weimar germany Flashcards
what was Germany’s war debt after ww1?
150 BILLION MARKS
what percentage of German troops were casualties in ww1?
55%
how many German civilians died in ww1?
750,000
what did Kaiser Wilhelm II do after WW1?
abdicated as he was forced to by the people
what happened in Stuttgart after WW1 in 1918 that helped the Kaiser abdicate?
workers went on strike, soldiers refused to control rioting people in the street
what happened to Hamburg after WW1 in 1918 which helped the Kaiser abdicate?
October 1918, some German navy crews mutinied (rebelled)
what happened to Munich after WW1 in 1918 that helped the Kaiser abdicate?
November 1918, workers declared a general strike, and declared Munich should be separate from Germany
when did the Kaiser abdicate?
November 1918 after the end of WW1
what else made the Kaiser realise he should abdicate on November 9th?
he lost the support of his army and army leadership
on the same day what was Germany declared?
a republic run by a government
who was the man that declared Germany a republic from the window of the Reichstag?
Philipp Scheidmann
what party was he part of?
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
why did he do it the same day as the Kaisers abdication?
to ward off communist rebellion
the leader of the SDP, Fredrick Ebert, set up what temporary measure to control the country?
the Council of People’s Representatives
why did he set it up?
to protect the country from a communist revolution until a constitution could be set up
how long was it in control of the country/
9 months
why did it end in July 1919?
a new constitution was established for the country
what was this new country called?
The Weimar Republic
Ebert did several things to increase the peoples confidence in the Weimar Republic, what did he do to the Kaiser’s civil servants?
he kept them in place
who became the Weimar Republics first president?
Fredrich Ebert
why did he do this?
to ensure the country keeps running, such as taxation collection
what did Ebert do with the army? why did he do this?
he kept them in their place and promised army officers would keep their positions to maintain support from the army
what happened to the trade unions (workers’ support groups)?
Ebert won their support
what was the name of the main trade union leader Ebert got support from?
Carl Legien
what did Ebert tell the trade unions he would aim for them?
an 8 hour working week for workers
why was it so important for Ebert to gain support from the trade unions?
to ensure workers work well and don’t go on strike
who was the head of the state of the Weimar Republic
President (Fredrick) Ebert
who was the head of the government?
the Chancellor
what was the role of the Reichsrat?
the Reichsrat ‘house’ represented the regions of Germany
what was the role of the Reichstag?
the Reichstag ‘house’ controlled taxation and was elected by the people every 4 years
which was more powerful?
Reichstag
what was Article 48?
powers given to the president in times of emergency
what type of voting system did the Weimar Republic have?
Proportional representation
what were the advantages of Proportional representation?
it was very democratic and fair
what did this mean?
each party gets the same percentage of seats in the Reichstag as the votes in the election. if a party gets 40% of votes, they get 40% of seats
what were the disadvantages of Proportional representation?
a party was very unlikely to get 50% of the seats, this meant no laws could be passed without parties joining together to form ‘coalitions’
what were the other strengths of the Weimar Republic government?
there are lots of checks and balances of power stopping one man or group taking too much power.
what was the problems with coalitions?
coalitions would disagree and also would have to compromise and didn’t deliver on their promises in elections
what economic terms were in the treaty of Versailles?
Germany had to accept 6.6bn in war reparations, the output of the Saar coalfields was to go to France
what were the other weaknesses of the Weimar style government?
proportional representation allows extreme parties such as the communists and Nazis to have representation in the Reichstag resulting in unrest and extremism
what was the treaty of Versailles?
the treaty that was forced on Germany by Britain France and the USA after WW1 in 1919
what territorial terms were in the treaty of Versailles?
Alcase-Lorraine to go to France, land given to Poland to give sea access called ‘Polish corridor’, land in africa given to Britain, Rhineland to be demilitarised
what military terms were in the treaty of versailles?
army reduced to 100,000 men, navy reduced to 6 battleships and no aircraft or submarines
what is meant by diktat?
something that is imposed, not agreed, like the treaty of Versailles
what were the men who signed the treaty called by opposition to the treaty?
the November criminals
what did the opposition to the treaty say those men did to the soldiers who fought in WW1?
stabbed them in the back
what was Germanys economic situation even before the treaty was signed?
Germany was already 150bn marks in debt after WW1
What was the threat from the far left to the republic?
