Germany 1918-45

The Kaiser abdicating

the War caused dreadful suffering suffering amongst the German people: dreadful food shortages due to low domestic products because the allies had imposed a naval blockade to prevent the imports of food.
-Germany was promised a quick victory in 1914 but the war carried on till 1918 when the troops were forced to retreat and the country faced threat of military occupation. The Kaiser didn't abdicate until the sailors lead a mutiny and set of strikes and protests across Germany. The kaiser was blamed for the war failure and completely lost control of his country.
-On November 9th 1918 the Kaiser abdicated and flew to Holland to live in exile.

Armistice

the armistice (a peace treaty) was signed on November 10th to end the war, Senior members of the armed forced claimed Germany was winning the war and close to victory and that Germany's surrender was completely unnecessary.
Despite this not being true Many Germans believe this as the surrender didn't happen on German soil and thought their politicians had "stabbed them in the back".

-explains why the new republic was so unpopular from the beginning.

Weimar Republic - they system of government

Germany's new democratic government was set up in 19th January 1919. It was a very weak republic from the start. Germany lacked a strong democratic tradition, so postwar Germany had several major political parties and many minor ones. The country's defeat and postwar humiliation was blamed on the Weimar government not their wartime leaders. "stab in the back"

Weimar Constitution

Set up Germany's first modern democracy by providing for a directly elected president and parliament. The president- "symbolic head of state" and in control of the army and choose the chancellor.
Chancellor= "prime minister", normally leader of the Reichstag. Chancellor- does all the governing
2 "houses"- Reichstag- make the laws
Reichsrat- approves the laws
Democracy= men and women (above the age of 20) got the vote

Proportional Representation (PR)

seats in the Reichstag were given according to the percentage of votes
good= everyone had a say and everyones vote mattered
bad= too many parties and no one party had a majority say in government, no control, and extremists parties were given power- this lead to an unstable government and parties had to form coalitions.
in order for Germany to revolver from the first world war politicians need to work together, however coalitions often broke down as there was no agreement between them. weak government unable to solve any of Germanys problems and unhelpful politicians.

-article 48 in the case of an emergency the president could rule by decree and was especially given dictator power

The Treaty of Versailles

context:
signed in November 1918, the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty that ended WWI. Diktak- Germany was force to sign the Treaty of Versailles

what happened:
-It blamed Germany for WWI (article 231- the "War Guilt Clause"), Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war and it was strongly resented by the German people and they felt it should have been shared by all the major powers involved in the conflict.- allies also felt this justified Germans to pay reparations

-Germany had to pay reparations of 136,000 million marks

-German military forces were cut : no tanks, no submarines, no air force. The army was limited to 100,000 men who could only be used internally and restrictions of the number of ships the navy could use.

impact:
-Germans angered by their government signing this especially when it wasn't necessary they labelled those who signed the treaty the "November criminals"and were hated for their actions.
-people felt as if they were purposely trying to weaken their strong and proud nation.

Germanys loss of reserves and colonies

T of V
13%- of it European territory
50% of it iron reserves
15% of it coal reserves
all 11 of it colonies in Africa and the Far East

The Spartacist Uprising

context:
the Spartacus League- Germany's communist party, tried to set up a communist government in Berlin.
after the abdication of the Kaiser in 5 January 1919

what happened:
-they organised a revolt in Berlin and occupied the headquarters of the government newspaper and telephone offices and attempted to bring about a general strike.
- due to the limited number of troop due to the T of V the government found it hard to put down the revolt. So, they called upon a united of soldiers who had been demobilised following WW1 the Freikops who hated communists and shot the two communist leader: Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht

Kapp Putsch

The Freikorps struggle to go back to a normal life, so they became voluntary units after being demobilised following WW1. Ebert tried to disband them (as following the T of V these were illegal) and they revolted by marching into Berlin and declaring Doctor Kapp as Germany's new leader- he was nationalist and had army support (Germany army didn't stop this -Symapthy). Elbert moved the gov out of Berlin and want people to go on strike to stop the revolt because essential services e.g. gas were unavailable Kapp didn't have enough support amongst the people and fled.

