Nazi Germany

1918-1939

What was the impact of the first ww1 on Germany?

• Two million German troops died

• Four million were wounded

• Goverment debts increased to 150 billion marks

• 750000 Germans died from food shortages

• Riots called the German revolution

What was the armistice?

• Signed 11 november 1918

• A peace agreement between Germany and its allies which ended war

• Germany was forced to sign it as they were out of resources and social issues

What was the treaty of versailles?

• Signed 1919

• Formally ended ww1 and imposed harsh terms on Germany:

• No more then 100,000 men in the army

• No tanks

• No submarines

• No airplanes

• Pay war reporations

• Take responsibility for WW1

How did the German people begin to rebel against Kaiser?

• Some crews in the German navy refused to follow orders

• In munich, workers were lead to a revolt by jewish communist

What happened during the abdication of Kaiser?

1918 - Kaisers ministers tell him the only way to restore oder is if he abdicates due to a lack of suppor from Germany after loosing WW1 and he refuses

Army officers refused to support Kaiser so he had no choice but to abdicate and flee to Holland

Who was Kaiser?

The German emperor (head of the state)

What were the strengths of the Weimar republic?

• Proportional voting aloud small parties a fair share of seats - wouldnt get outvoted with a small number of votes

• Women were able to vote

• Voting age reduced from 25 to 21

• No one group or person could have too much power

• There was a election for president every seven years

• The Reichstat could regulate the power of the Reichstrag by delaying new laws

What were the weaknesses of the Weimar republic?

• Proportional representation led to a temporary alliance for votes on new laws as no party got 50% of the votes which made it hard to have strong policies

• The lack of strong goverment lead to weaknesses in crisis

Why was the Wiemar republic unpopular?

• Weak due to a bad economy from signing the treat of Versailles

• Germans blame them for signing the treaty of Versailles

Who were the november criminals and why where they called this?

Leaders of the Weimar called this for signing the Versailles as they surrundered in November and were seen at traitors

What was the ‘stab in the back’?

Many Germans belived the army could have won in ww1, and the politicians ‘stabbed them in the back’ by signing the Versailles and forced them to surrender

The left wing

• Wanted to share all wealth

• Want equality

• Wommunist

The right wing

• Wanted a strong goverment

• Want a hierarchy

Who were the Sparatacists?

• Left-wing

• Had backing from the sovient union

• Led by rose luxemburg and karl liebknecht

What was the Spartacist revolt?

• 1919

• Took over the goverments newspaper and telegraph and tried to organise a strike in Berlin

• Freikoros put down the revolt

Who were the Freikorps?

• Right-wing

• Made up of ex army soldiers who had kept their weapons (lost their jobs due to the restrictions from the Versailles)

• Had 250,000 men in march 1919

• Organised by a regular army

What was the Kapp Putsch?

• 1920

• Freikorps feared unemployment so marched in Berlin

• Head of army was asked to stop them but refused as he did not want to attack his own men (they were forced to leave due to the signing of the Versailles)

• Weimar republic fled out of Berlin for safety

• Right-wing politician Dr Wolfgang Kapp was put in charge by the rebels, declaring a new government in Germany, even asking Kaiser to return

• The government ask people to go on strike and not to cooperate and socialist agree as they do not want Kaiser to return (unreliable)

• Necessities such as gas, water and transport are stopped in Berlin

• 4 days later Kapp realises he cant govern under these conditions and tries to flee but is caught, put into prison and later dies

• The Weimar ministers return

What other political violence occured on top of the Spartacists revolt and Kapp Putsch?

Encouraged violence

The Weimar goverment faces political assinations

• 376 political murders

What is Hyperinflation?

• 1923

• The price of goods increase

Why was there Hyperinflation?

• Bankrupt from WW1

• The Ruhr occured

• Germany kept printing more money to cover this which eventually made marks worthless

What was the Ruhr?

• 1923

• The french invade the Ruhr to take goods as Germany had no paid reparation payments and the french needed to pay off debts from the USA

What are the negative effects of hyperinflation?

• People could not afford essentials

• Wages rose, but not as quickly as prices

• Businesses went bankrupt

• People with fixed incomes eg pentions suffered the most

• Saving become worthless

• People blamed the Weimar republic

What are the benefits of hyperinflation?

• Farmers were paid more for food

• Money owed to loans decrease and are easier to pay off

• Fixed rents for rooms or shops become cheap

• Foreighn visitors could buy more for their money

What were the Golden years?

• Between 1924 and 1929

• The period of economic recovery for Germany

Who was Gustav Stresemann and what did he do to help hyperinflation/the econonmy?

• Appointed the new chancellor but resigns and remains the foreign secretary

• Set up the Rentenmark, the dawes plan and the young plan

What was the Rentenmark plan? (Golden years)

• 1923-1924

• Sets up a new bank, the Rentenbank

• Makes a new currency called the Rentenmark which is strictly limited and is valued to the same price as gold

• The Rentenmark was give to the new Reichsbank and is renamed to the Reichsmark

• This stopped hyperinflastion

What was the Dawes plan? (Golden years)

• 1929

• Charles Dawes, a american banker, designed a plan for Germany to pay it resparations which involves:

• Temporarily reducing reparations to 50 million a year

• US banks agreed to give loans to German industrys (amounted to 25 billion dollars)

What was the young plan? (Golden years)

• 1929

• A comittee and American banker Owen Young proposed a plan:

• The total reparations debt is decreased from 6.6 billion to 2 billion

• This means the payments could be paid over 59 years, up until 1988

• Lower reparations meant lower taxes for German people

  However

• Extreme politcal parties felt the burden was being carried on through generations

What were the improvements and drawbacks in the economy after the golden years?

