Weimar Republic Flashcards
4 points on the weimar republic
- president elected every 7 years
- president appoints a chancellor from the reichstag
- the reichstag would be proportionally represented from votes
- article 48 stated that in an emergency, the president could make laws
what changes to german culture were there?
cinema: very advanced technology and new film stars
cabaret and nightlife: sense of freedom
architecture: combined art and technilogy
paintings: showed everyday life known as new objectivity
who did the wall street crash affect the most?
businessmen: incomes fell and government raised taxes
youth: 52% of people aged 16-30 were unemployed
farmers: food prices continued falling
factory workers: 40% were unemployed by 1932 and the government cut benefits
how did the GE weaken weimar germany?
unpopular economic policies: the government had little success refucing poverty; reduced taxes and cut benefits to cover costs; very unpopular
rise of extremism: marxism + communism + rigjt wibg groups became popular
what problems did the weimar government face? ILRIM
Ineffective constitution: - article 48, proportional representation, german states had too much power
Left Wing Rebellions: - jan 1919, spartacists rebelled in berlin
Right Wing Terrorism: - kapp putsch in march 1920
Invasion-Inflation: - january 1923: french invaded the ruhr, germany fails to make payments, prints more money and this leads to hyperinflation/ rhineland declared independence in october
Munich Putsch: on 8-9 november 1923, hitlers nazis tried to take control of bavaria
how did gustav stresemann rebuild germany? DIFFERS
Dawes Plan 1924
Inflation controlled November 1923: burns old currency and introduces reichsmark
French leave the Ruhr April 1924
Foreign Affairs: locarno treaty (1925) joins LON (1926)
Economic Growth: germany borrows 25,000 million gold marks mainly from USA. used to build roads, railways and factories
Reforms: unemployment pay, labour exchanges (1927)
Strength at the Centre: arranged a coalition of moderate pro-democracy parties, which were able to resist smaller extremist parties and could pass laws as they saw fit
what does gustav stresemann say about germany?
„the german economy is doing well only on the surface. germany is in fact dancing on a volcano.“
germany was wholly dependent on american loans
