Weimar Germany - Key stats / people

When was Germany unified?

1871

When did Wilhelm II become Kaiser?

1888

When did Imperial Germany collapse?

1918

What is Prussia?

Dominated the German empire by 2/3 of its land and population

What is the Reichstag?

Elected on the basis of universal male suffrage, it could only initiate legislation and amend or reject proposals

What is the Budesrat?

Federal council, representatives of Empire's member states

Who was the largest party in 1912?

SPD, it won 28% of the vote

Bismarck

Imperial Chancellor

What happened in September 1918

Germany faced military defeat

What were the four key reasons for Germany's defeat in WW2?

1. Germany's failure to achieve rapid victory in summer 1914
2. Stalemate
3. Strength of Allies
4. Limitation of Germany's war economy

Four key socio-economic impacts on Germany of WW1

1. Food and fuel shortages - 'turnip winter'
2. Civil deaths - hypothermia and starvation from 121,000 in 1916 to 293,000 in 1918
3. Infant mortality rates - rose by over 50%
4. 1918 influenza epidemic - 'Spanish flu' killed between 20 to 40 million people

Who was Ludendorff?

German general

What was the 'stab in the back myth'?

Shifting the responsibility for the defeat of WW1 from the military and conservative forces to the new leadership

What happened on the 3rd October 1918?

Constitutional reforms occurred which turned Germany into a parliamentary democracy

Key features of the German Revolution in 1918?

- Mutiny of soldiers taking control of major ports
- Socialist takeover in Bavaria claiming it to be an independent democratic socialist republic

Disturbances in response to the October Reform were promoted by ...

- Realisation of troops and sailors that the war was lost
- National shock at Germany' defeat
- Increasing anger at the socio-economic situation

When was the armistice signed?

November 11, 1918

What happened on 9th November 1918?

Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and a new German Republic was declared

Who were the Spartacists?

Revolutionary communists, led by Luxembourg and Liebknecht

What was the Ebert-Groner Pact?

November 1918 agreement to protect Germany from communism. Ebert would supply the army with resources and Groner promised the army would support the new republic

What happened on the January 1st 1919?

Spartacist Revolt in Berlin, 100 were killed and the leaders were executed after being crushed by the Freikorps

Who were the Freikorps?

Ex-soliders who formed right-wing paramilitary group

What were the result of the National Assembly elections?

83% turnout with 76% electorate vote for pro-democratic parties such as SPD, DDP and the ZP

What were the other considerations in the National Assembly election?

The DNVP only gained 10% of the vote and the DVP leader (Stresemann) didn't support the Weimar Republic in 1919 as they wanted a constitutional monarchy

What was the structure of the Weimar Republic?

Divided into 17 regional states and a President elected every 7 years

What were the Reichstag features?

System of proportional representation which caused uneasy coalition governments

When was the Weimar Constitution adopted?

August 1919

What did the Bill of Rights protect?

Individual rights

What type of state did Weimar adopt?

Parliamentary representation, federal republic with considerable powers to the Lander

What was Article 48?

Gave the President power to rule by decree in exceptional circumstances

Problems of proportional representation

Allowed smaller, extremist parties to gain considerable influence and unstable coalitions were formed

How many times did Ebert use Article 48?

136 times

How many political parties were there before 1930?

40 political parties

How many coalitions were formed from 1919-33

21 cabinets took office

Did the constitution weaken the republic?

- Unpopular features i.e. proportional representation, parliamentary representation and civil liberties
- Constitution was formed by the SPD, ZP, and DDP however after 1919 their support declined substantially therefore it's basis was narrow and unrepresentative

In what ways did the constitution not weaken the republic?

- The constitution represented a wide basis of political opinions from all across the political spectrum
- Had sufficient checks and balances leading to stability
- Manner it was used / abused caused instability not the constitution itself

What happened on the 7th May 1919?

The terms of the treaty was revealed and Scheidemann's government resigned

When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

June 28, 1919

What territorial claims did the ToV cause?

- Lost all colonial states i.e. Alsace-Lorraine, Malmedy and West Prussia
- Saar basin internationalised and made a French protectorate therefore France would benefit the profits of coal production
- Annexed lands had vital heavy industry areas
- Territory granted to Poland created a 'Polish corridor' to the Baltic
- Danzig was made a 'free city'
- Anschluss was forbidden

What military restriction did the ToV impose?

- Army demobilised and reduced to 100,000 men
- No battle ships or U-boats
- No air force
- Border areas demilitarised
- Airplanes, submarines, heavy weapons, tanks and poison gas banned

What was Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles?

War guilt clause - responsibility for the war and requirement of reparation payments

How much reparations did Germany have to pay?

£6.6 billion

What other implications were there in Article 231?

- Turnover 60% coal production
- 90% of shipping fleet
- 1/2 of all river shipping

How was the treaty enforced?

France threatened the re-occupation of the Rhineland

What were the psychological impacts of the ToV?