The communists
how did the people of Germany show their anger at the treaty of Versailles?
there was a mass protest at the Reichstag on the 15th of May 1919
who were the Spartacists?
communists
What people filled the numbers of the Frierkorps?
mainly WW1 soldiers
what was the threat from the far right to the Weimar Republic?
the Frierkorps
who lead the rebellion?
a communist called Rosa Luxembuirg
what started it?
a popular left wing police chief was sacked
what was the Spartacisits rebellion?
remove the Weimar republic and replace it with a communist government
how many rebels were there and what did they do?
100,000 people took to the streets and took over important telegraph and newspaper offices
why was this rebellion so threatening to Ebert and the republic?
there was no army to deal with the strikers as they took over the city
did the plan work?
yes the spartacists were destroyed and Rosa Luxemburg was killed in a canal
what did Ebert do to stop the rebellion?
he organised a 250,000 far right frierkorps to come in and wipe out the spartacists
the Friercorps were now in control of Berlin, did they go home after the rebellion?
NO, they stayed in Berlin with their weapons
what did the Frierkorps then do?
they staged their own rebellion against the Weimar Republic called the ‘Kapp Putsch’
how many rebels marched against Berlin?
5000
why was it called the kapp pusch?
it was led by the Wolfgang Kapp
what did the rebels want?
the return of the Kaiser
how did President Ebert respond to the Kapp Pusch?
he called on the workers of Berlin who didn’t want the Kaiser to return to go on strike and stop the country running properly
did the plan work?
yes, Wolfgang Kapp gave up trying to run the country, he was eventually arrested and gave up trying to run the country
another major challenge was assassinations, who was murdered in 1918?
**MATTIAS ERZBURGER **the politician who signed the surrender to the allys in WW1
who was murdered in 1919?
Hugo Haasse- one of Erbert’s council of peoples representatives was murdered
how did these rebellions and assassinations make the younger Weimar Republic appear?
the Weimar republic was seen as weak
why did the french invade the Ruhr in 1923?
because the Germans fell back on their reparations payments to the french, the Rhur was an industrial area and the French planned to take what was owed in raw materials
How did the Germans respond to the invasion?
they ordered the workers to go on strike and not work, this was called passive resistance
the Germans suffered from not producing raw materials in the Ruhr, how did they suffer?
this destruction increased Germany’s debts, increased unemployment and worsened the shortage of goods
how did the French respond?
the French simply brought their own workers in and took the raw materials, this caused further economic problems for Germany
how did the government decide to solve this economic problem?
print more money
what did this cause?
hyperinflation
what happened to day to day living?
it became impossible as no one had cash to buy things and prices were rising daily
how much was a loaf of bread in 1923?
200,000 million marks
what happened to peoples savings?
they disappeared overnight
what happened to peoples jobs due to this?
lost them
what happened to foreign trade as a consequence of hyperinflation?
it stopped, countries didn’t want to trade with Germany’s destroyed currency / economy
what social class suffered the most due to hyperinflation?
the middle class
who became the new chancellor in 1923, promising to solve the problems of hyperinflation?
Gustav Stressemann
why was this the case?
all their money was in banks where it disappeared
what was the name of the new currency introduced by stressemann, why was it so valuable?
Rentenmark, it was tied to gold reserves, and was now trusted home and abroad
Stressemann signed the Dawes plan, what was introduced by it in 1924?
reperations were temporarily reduced to 50,000,000 per year, American banks were willing to loan to German industry.
what effect did the Dawes plan have on the economy?
industrial output doubled between 1923-1928, unemployment decreased, trade and income increased
why did the Nazis dislike the Dawes and young plans?
the Nazis thought they were punishing the German youth as they would have to pay it back in future
Stressemann signed the young plan, what was included in it in 1929?
reduced reparations from 6.6bn to 2bn, given a further 59 years to pay it
what did the young plan allow the Government to do?
reduce taxes to stimulate the economy
stressmann signed the locarno treaties, what was decided at these treaties (1925)?
Germany was allowed entry into the league of nations
why was the kelogg-briand pact significant for Germany?
Germany was not included in international decisions, this was the case in 1919 when the versailles treaty was signed
Stressemann signed the kellogg-briand pact, what was the terms of this treaty?
Germany and 61 other countries signed it, this pact promised states wouldnt use war to achieve foreign policy aims
as a consequence of Stressemanns changes, what happened to unemployment between 1924-1928
unemployment wend down from 2 million to 1.3 million
during the Weimar republic what happened to the political rights of women?
women gained the vote
how many new homes were built under stressemann?
64,000 new homes