Impact:
-showed gov lack of power
-couldn't control people of capital

German workers party in 1919

The German workers party was led by Anton Drexler and hitler joined in September of 1919.
4 main beliefs were:
-Democracy was weak, Germany needed a powerful leader who would be able to build Germany's strength
-Jews made Germany weak
-communists and socialists were the ones to blame fro the fall of the Kaiser
-Weimar politicians also known as the "November criminals" betrayed Germany by signing the T o V

Changes in 1920-22

February 1920: Hilter was put in charge of Propaganda, he also had an important role of increasing th membership of the party
-Hilter and Drexler established a list of aims for the party:
-scrapping the treaty,"living spaces" and depriving the jews of their German citizenship. DAP was willing to use force to achieve all this
-renamed the party national socialists German workers party (NSPAD) also known as the Nazi party

in 1921 hitler became the party leader and kept his aims deliberately vague as this enabled him to appeal to many different German groups

Hitler's roles in 1920-22

-talented speaker
-appealed to critics of Weimar Republic: weak and got weaker (because of hyperinflation, Ruhr and the T of V)
-attracted many new members to the party (1920- membership inscribed rapidly)
-Germany needed autorotarian government
-friends with powerful people e.g. general of the German army and help him build up the SA
-split Germany into 35 districts and appointed a leader for each

the invasion of Ruhr

what happened:
-January 1923
-Belgian and French troops marched into Ruhr after Germany fell behind on their reparation payments
-the centre of Germany's iron steel and coal production
-the government was unable to take military action, so it encouraged passive resistance from the workers of Ruhr.
-they German workers went on strike and stooped the production of goods as well as used arson and sabotage to damage the factories and mines as France had brought in their own workers
-the invasion was profitable for France and Belgium and didn't remove their forces till July 1925, after the Dawes Plan

impact:
-Germany had to pay its striking workers
-still having to pay reparations
-Ruhr was Germanys main source of income
-had to pay reparations as well as striking workers but the invasion of Ruhr meant they lost there main source of income.
-put in a position of desperation so they printed more money

Hyperinflation 1923

* Had to print money to pay striking workers in Ruhr
* Value of money depleted as there was so much of it

effects:
\-prices increased led to hyperinflation
\-forced millions of Germanys into poverty
\-people of fixed incomes were affected badly
\-peoples incomes became worthless
\-money became worthless
\-peoples saving decreased and lost financially security
\-weren't able to trade internationally
\-value of money went down and peoples wages remained the same
\-by November 1923 it cost 201,000,000,000 just to buy a loaf of bread and people could barely afford food
\-PEOPLE BLAMED THE GOVERNMENT

benefits:
\-mortgage were easy to pay
\-business owners could pay off loans
\-value of peoples possession went up
\-farmers benefited -produces old at higher rates

Stresemann (and the Rentenmark)

Appointed chancellor in 1923
-based on germanys agricultural and industrial wealth
he created the Rentenmark as a temporary currency as the German marks had lost all value
-tightly controlled and printed in 1924 a new national bank called the Reichbank was handed control of the money and the Rentenmark was replaced with the Reichmark a a new permanent currency
-reduced hyperinflation

-wanted to. improve relationships using diplomacy e.g. ending passive resistance in Ruhr - improved relationships with Belgium and France

Munich Putsch 8 November 1923

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* Revolution started by Hitler, was backed by the SA
* It failed when other Nationalist parties refused to back Hitler, army called in
* Hitler was arrested, 14 Nazis killed

Impact

* trial made speeches against the government claiming they were traitors
* Hitler became more popular
* Was sentenced to 5 years, only served 9 months

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Dawes plans 1924

stresemann and Dawes plan

* Germanys repayments were lowered
* The French left Ruhr
* American would give Germany money, creating a link between the two
* Missed payments dealt in future deals (no invasion of Ruhr)

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Impact

* The German economy recovered initially

However

* It was based off the foreign loans which meant Germany was fragile

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Locarno pact 1925 (diplomacy)

* Germany accepted it new western border and all agreed to avoided any military force except self defence
* The French gave back Ruhr and Germany gave Alsace-Lorraine
* settle disputes by peaceful means

impact:

* made peace in Europe more likely


* Germany was treated as an equal rather than being ordered around by other European powers

League of Nations 1926 (diplomacy)

* Stresseman persuaded Germany to join the League of Nations
* Had a place on the league's council (because of the Lorcarno pact) → would be treated as equal and trusted
* Was very successful for Germany
* Further reduced risk of going to war with other Nations

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Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 (diplomacy)

* 1928, included 62 countries including the USA
* prevent another war by getting other countries to promise to settle disagreements without military forces
* Weimer republic was respectable and stable had recovered from it negative beginning
* Germany more confidence in democracy

Young plan 1929

young plan was introduces in 1929 to pay off the remaining $8 million reparations
- $473 million over a 59 year periods
-obligated to pay a 1/3 of its annual sum per year and the rest only if it could afford to do so

-reduce taxes and release funds
-angered nationalist as this meant Germanys economy would take a lot longer to recover as the payed reparations over such a long period of time
-walls street crash in 1929 meant the USA could no longer help Germany
-the German economic crash took place in 1931

