a majority
- 29 different parties in the reichstag in the 1920s
- 9 different governments between 1919 and 1923
- president had to use article 48 to rule by decree
15
Q
how did the gov overcome challenges to the constitution?
A
- hindenburg elected as president
- stresemann urged parties to work together - also believed that economic recovery and political relations with other countries were important
- political violence died down as economy improved
- 1924-29 - no major political figures assassinated
- 1929 - stresemann dies
16
Q
what reasons were there for the collapse of democracy?
A
- public feeling about weimar government - association with versailles, hindenburg elected as he created stab in the back theory
- economic problems - government failed to agree on a policy to help with depression, prices/unemployment increase, wages fell, more support for extreme parties
- coalition failure - hindenburg kept changing chancellors, 109 laws passed from july 1930 until 1932 with article 48
17
Q
what was the impact of the treaty of versailles?
A
- germans felt that the gov betrayed the country
- result of misinfo - germans had no clue how the war was actually going for germany and believed newspapers saying they couldve won
- reparations enabled resentment towards versailles
- dawes plan (1924) and young plan (1929) didnt help
18
Q
what political extremism was there in weimar?
A
- government opposed by extreme groups for: involvement in versailles, liberal/democratic policies, failure to produce strong gov and strong leader, failure to unite germany
19
Q
when was the spartacist uprising?
A
4 january 1919
20
Q
what happened during the spartacist uprising?
A
- 4 january 1919 - emil eichorn (police chief and radical uspd member) dismissed by police
- 6 january - armed workers took over key buildings, inspired by russian revolution
- ebert moved government to weimar for safety
- freikorps crushed rebellion and executed leaders (liebknecht and luxemburg)
21
Q
what other left wing opposition was there in weimar?
A
- bavaria march 1919
- saxony and thuringia 1921
- all had communists trying to take power over each state
- all didn’t have enough support and were put down by the armyw
22
Q
what right wing opposition was there in weimar?
A
- motivated by wanting to overturn versailles and restore empire
- dnvp initially acted as opposition party
- wealthy landowners, army and industrialists
23
Q
when was the kapp putsch and what happened?
A
- 12 march 1920
- kapp, lüttwitz and erhardt attempted to overthrow the gov
- took over berlin and the gov fled
- army did not join the putsch but wouldn’t fight the rebels
- leaders said they were the new gov and dissolved the national assembly
- trade unions called a general strike, and the kapp gov fell on the 16th
24
Q
when was the munich putsch and what happened?
A
- 8 november 1923
- inspired by march on rome
- hitler and the sa surrounded a beer cellar in munich where von kahr and other officials were in a meeting
- hitler said the gov of bavaria and national gov were deposed and that he and ludendorff would form a new gov
- locked them in but the prisoners escaped and organised resistance
- nazis taken prisoner in the morning
25
Q
what concessions did ebert make?
A
- 10 november 1918 - ebert groener pact
- 15 november - stinnes-legien agreement with the leaders of the trade unions (legien) and the industrialist (stinnes), ebert offered legislation on hours of work/union representation for support
26
Q
what regional disruption was there in weimar?
A
- varying control in each region of germany
- all adopted weimar constitution at different times
- thuringia didn’t hold elections until end of june 1920
27
Q
how did the government deal with opposition in weimar?
A
- gov forced to rely on army to manage extremist threat
- left wing problems dealt with quickly and brutally, harsh court sentences
- army sometimes didn’t act against right wing threats at all, judiciary less harsh
- made left wing opponents more angry
- right wing opponents grew confident due to changing chancellors and depression
28
Q
which political parties supported the weimar constitution?
A
- spd consistently supported it
- centre party, ddp and dvp also formed coalitions
29
Q
what public support was there for the weimar consitution?
