Weimar Republic up to 1923

Question 1

When did the Big Three meet to discuss the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 1

January 1919

Question 2

What is a coalition?

Answer 2

When two or more political parties form a government

Question 3

Name 2 terms of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 3

Blame- Article 231
Reparations- $6.6 billion
Army- 100,000 men, no air force, no submarines, 6 navy ships
Territory- lost to neighbouring countries

Question 4

Name 2 weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution

Answer 4

Proportional Representation
Article 48
7 year term for president
Coalitions

Question 5

What is proportional representation?

Answer 5

When the number of seats are allocated on the % vote a party receives

Question 6

Name 2 strengths of the Weimar Constitution

Answer 6

7 year term for president
Proportional Representation
All citizens over 21 can vote

Question 7

Who were the Big Three?

Answer 7

George Clemenceau
David Lloyd George
Woodrow Wilson

Question 8

Which group tried to overthrow the government in January 1919?

Answer 8

The Spartacists

Question 9

Who were the Freikorps?

Answer 9

Former soldiers from the German Army

Question 10

Who was the leader of the Freikorps in 1920?

Answer 10

Wolfgang Kapp

Question 11

Who was the first leader of the German Worker’s Party? (Nazis)

Answer 11

Anton Drexler

Question 12

Who was the leader of the SA?

Answer 12

Ernst Rohm

Question 13

Why did the French occupy the Ruhr?

Answer 13

Germany failed to pay them reparations

Question 14

What is hyperinflation?

Answer 14

Extreme inflation

Question 15

Name three effects of hyperinflation.

Answer 15

Normal living became impossible
People lost savings
People on fixed incomes struggles (pensions)
Money became worthless
People were able to clear debts
Farmers benefitted from high food prices

Question 16

What was the ‘stab in the back’ theory?

Answer 16

Belief that German army had been on verge of winning ww1 but were betrayed by Weimar politicians who agreed the armistice.

Question 17

Why did Germans oppose the treaty of Versailles?

Answer 17

Shocked by severity of terms
Diktat 
Military terms left Germany vulnerable
It was humiliating 
Germany lost 13% of territory 
Territory lost had key industrial areas
War guilt clause 
Reparations too high as they were recovering from war and had lost 10% of industry and 15% agricultural land

Question 18

Who were the leaders of the Spartacists?

Answer 18

Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebneckt

Question 19

How was the Kapp Putsch defeated?

Answer 19

General strike by the workers

Question 20

When was the Spartacists revolt?

Answer 20

5th January 1919

Question 21

How were the Spartacists defeated?

Answer 21

The Weimar Republic had to use the Freikorps to crush them

Question 22

Why was the Spartacists revolt important?

Answer 22

Highlighted the instability of the Weimar Republic

New republic dependent on the army for support

Question 23

What happened during the Kapp Putsch?

Answer 23

Kapp set up a new government in Berlin
Weimar govt fled to Dresden, asked workers in Berlin to organise general strike to paralyse the city
Army refused to remove Kapp
General strike led to chaos

Question 24

When did Hitler become leader of the Nazi party?

Answer 24

1921

Question 25

Who were the SA?

Answer 25

Brown shirts
Attracted many freikorps
Disrupt meetings of Hitler’s opponents
Led by Ernst Rohm

Question 26

Who did the early Nazis want to appeal to?

Answer 26

Nationalists- destroy TOV
Socialists/ workers- give them a share in company profits
Anti Semitism
Promised to remove Communist threat- appealed to middle class and big business

Question 27

When did the French occupy the Ruhr?

Answer 27

January 1923

Question 28

Why did the French occupy the Ruhr?

Answer 28

Germany failed to pay reparations

Question 29

How did Germans react to French occupation of the Ruhr?

Answer 29

Passive resistance

Question 30

Why did Hitler carry out the Munich Putsch?

Answer 30

Determined to overthrow government
Timing- Weimar Republic very unpopular
Influenced by Mussolini
Convinced he would have support of Bavarian leaders
Nazi party appeared ready- 50,000 supporters and own private army

Question 31

What were the events of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 31

Hitler interrupted meeting in Beerhall held by Kahr
Kahr escaped at some point during the night
Hitler and Ludendorff marched through Munich hoping to gain support
There was a gun battle, 16 Nazis were killed
Hitler arrested

Question 32

What were the effects of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 32

Hitler imprisoned for 5 years (only served 9 months)
Increased publicity for nazis through trial
Nazi party banned
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf
Hitler had to rethink tactics for taking power

Question 33

Why did Germans refer to the Treaty of Versailles as a ‘diktat’?

Answer 33

The terms were imposed on them- not agreed

Germany had not been allowed to take part in negotiations

Question 34

What does ‘Dolchstoss’ mean?

Answer 34

Stabbed in the back

Question 35

Name 2 types of opposition the Weimar Republic faced.

Answer 35

Extremist parties (left and right) in the Reichstag
Uprisings- Spartacist/ Freikorps
Political assassinations
Political parties having their own private armies

Question 36

What was the name of the foreign minister machine- gunned down in June 1922?

Answer 36

Walter Rathenau