SA

* Freikops attracted to Hitler shared a sense of nationalism
* Both hated the same things
* Ernest rohm was the leader, often disrupted political meetings

Reorganisation of the nazi party 1925

* ban on Nazi party was lifted on February 1925, Hitler decided to reopen the Nazi party, 4,000 supporters attended.
* Mein Kampf was published and became a best seller
* Goebbels who edited the Newspaper was in charge of propaganda -trained people in public speaking
* SS-Hitlers personal security
* SA-taking down communism

Wall Street crash 1929

* Stresemann dies in 1929 and the USA economy plunges,
* USA recalled it loans-financial crisis
* Government didn't have the money to repay the loans
* Economic problems in Germany meant business were forced to close so many lost their jobs
* Unemployed increased rapidly and tax was increased

Great Depression 1929

* lots of ppl effected all of society, may buisnesses forced to close, millions lost their jobs, unemployment benefit cut, decrease in declined for manufactured good - ppl brought less stuff
* YOUNG PPL-50% unemployed
* FACTORY WORKERS-4/10 couldn't get a job, unemployment benefits cut and food prices were high
* FARMERS- since mid 1920s price of their good falling, in debt, increase support nazis - used to gain support from farmers
* BUISNESSMEN-ppl less money to spend on good, unemployed couldn't buy goods and employed struggled cuz of tax rises

impact:

* Hindenburg failed to get the Reichstag to agree
* He evoked article 48, could pass a law without vote in emergency
* No definition of an emergency so was abused

Hitler became chancellor 1933

Appeal of Hitler

* Took over chancellor after winning multiple elections
* Very strong leader and good speaker
* Seen as Germanys hope

appeal of Sa

* strong private army
* pay role in party growth
* 400,000 members, presence at Nazi events made they look strong
* SA disrupted meetings of other political parties
* intimated voters, killing some and threated the opposition

skilful use of propaganda

* few around Germany making speeches
* Goebbels propaganda master
* parades marches
* newspapers-8 (each aimed at a different group) -
* political and entertainment
* -huge rallies and posters designed

setting up Nazi dictatorship 1933

* There were still limits to Hitlers power
* Only had 1/3 of Reichstag
* Some feared Hitler
* Others underestimated him

Reishtag fire 1933

* February 1933 the Reichstag was destroyed in a fire
* A communist was spotted with matches and lighter


* doubt whether her was responsible, Nazis might have used him to bring hate to communists

Consequences:

* Attack communists and increase his own power
* 4,000 communist leaders arrested
* On February 28 Hitler presided Hindenburg to pass new decree "decree of the Protection of the people of the state".
* Gave police the power to search homes and impassion anyone they arrested without trial.
* They took over newspapers radios and could ban meeting

The march 1933 elections

Hitler was determined to secure more seats:

* Police replaced with Nazi supporters. SA intimidated opponents → led to 70 deaths


* thousands of communist and social democrats were arrested
* Sa broke up meetings form opposing parties
* newspaper who didn't support the Nazis were closed -
* issued huge quantities of propaganda
* threatened people to vote for the "correct party" at poling stations
* RESULTS :
* Hitler was the largest party in the Reishtag but didn't have a majority
* Hitler wanted 2/3s so he could bring in a new law giving him unlimited powers

enabling act 1933

* These were only passed as opposing communist party was outlawed
* Was held in a building full of armed members of SA

Consequences

* Laws didn’t have to abide the Weimar Constitution
* The Government did not need the approval of the Reichstag to pass laws

Gestapo 1933

* Helped to secure Hitlers Position
* Helped to eliminate head of SA in the Night of Long knives

Germany Labour Front (strength through joy) 1933

* Designed to make workers happy
* Cheap Holidays and Cruises
* Sporting and recreational events
* Helped to reduce the class divide

The Night of Long Knives 1934

* Hitler feared that the head of the SA was a threat to his leadership
* SA had roughly 3,000,000 members

The Nuremburg Laws 1935

* Banned marriage and relationships between Jew and Non-jew
* Strengthened the concept of German racial superiority
* Stripped Jews of the German citzenship

Properganda

* Free radios given out
* Only newspapers approved by Hitler
* Speakers and posters blasting Nazi properganda

Four Year Plan 1936

* Make Germany entirely self sufficient within four years
* Unemployment virtual disappeared
* Saw the begging of German re-armament

Allied Bombing campaigns 1943

* Over 10,000 civillians were killed each month
* Heavily weakened moral
* Attacked German infrastructure, factories
* Frighten Germans into submission