A
- people supported it when welcomed with something they liked less
- 1923 - reichsexecution in saxony, had been imposed and met with cheers
- 1924-29, public support due to economic improvements
- 1924 - spd won 131 seats, 1928 - 153
- however right wing president elected by popular vote after, and then nazi regime
30
Q
what was the state of the economy in 1918?
A
- june 1914 - 6 billion marks in circulation, 33 billion by december 1918
- 150 printing firms with 2k printing presses to print banknotes
- wages and savings lost value, prices increased
- lack of trade, end of production of armaments
- farm production dropped by 20%, industrial output halved
- black market developed
31
Q
what social welfare was there post ww1?
A
- retraining schemes and loans for soldiers leaving the army
- national committees to oversea care in the länder
- 1920 - 1.5m disabled veterans, 2m survivors not classified as disabled
- 1924 - gov still supporting 800k disabled veterans, 420k war widows, 1m children and 200k parents of dead soldiers
- 10% of population receiving federal welfare payments
32
Q
what debt and reparations were there post ww1?
A
- 1918 - owed 150 billion marks, 3x what it did in 1914
- reparations contributed to debt
- 1921 - reparations negotiations, paid in goods such as coal and wood until 1924
33
Q
what happened to the ruhr post ww1?
A
- january 1923 - germany failed to pay reparations in full
- 1921 - london ultimatum of the allies said ruhr would be occupied if reparations failed
- french invaded with belgian troops
- german gov told officials to not listen to non-germans, urged passive resistance from workers
- french cut off ruhr from the rest of germany, set up border w armed forced, took control of post/telegraphs, brought in their own workers
- later in 1923, gov ended passive resistance and began negations with french
34
Q
what happened with hyperinflation post ww1?
A
- may 1 1922 - newspaper cost 1 mark, 100k marks by 1 september 1923, 700 billion marks by november
- reliance on black market and bartering
- notgeld - emergency money, issued by towns regions and business
- 750k federal and regional gov employees lost their jobs
- fixed payments suffered - welfare and pension
35
Q
what did stresseman do in 1923?
A
- august 1923
- stresemann (dvp) was chancellor
- used emergency decrees on august 10 to avoid decision making in reichstag
36
Q
how was the currency recovered?
A
- october 1923 - rentenmark introduced, people who had savings objected to it
- overseen by schacht - president of reichsbank in december 1923
- august 1924 - reichsmark overseen by schacht as well
37
Q
how did foreign policy help economic recovery?
A
- dawes plan - 1 september 1924, temporary, 132 million marks with 1m-2.5m marks a year for 5 years
- young plan - 1929, permanent, 37 million marks over 58 years
- stability, but relied on loans
- 1 december 1925 - locarno treaty, germany accepts demilitarisation of rhineland and western borders
- 27 august 1928 - kellogg briand pact outlawing war
38
Q
how were businesses recovered?
A
- 1924 - more bankruptcies than in the last 5 years
- big businesses formed cartels to fix prices and stabilise economy
- 1925 - IG Farben set up, united chemical bases cartels
- factories rebuilt with latest mass production assembly lines
- 1925 - chemical industry producing 1/3 more than 1913, 2/3 more by 1930
- strikes and lockouts were common, despite emergency decree on 30 october 1923 to settle disputes between employers and employees in state arbitration boards
- 60k cases taken to arbitration boards by 1928
39
Q
how was trade recovered?
A
- worldwide shift to isolationism
- tariffs on foreign goods
- germany suffered higher tariffs due to war guilt, but produced steel and chemicals that other countries needed
- 10 september 1926 - germany joins league of nations
- german exports back to 1913 levels of 10 billion marks by 1926
- 34% higher than 1913 in 1929
40
Q
how was agriculture recovered?
A
- 1920s - 1/3 to a 1/4 of all workers were in agriculture
- bigger farms invested in new machinery and farming techniques
- small farms were in debt and couldn’t pay interest on loans or taxes
- big landowners, eg hindenburg, had big enough influence to block reforms that redistributed lands to poorer tenants - 1918 reich settlement law
41
Q
how did hyperinflation influence government spending?
