Weimar Germany Flashcards
When was the armistice signed?
11 Nov 1918
How many voted and What was the coalition in the January 1919 elections
Consisted of:
SPD - largest party in assembly
Centre Party - The catholic Party
DDP - a liberal Democratic Party
82.7% voted
When was the KPD set up and what revolt was it responsible for
The kpd was set up in dec 1918 after splitting from the USPD. The leaders Rosa luxemburg and Liebknecht decided to take advantage of a political uprising in Berlin and started a communist revolution. Thousands of armed workers seized key buildings in Berlin. Evert had to move the government to Weimar for safety, where the January elections were to happen, hence the name. Ebert ordered the freikorps to destroy the uprising, in which they did swiftly. The leaders Luxemburg and Liebknecht were killed.
What was the ebert gröner pact and when was it signed?
It was signed in November 1918 and it was a pact with the army that ensured that in return for the armies support, they would crush all left wing uprisings, which is why left wing opposition never really had any chance to do anything.
Which parties supported and opposed the Weimar govt?
Supported:
- SPD
- Zentrum Party
- DDP
- DVP (only after 1920)
Opposed:
- DVP at first
- DNVP
- Many industrialists
What the Weimar constitution?
- President elected every 7 years with universal suffrage. Can dismiss or choose chancellors
- President had emergency powers under A.48: can dissolve reichstag
- Chancellor has to resign if no support from reichstag
- Reichstag elected per 4 years
- Uses PR
- Germany divided into 18 regions, each of which has its own local parliament.
- Chancellor chooses the ministers that run the country
- Needs majority in reichstag to pass laws
What was the Weimar Bill of Rights?
-Freedom of speech, association and Religion
-Right to Work - government should ensure everyone has job, if job can’t be found they will be provided with financial assistance
-Workers have special protection
-Welfare policy such as protection for disabled
The right to property - businesses can’t be nationalised without compensation
Politicians had no option but to sign the armistice that ended WW1. Because of this what were they referred to as?
The November Criminals.
Dolstxhiss
What did the Treaty do to the reputation of the Weimar govt when they signed the ToV on 28th June 1919?
Many Germans thought the war could have been won and it was the Weimar government who signed the treaty. So people hated the Weimar government from the beginning when it had no choice. The treaty undermined the support of the Weimar Govt.
What did the war do to the German economy
It set it into inflation. By the end of the war there were 33 million marks in circulation as compared to 6.3 mil in 1914. The mark began to lose its value. 150 printing firms with 2000 printing presses were making miney 24/7
What did wartime shortages cause?
This exacerbated the problem and prices continued to rise
What was social welfare and how did it contribute to inflation?
Government had to support widows from the war and all the demobilised soldiers from the war. The constitution also meant that they had to provide support to the unemployed. By 1924 the government were looking after 770 000 veterans, 420000 widows and 1 mil orphans
How did reparations contribute to the inflation post war
Germany owed 150b marks + reparations so in order to try and pay these Germany kept borrowing and printing more money. The German currency weakened and changing the countries economic policy would result in them missing their payments. By 1923, Germany failed to meet its first deadline of payments
What was the Ruhr crisis?
In Jan 1923 Germany failed to deliver its full reparation payments. The French and the Belgian, as a consequence, invaded the Ruhr. Their armies occupied the mines and factories and took the raw materials. With govt support people in the Ruhr followed a passive resistance policy and did not cooperate with the invaders and began to slowly sabotage production and strike. The German govt had to pay the workers for their lost revenue which in turn sent their economy into hyper inflation.
What was the situation regarding hyperinflation post Ruhr?
Because of the Ruhr crisis, Germany went from having inflation to hyperinflation. The mark became worthless, prices were spiralling out of control.
Newspaper in may 1922 cost 200 000 marks in nov 1923 it cost 700b marks.
People began to rely on trade by barter. And businesses began to use their own notgeld or emergency money. Fixed payments such as social welfare lost their value.
What date did the government collapse with a new one involving streseman emerge
August 23 the government collapsed, with a new one with streseman from thr DVP as chancellor.
How did streseman do better than the coalitions previously.
He immediacy used emergency decree that allowed him to get thing though quickly without any long decision making.
What did Gustav Streseman call off following becoming chancellor
He called off passive resistance.
How did streseman resolve the inflation issue with currency?
He withdrew the mark and and introduced a temporary rentenmark. This restored the German currency and people traded in their emergency money for the rentenmark and prices settled. He also used government decree to control things like rent and wages and prices which helped stabilise the economy. The permanent reichsmark was introduces later in august 1924
What were some economic plans that streseman introduced.
Dawes and young plan
What was the Dawes plan
Dawes plan: reparations needed to be payed is 132 million marks which was confirmed in 1921. Over 5 years the payments per year would would rise from 1000 million marks to 2500 million marks, then to varying levels according to economic performance
Allies still maintained control of railways, the reichsbank, and customs duties.
