Weimar problems 1919-23 Flashcards
1
Q
Article 231
A
Germany accepting responsibility for all war damages incurred on allied nations
2
Q
Spartacist revolt
A
- December 1918, Liebknecht and Luxemburg broke away from USPD and created sparacist movement
- Wanted to spark a revolution similar to the one in Russia
- 5 Jan 1919, uprising in Berlin began
- Newspaper offices were seized and revolutionary commitees set up
- Uprising was poorly planned and curshed by army and freikorps led by Luttwitz
- Ebert’s alliance with the army saved Germany from communist revolution - but came at the price of relying on the Freikorps in the future
3
Q
Ebert Groener Agreement
A
-Ebert promised the army supplies and protection from armed workers’ militias if the army would agree to put down any revolutionary activity
4
Q
Red Bavaria 1919
A
- Feb 1919, Eisner, the USPD Bavaria leader was assassinated by a right wing student
- Triggered socialist revolution in Bavaria
- 6 April 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic declared
- Led by Eugene Levine
- May 1919, Army and Freikorps sent 30,000 troops to Bavaria and 1000 ‘Red Army’ Soldiers died
5
Q
National Assembly Jan 1919
A
- Election a triumph for democratic parties - SPD, Centre Party, DDP (SPD largest on 39%)
- USPD recived 7%
- Nationalist DNVP only 10%
-Showed the German people were in faovur of a parliamentary democracy
6
Q
Powers of the President
A
- Elected every 7 years by whole electorate
- Head of state and commander in chief of armed forces
- Article 48 gave the President the pwoer to suspend individual rights and take measures to restore order in the event of an ‘emergency’
7
Q
Powers of the Chancellor
A
- Chancellor and Cabinet formed the government
- Under article 54, they were accountable to the Reichstag and had to resign if they lost its confidence
8
Q
Powers of the Reichstag
A
- Lower and more important house of the legislature
- Elected every 4 years by proportional representation
- Could recall the Chancellor and Cabinet through a vote of no confidence
9
Q
Powers of the Reichsrat
A
- Upper and less important house of legislature
- Represented the 17 Lander (States)
- Could block or undo laws passed by the Reichstag, but veto could be overruled by a 2/3 majority in the Reichstag
- Each State had one vote for every 700,000 inhabitants
10
Q
Kapp Putsch
A
- March 1920, Defence Minister Noske ordered that two brigades of Freikorps dispand as part of the scaling down of the armed forces
- Luttwitz refused and instead marched on Berlin and demanded the resignation of Ebert
- When Noske ordered the army to act, General von Seeckt refused to engage the Freikorps
- The government fled to Berln and Luttwitz proclaimed Kapp Chancellor
- Workers went on strike and rebels failed to gain favour of the civil serice - regime collapsed after four days
- Showed the army’s reluctance to support the Republic
- Noske forced to resign and only one army officer imprisoned
- Underlined the fact that the Republic relied exclusively on unreliable forces to maintain a semblance of order
11
Q
Ruhr Revolution 1920
A
- In response to threat from Freikorps, workers in Ruhr formed a ‘Red Army’
- Gvt sent Freikorps and army in to crush revolution
- Fighting was ferocious and suspected communists were shot on sight
- Red Army was defeated by early April
- Gvt had sent in the instigators of one uprising to crush another (Freikorps)
12
Q
Judiciary’s attitude to republic
A
- Judiciary maintained their independence but often used it to undermine constitution
- After Erzberger, was accused of corruption, he brought a lawsuit of libel against his accuser. The court dismissed it and Erzberger was froced to resign (He was one of the most prominent pro-Weimar politicians)
- Judiciary failed to implement the Law for the Protection of the Republic - and if they did it was against the extremists of the left
- Eisner’s secretary Fechenbach was imprisoned for 11 years for violating the Press Law in 1922 - meanwhile in 1923, Adolf Hitler was given only 5 years for high treason
13
Q
Army’s attitude to Republic
A
- Army stood to protect its own interest and not that of the state to which it felt no allegiance
- Attempts of the KPD to unleash a revolution in Saxony in 1923 failed due to rapid deployment of army - effective in crusing putsch and arresting leaders
- General von Seeckt refused to send in troops to deal with Munich Putsch, and local army leader von Lossow made it clear he would not follow orders of Republic. The army was saved from embarrassment by the intervention of the Bavarian Police in putting down the Putsch.
14
Q
Financial crisis
A
- 1922 National debt at 469 billion marks
- Without meaningful currency reform or balancing of the budget, economy was set on course for hyperinflation
- July 1922 government asked for permission to suspend reparation payments - French PM Poincare refused unless Germany were to hand over arge amounts of industry in the Rhine
- Government printed more money to cover its debts
- Nov 1922- New government headed by Wilhelm Cuno was faced with financial disaster - reparations commission declared that Germany had failed to deliver the promised amounts coal and timber to the allies.
15
Q
Ruhr Crisis 1923
A
- Germans default on reparations lead to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in Jan with 60,000 troops
- Cuno’s government encouraged workers to offer passive resistance and French authorities responded by taking over the mines and railways
- Lead to sharp resuction in amount of coal delivered to France and Belgium - but gvt had to pay out millions of marks to those who had lost revenue as a result of passive resistance.
- Did so by printing huge amounts of money
- Economy collapsed into hyperinflation
- By end of 1923, only 30% of Trade Union members in full time work
- Working class saw income drop in real terms, middle class saw savings disappear