A
- subsidised grain production and industry
- spent heavily on social welfare - housing and benefits for the poor
- funded by loans and high taxation
- 1913 - lowest tax band was made up of 47% of taxpayers, 62% in 1926 and 55% in 1928
- rise meant that gov had to borrow money instead of raising taxes
- gov had its own bank for federal and regional funding
- disputes between workers/businesses affected productivity and drove wages up until depression in 1930
42
Q
what was the impact of the depression on weimar?
A
- industrial production was half of 1928 levels by the end of 1932
- unemployment rose from 6% to 30%
- wages fell by 20-30%
- gov failed to cope bc it didn’t make decisions quickly, hindenburg hesitant to govern by decree
- coalition collapsed, replaced by bruning in 1930, suggested cuts in gov spending, wage cuts and higher taxes
- reichstag rejected, but hindenburg put them into place in july 1930 by governing by decree
43
Q
did brunings economic policies work?
A
- brunings policies brought deflation, but didn’t devalue the currency
- 1 july 1931 - hoover moratorium (intl agreement) suspended need for germany to pay back loans for a year
- december 1931 - bruning made emergency decree for wage cuts, ret cuts and tax rises, reparations wouldn’t be paid for 1932
- deepened recession
- industrial production, prices and exports all fell by 50%
- unemployment peaked in 1932
44
Q
what were von papen and schleichers economic policies?
A
- replaced bruning in late may 1932
- tax concessions, subsidies for businesses to create jobs
- gov caught up in political problems, didn’t focus on economy to create coherent policies
- schleicher in december 1932
- drew up list of public works, budget of 500 million rentenmarks, but didnt last long enough
- unsuccessful policies led to unpopular gov, rise in support for extremist parties such as the nazis
45
Q
what were living standards like during ww1?
A
- most food produced went to army
- alternative foods, such as k-brot made from potato’s and oats
- high rates of infant mortality and stillbirths
- one district of berlin - 90% of all children 2-6 were undernourished
46
Q
what were living standards like post ww1?
A
- benefits for the poorest - regulated pensions, coped with large number of people dependent on those who died during the war
- increase in living standards until hyperinflation
- women and single parents did work by the piece - badly paid, had to get their children to help
- 8 hour working day established in 1918 disappeared by 1924
- families lived in cramped housing - shared toilets/washing facilities
- poorest shared one room, no running water
- 1925 - 130k homeless in berlin, 45k paid to just sleep in a bed with no other facilities
- men lost jobs as clerical workers - businesses preferred to hire women due to lower wages
47
Q
what was the role and status of women in weimar?
A
- 1900 german civil code - women couldn’t vote, single women could study for a profession but couldn’t take exams, married women had no legal status
- kinder kuche kirche
- 1913 - krupp had no female employees, 28k by 1918
- 75% of women were in work by the end of ww1
- 12 november 1918 - women given the vote
- 90% female turnout at first elections
- 112 women elected to reichstag between 1919 and 1932
- article 109 - women had equal rights
- reichstag split - some (spd members mostly) believed women had equal rights, others thought they should be wives/mothers
- falling birth rate (128 births per 1k women to 59 in 1933) and increasing divorce rate was a concern
48
Q
what was it like for women in work?
A
- women expected to give up jobs to returning soldiers
- 1925 - workforce was 36% female, similar to prewar level of 34%
- workforce expanding, so more women were in work even though percentage was the same
- more white blouse jobs
- paid 33% less than male counterparts
- single women working was accepted - seen as temporary
- women could qualify as lawyers - 54 in 1925 to 251 in 1933
- 1925 - 2.5k female doctors, doubled by 1933
- hostility in the workplace
- 1925 - over 250k women did poorly paid work at home to look after children, doubled by 1935
- 50% of women did poorly paid manual labour in 1925
49
Q
what were new women?