Sanctions for failed payments to be discussed by the allies and not just France, e.g. the ruhr
This plan was temporary and Germany given an 800 million mark loan to restabilise the economy
This plan led to reparations beeping payed on schedule and helped economic recover
What was the young plan?
The young plan followed 1929 and it reduced reparations to 37 million marks,
The annual payments became lower than the Dawes plan, and to be made over 58 years.
Allied supervision discontinued
This plan was the final settlement and Germany participated in reparations negatiatiojs
Allied troops withdrew in 30th June
What did big businesses do to recover after hyperinflation in 1924?
Almost all small businesses collapsed in from the 1920s -1924.Big businesses however managed to stay afloat and formed cartels. This was where the businesses set fixed business prices which helped stabilise the economy.
How much bigger was the chemical industry in 1930 and 1925 as compared to 1913
In 1925 the chemical industry was 1/3 times bigger and by 1930 it was 2/3 times bigger.
Even though recovery in buinsess was fine after 1924 where was there still some tension?
The pre was tension between the business owners and the workers as workers would always press for better conditions and the owners would try and cut wages and increase hours.
What was trade recovery like for Germany post 1924?
It was hard as countries like Britain and France did not want to establish trade links due to bad feelings after the war. Germany also suffered from heavy tariffs as countries became more involved in isonationslism.
However Germany had very good steel and chemical output that other countries needed and with Germany coming back into the League of Nations, Germany exports were back to 1913 levels in 1926 of 10 billion marks. By 1929 exports were 34% higher than 1913
What was agriculture like for Germany after inflation?
Farming was a top job in the 1920s, between a third and a quarter of all workers were agricultural workers.
Similarly with businesses, bigger fsrms survived better than smaller farms. Small farm owners were heavily in debt and couldn’t pay them back, whereas bigger farms could invest in new machinery
Big and Rich landowners, like Hindenburg, also blocked land reforms that would not benefit them such as the 1918 reich settlement law that made it so landowners had to sell their land to the government in 1918 in order to redistribute it amongst the poorer tenants. The influence of wealthy landowners meant that they could press for high grain subsidies that benefited those with big farms
How was government spending changed after 1924
The new economy was built off of many short term foreign loans with the expectation that they would be renewed as the world economy improved.
Due to heavy borrowing the government spent a lot as well. It subsidised agriculture, industry and spent heavily on social welfare providing housing benefits for the poor. The government had to borrow more money to not increase tax.
Industrial expansion damaged by disputes between workers and owners which affected productivity and drove wages up until 1930 when the depression led to such high unemployment that people would work for any wage
What happened in the kapp putsch
Wolfgang Kapp wanted to overthrow the government, along with the freikorps leaders (Lüttwitz and Ehrhardt). He also had full support from General Ludendorff from WW1.
On 12 March 1920 they took over Berlin using 12,000 troops and the government fled. The army didn’t join or rebel the putsch
The Leaders of the Putsch declared a new government and dissolved the National Assembly.
However a major turn of events, SPD call all trade unions to do a general strike which represented the end of the putsch the spd back in control.
After 4 days of strikes, the putsch fell. And the Kapp govt collapsed. Weimar safely returned.
Kapp died in prison whilst the other ringleaders were given short sentences.
What happened in the Munich putsch and what was its significance?
On the 8th Nov 1923 Gustav Von Khar and Lossow were giving a speech in a beer hall in Munich to 2500 right wing dons.
Hitler burst in with his stormtroopers and declared a national revolution in which a new Bavarian government with the deposition of the old one. He forced Khar and Lossow into a private room at gunpoint and forced their support of the putsch. Simultaneously, the SA sieze other members of the Bavarian govt and key buildings but fail to gain the barracks.
Hitler went to attend other matters and left Khar and Lossow in the hands of Ludendorff who let them go. Ebert declares national state of emergency due to treason in Munich. Lossow and Khar then then denounce the putsch.
Hitler continues March into Berlin with the full support from Ludendorff. At noon 2000 nazis March to a military based in Munich. General secret orders Bavarian police to crush the result. 14 were killed, Hitler dislocated his arm when falling, Ludendorff arrested. 11th of November Hitler arrested and the nazi party banned
February 1924 Hitler was tried for treason, but they allowed Hitler an opportunity to express his views. He gained a lot of fame and support from people all over Germany hearing his views. After this the Nazis became number three in Bavaria. Judges became sympathetic and gave Hitler five years in prison, this is where he wrote Mein Kampf
24th of December 1924 he was released
What is meant by kinder Kuche Kirche
Children, kitchen, church: A commonly used phrase used before WW1 to sum up the role of women as home keepers and moral supporters for the family
As stated by the 1900 civil code, what could women do before the war?
They couldn’t vote
If they were single, they could study in a profession, but were not allowed to take the final exam to gain the qualification
If you married, you had no legal status
Seen as Kinder Küche Kirche
