German History

Treaty of Versailles

• June 28, 1919

• Angered germans

• ‘Stab in the back’ theory

• Triggered the Munich Putsch

• Set into motion the events after the Wall Street Crash

Munich Putsch

• November 8-9, 1923

• Prison sentence = time to write Mein Kampf

• Allowed Hitler to restrategise

• Trial = publicity

Lean Years

• 1924-1929

• Bamberg Conference: established himself as a nationalist

• Anti-communism

• Absoloute control over the party: democracy removed

• 25 Point plan added

Wall Street Crash

• 1929

• Unemployment: 25%

• USA needed loans repayed(Dawes’ Plan)

• Economic crisis

• People started to hate the government

• Caused due to large-scale selling of shares

Political Scheming

• AH becomes Chancellor: 30 Jan 1933

• Hatred between Schleicher and Papen put AH in power

• Nazis campained more fervently between 1929-32

• Became largest party by July 1932

• Hindenburg reran, wanted a Kaiser-like leadership style

• Papen and Schleicher were right-wing, wanted to use the army and not the Reichstag

• Underestimated Hitler, tried to control him

Fear of Communism

• Support increased for comms between 1930-1932

• German party was the largest in Europe besides the USSR

• Gained support from middle class, big businessmen and farmers (NSDAP promised not to confiscate land in 1928),

• 60% of votes were from rural areas

• This helped them secure funding from big businessmen like Fritz-Thyssen

Weak Opposition

• Communist and Social Democratic: bitter enemies

• People lost trust in the government

• Parties didn't know what to do, they only argued

• They didn't offfer strong leadership

Leadership

• Strong leader

• Make germany great again

• Charismatic and powerful public speaker

• Filled the audience with hope

• “He speaks for me, he speaks for me” - supporters

Nazi Promises

• Solve economic problems

• Provide strong leadership

• Ignore the treaty of versailles

• Build the army

• Make germany great again

• Appealed to everyone

Propaganda

• Josef Goebbels

• Latest tech

• Rallies and Marches

• ‘Colourful and full of atmosphere’

• Appealed to the youth- secure a future after school

Organisation

• Good at raising $: normal people and businesses

• Rallies, marches, anti-communism messaging

• SA

• Door to door messaging, soup kitchens

Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles

• Blame

• Land

• Army

• Money

• Empire

• Disputes

Blame- TOV

Germany was blamed for WW1 under Article 231

• resented being blamed

• Thought everyone was also guilty for joining

• said ‘saying that we are guilty is to admit a lie’

Land

Germany lost land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and the League of Nations.

Austria- Hungary was broken up and forbidden to join Germany

• allies wanted to create a buffer around Germany, but the countries were too weak

• German-speaking people had to join other countries

• Germany set their sights on reclaiming these lands

Army

100,000 men max.

Navy: 6 battleships

No planes, sub's or tanks

No troops in Rhineland, Allies could keep theirs for 15 years

• soldiers wanted a strong army, veterans Ffelt a loss of pride

• sailors refused to hand over ships, sunk their fleet in Scalpa Flow, Scotland in 1919

• while allied troops were in Rhineland, kept france safe

Money

Had to pay 6.6 billion euros in gold and goods to pay for war damages- decided by Allies in 1921

• couldn't pay this amount

• Lent money by the USA to pay it

Empire

Colonies in Africa, China and the Pacific Ocean were taken off and given to Allies

• lost income frome colonies

• Could focus on only Europe

Disputes

League of Nations was established

• Germany couldn't join until proven responsible

• USA didn't join, which made it weak

• Didn't have an army, depended on countries joining it

David Lloyd George

• UK

• Harsh but fair punishment

• Wanted to take away colonies

• Wanted them as a trade partner

• “Squeeze Germany until the pops squeaked”

• Thought the LoN was a good idea, but noth the most important part of the peace talks

Woodrow Wilson

• USA

• Punished, but not too harshly

• Idealist

• Self-determination

• Disarmment

• LoN

Long Term Causes: MP

• Stab in the back theory

• Gustav von Kahr shared Nails views, turned a blind eye to SA violence

Medium Term Causes: MP

• Between 1921-1922, Hitler was inspired by Mussolini's March on Rome and fascist party

• SA had grown to 50,000 members by 1923, giving him confidence

Short Term Causes: MP

In 1923,

• Hyperinflation peaked

• French troops entered the Ruhr and took over businesses

Successes: MP

• Ludendorff was found not guilty as a respected soldier

• Hitler used his time in prison to write Mein Kampf

• Realised he needed a new strategy

• Hitler should have recieved a life sentence, but only spent 9 months not 5 years

• H used his trial to gather publicity, spoke against the Weimar Republic, Versailles and the November Criminals