A
- independent
- found work in white blouse industries - offices and shops
- revealing clothes, short hair, smoked, drank, took advantage of contraception for sexual freedom
- city based, criticised by politicians and media
- loved by advertising/film industries
- faced wage/sexual discrimination
- many settled down and got married
50
Q
how did the depression affect women in the workforce?
A
- rise in unemployment led to hostility towards working women
- women faced less unemployment as they had lower wages than men
- 1932 - 46% of men unemployed, 33%% of women
- 30 may 1932 -bruning passed decree allowing dismissal of married woman in government service if their husband was earning
51
Q
what was compulsory education in weimar?
A
- compulsory grundschule for all children aged 6-10
- parents could remove their children from religious education - approved in the north, objected in the south
- parties couldn’t agree on re - centre party fought to keep confessional schools + religion in curriculum
- non confessional schools set up
- 1931 - 29k protestant schools, 15k catholic, 97 jewish, 9k common, 300 secular
52
Q
what happened with the bill for common schools?
A
- 1927 - bill proposed that said common schools could be set up if at least 40 childrens parents wanted it - could be taught re in their own faith
- supported all over germany - esp by reich parents league
- some didn’t like it - wanted religion to be taught by religious bodies, not school
- bill sent back and never came back to reichstag as they couldn’t agree
53
Q
what forms of education were there past the age of 10?
A
- paid for
- hauptschule, realschule, or gymnasium - depending on future career aspirations
- students who wanted to go to university had to pass abitur exam
- 1928 survey of fathers of uni students - 28% worked in civil services 2.3% were working class
54
Q
what cultural experimentation was there in weimar?
A
- bauhaus, neue sachlichkeit
- art elite culture - most experimental, modernism/expressionism then shifted to new objectivity, valued by wealthy people
- gov subsidised culture - brought culture to small towns, theatre orchestra museums libraries
- popular culture - non subsidised, widely enjoyed, diverse, young people in urban areas liked jazz and usa inspired media, traditional music/plays still popular, cinema took off during weimar with ‘dark’ subjects
55
Q
how did people react to cultural experimentation?
A
- constitution saïd free speech
- criminal code had paragraph 184 - banned obscene film, publications etc
- gov used censorship to protect under 16s from pornographers, but people could paint/sing/write more freely
- expressionism flourished, but there were also critics
- right wing worried about decadence, increasing influence of jewish artists and increasing americanisation of culture
56
Q
what were attitudes like towards ethnic minorities?
A
- generally accepted, low level discrimination, received lower wages
- welcomed by city based liberals
- article 113 - groups that spoke diff languages couldn’t be stopped from using language/preserving identities
57
Q
what were attitudes like towards jews?
A
- 1% jewish population in 1918, falling birthrate meant it was 0.76% in 1933
- lived in cities, 1/3 were in berlin
- influence on culture, 5 jews held cabinet posts in gov
- walter ratheneau - foreign minister in 1922, assassinated shortly after, gov banned antisemitic organisations
- german peoples offensive and defensive alliance - had 170k members when it was disbanded in 1923
- people blamed jews for losing ww1 and depression
- 85k jewish soldiers fought in war, 12k died - groups set up to fight antisemitism Reich Fed. of Jewish Front Soldiers
58
Q
what were attitudes like to other ethnic minorities?
A
gypsies discriminated against as they moved around and didn’t work or pay taxes, insular communities
- 1926 - bavaria passed a series of laws against gypsies to control their movement and get them into school/work, said they should carry id cards in 1927
- 1925 - 200k polish speakers in germany, 500k more who spoke both languages
- hostility towards poles as they fought against germany in the war - 30k left between 1925 and 1933
- 1923 - french army who occupied ruhr had black units from french colonies, 500 mixed race children born and were known as ‘Germany’s shame’
- black musicians and writers accepted in the cities