• Industrial output doubled by 1928 and finally passed pre ww1 levels

• Employment and trade increased

  However

• The extreme politcal parties were completely against Germany paying the reparations at all

• The economic recovery relied on american loans

How did Gustav Stresemann improve foreign relationships?

He improved foreign relationships through ensuring Germany was apart of the Locarno pact, League of nations and Kellogg-Briand pact

What was the Locarno pact?

• 1925

• An agreement between Germany, Britian, France and Belgium. In it:

• Germany agreed to its new border with France, improving the Germans relationship with the French

• The allies and Germany agreed to the permanent demilitarisation of the Rhineland (no military) to prevent invations through the area

• German membership to the leagur of nations was up for discussion

Why was the Locarno pact a success for Germany?

• Improved relationship with France

• Was not imposed on Germany (had a choice)

• War in europe is much less likely

• Increased popularity of the weimer republic

What was the league of nations?

• Founded in 1920

• Discussed world problems in order to avoid war

• Germany was invited to join in 1926

Why was the league of nations a success for Germany?

• It showed Germanys view counted

• Boosted the confidence of the Wiemar republic

What was the Kellogg-Briand pact?

• 1928

• A agreement between 62 nations

• It commited countries to avoid the use of war

Why was the Kellogg-Briand pact a success for Germany?

• It showed once again Germany was a major power

• Increased public confidence on how Germany was being led

What were Stressemanns success?

• Strengthened the confidence of people towards the Weimar republic which reduced support to extremist like the Nazis

• Reduced the economic hardships of Germany

What are the positive changes to the standard of living during the golden years?

• Working hours reduced

• Wages rosed

• Working conditions improved

• 15% rent tax was introduced to support to fund building associaions

• 1925-1929, 101,000 homes were built

• 3% of workers wages were put towards insurance to cover days off

What are the negative changes to the standard of living during the golden years?

• Hyperinflation made unemployment unsecure

• Well-off Germans resented seeing workers benefiting

• While things had improved, there was still a housing shortage

What were the affects towards women at work during the golden years?

• Gains in equality brought around from the war were lost

• Most women gave up work after they married

• There was a drop in women in employment from 75% to 36%

• Few women secured high status jobs

However

• There was a increase in part-time work

• Women were encouraged to go to university

• Some professions offered new oppertunities to women

What were the affects on women at leisure during the golden years?

leisure - freedom from the demands of work

• Greater earnings lead to more independent, single women

• Women are less intrested in marrige and family

• Women are more intrested in having a ‘good time’

However

• Some women and men disagreed with this as they felt Traditional values were being ignored

What were the affects for women in politics during the golden years?

• Women earned the right to vote in 1918 and could stand in elections

• 90% participated in voteing

• Article 109 stated women had equal rights to men and may enter professions on a equal bias

• Marriage was a equal partnership

What were the cultural changes during the golden years?

Art

• Made art that would make people ‘think’ and art based on everyday life and problems in Germany

• Used the style ‘expressionism’ (raw emotions)

Cinema

• Films become popular

• Expressionism was used in making films

Architecture

• Architecture school ‘Bauhaus’ was set up

• Allowed people to go creative, bringing together people with all different types of talent

Timeline of Hitler joining the NSDAP/DP (the nazis during the golden years)

• 1919 Hitler joined

• 1920 Hitler become second in command of the DAP

• 1920 the DAP became NSDAP (the nazi party for short) as Hitler changed the name

• 1921 Hitler took over control of the Nazi party

What did Hitler introduce after taking control of the NSDAP?

The 25-point programme - 1920

• A list of rules Hitler wanted to introduce such as get rid of the Versailles, only German races may be members of the nation, build up armys force, ect

The Sturmabteiling (SA)

• Formed 1921

• A force made up of ex-soldiers

• Put under the command of Ernst Rohm

• Wore brown uniforms and nicknamed the ‘brownshirts’

• Used to disrupt opposition meetings, control crowds and oppositions to Hitler - often violently

What was the Munich Putsch? (the nazis during the golden years 1)

1923

Hitlers attempt to overthrow the Weimer goverment

Why did Hitler make the Munich pustch happen?

• Resentment to the goverment because of the ‘stab in the back’, reparations, the loss of Germanys colonies, hyperinflation, the ruhr attack and Hitler believing he had support

• Hitler was influenced by the Fascists (a right-wing group in italy) whose leader forced the democratic goverment to make him leader

The events of the Putsch

• Hitler with 600 SA men entered a beer hall in Munich where the government was

• at gunpoint, Hitler forced the leaders to support him

• Rohm (the leader of the SA) took over local police and army headquarters

• However, behind Hitlers back, Ludendorff (leader of the army in ww1 who Hitler planned to make leader of the SA and trusted to watch the beer hall) let the goverment leaders go

• After this fail, Hitler decided to march down the city of Munich to declare himself president with 1000 SA and 2000 supporters

• However, they were caught by the state police were open fire went down and Ludendorff and Rohm were arrested

• Hitler fleed and hid in a friends house, later to be arrested

What were the consequences of the Putsch?

• Hitler was in prison and the NSDAP were banned

However, the long term affects were positive

• Hitler used his trial to publicise his views

• Used his time in prison to write his book ‘Mein Kompf’ (my struggles) where he explained his political ideas and highlighted his views on Jews

• Helped Hitler realise he need to be more organised in order to win support

What was the Bamberg conference? (the nazis during the golden years 2)

• 1926

• Hitler organised this to address splits between the socialist and nationalist wings of the nazi movement

• Hitlers power was secured and he could now to nazism forward