- Humiliation for the German people
- Described as a 'diktat' (dictated peace) as Germany had no involvement in negotiations

What were the political impacts of the ToV?

- "It wasn't severe enough to cripple Germany but too severe to be acceptable"
- Used to be a world power however it wasn't on the same level as the other Western democracies

Who was the finance minister in 1919?

Erzberger, cut taxations to implement quantitative easing policies to achieve a fiscal surplus to create jobs

What impacts did the war have on employers and employees?

76,000 industrial disputes dealt with by arbitration from 1924

What happened between workers and employees by 1927?

Employers refused to accept arbitration therefore workers were forced out the workplace

How did the 1923 hyperinflation crisis occur?

Continuous printing of marks to pay off the reparations led to a massive inflationary crisis

Cost of shoes from 1913 to 1923

12 marks to 32 trillion

What happened as a result of 1923 hyperinflation?

France invaded and occupied the Ruhr the claim industry goods as compensation for the lack of reparation payments

4 main consequences of Stresemann's chancellorship / foreign minister role in 1923?

- Passive resistance in the Ruhr ended, to appease French and Belgium governments
- Rentenmark was introduced to replace the new mark and was strictly regulated
- Government expenditure cut and over 700,000 public employees were made redundant
- Appointed Schact

What were the political effects of the Great Depression?

- Lost faith in President Hindenburg to restore faith to Germany and recover effectively from the crisis
- The Dawes / Young Plan offered short-term solutions and reparations still burdened Germany
- The growth of the National Opposition (NO) opposed Weimar's system of government

How did businessmen support the government during the crisis?

- Paid off debts
- Export goods
- Bought up property and companies

What was the Dawes Plan?

In 1924, a 2 year freeze on the payment of reparations was agreed, with the level of German payments scaled down. The USA offered huge loans (2 billion USD) to Germany.

What % of the workforce was female in 1925?

37%

What was the exports rise between 1925-8?

40%

When did Hindenburg become president?

1925, he wasn't an avid supporter of democracy which weakened the Weimar Republic's attempted reforms

When was the Locarno Pact?

1925, it agreed on the borders settled within the ToV and for them to be respected

What happened in 1926?

Germany joined the League of Nations

What happened in the 1928 elections?

The extremist parties lost popular support (less than 30%), showing a greater support for democracy

What was unemployment in 1932?

6 million

What year did reparations end?

1932

What were the benefits offered to improve worker's rights?

Welfare system, 48 hour maximum working week and health insurance

What % electoral support did the KPD maintain?

10-15%

What were the aims for those on the extreme right?

- Authoritarian state
- Anti-communist
- Restoration of national pride after the betrayal of the 'November Criminals' i.e. the armistice and ToV

How many political assassinations were there between 1919 and 1923?

376

What happened in March 1920?

Kapp Putsch, occupied Berlin for 3 days until a general strike was called. The army refused to fight them as "troops don't shoot on troops"

What was the communist reaction to the Kapp Putsch?

50,000 Communists seized control of the Ruhr - this was put down by the Freikorps in collaboration with the army

What happened in March 1921?

Several KPD strikes and uprisings which were crushed

What happened in October 1923?

Series of KPD/SPD organised strikes and uprising resulting in the death of over 100 people

What happened in November 1923?

Munich Putsch, led by Hitler the NSDAP stormed a beer hall in Munich declaring a nationalist revolution. 14 were killed and Hitler was arrested for treason

What policies did Bruning attempt to implement?

- Cut government spending
- Not accepted by Reichstag therefore attempted to push through using Article 48 however this failed

What was the May 1928 election results for the NSDAP?

2.6% (12 Reichstag seats)

When was Muller's Grand Coalition?

1928-30, when on the 27th of March Muller reigned

Why did Muller's government collapse?

The Impacts of the Great Depression meant the coalition couldn't comprise on issues such as schemes created to help workers and trade unions

When was Bruning appointed Chancellor?

March 1930

What was the nature of Bruning's government?

He was a Centre party politician who was directly chosen by Hindenburg and aimed to create an authoritarian, presidential government not a parliamentary democracy

When was the Young Plan?

1929

What were the 1930 election results?

NSDAP 18% vote share (over 15% increase within two years)

What became more common between 1930-2?

- Abuse of Presidential decrees as Nazi's refused to form a coalition

What were the reasons for the decline of Bruning's government?

- 1/3 of government was radicals who wanted to overthrow the Republic
- Vastly unpopular with the people due to deflationary policies causing the nickname 'Hunger Chancellor'
- More people turned to extremist parties

What were the results of the 1932 elections?

NSDAP won 37% and 39% voted in favour of democratic parties

Who was Von Papen?

Politician, was chancellor from May to November 1932 - replaced Bruning

Who was chancellor after Von Papen?

Von Schleicher took power after Von Papen. He abused Article 48 too.

What was the position of the Nazi party in 1932?

They formed a coalition with the DNVP to give them majority in the Reichstag - in 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor.