OCR History: Democracy and Dictatorship in Germany 1919-1963

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, people and events from the OCR History A-Level textbook 'Democracy and Dictatorship in Germany, 1919-1963'

Brown v. Board of Education

Ruled that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Armistice

A temporary end to war hostilities so that negotiations for a peace treaty can begin.

Soviets

Councils set up in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917

William II

The German emperor during World War I who abdicated on November 9.

Friederich Ebert

Leader of the majority Social Democratic Party (SDP) and head of the Council of People’s Representatives.

Central Working Association Agreement

Granted unions an eight-hour working day and allowed them to establish workers’ councils in all companies with a workforce larger than fifty.

Karl Liebknecht & Rosa Luxemburg

Left-wing revolutionaries who publicly opposed the war and were jailed in 1916 for anti-war activities; founded the Spartacist League.

Coalition Government

Government made up of members from several parties.

Weimar Coalition

The moderate democratic parties, the SPD, the Centre (German Catholic Party) and the German Democratic Party (DDP).

Centre Party

The German Catholic Party

Karl Dietrich-Erdmann on the Treaty of Versailles

‘too severe’ since Germany could do no other than try to shake it off; ‘too lenient’ because Germany was not so far weakened as to be deprived of the hope and possibility of either extricating herself from the treaty or tearing it up

Deutsche Zeitung

Newspapers of the Reich

Federation

A system of government whereby several states form a unity but run their own internal affairs independently.

Proportional representation

The principle whereby parties are represented in parliament in direct proportion to the number of votes they poll.

Reichsrat

The German Upper House of parliament or senate.

Reichstag

This was the Lower House or elected chamber of parliament.

Special interest parties

Parties which are formed to campaign on specific issues.

Matthias Erzberger

A Centre Party deputy and Finance Minister in 1919-21, who was assassinated by right-wing paramilitaries.

Wolfgang Kapp

Founder member of the patriotic Fatherland Party, set up to back the war effort in 1916.

Theodor Wolff

The German journalist who wrote in a newspaper on 10 November “The greatest of all revolutions has, like a suddenly onrushing storm, overturned the Imperial regime with all that belongs to it…’’

Brigadier-General Morgan

Describes the impact of the general strike, which defeated the Kapp Putsch as “At seven o'clock on the Sunday morning I returned … to my quarters at the [Hotel] Adlon. I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and turned on the tap. There was a gurgling sound … but no water appeared …’

The Communists

Assisted by many members of the USPD, had drawn up plans for creating a Red Army and seizing key public buildings, such as banks, railway stations and post offices

DVP

German People’s Party — before 1918 it was known as the National Liberal Party.

DNVP

German National People’s Party: political party was formed in 1919 as an amalgamation of the pre-war conservative parties.

Minority coalition government

A coalition government that does not have a majority in the Reichstag.

Reparation Commission

At the end of April 1921, fixed the German debt at 132 billion gold marks or £6,600,000,000

Joseph Wirth

At the end of April 1921, led the “Centre-SPD-DP coalition’, and was determined to pursue a policy of ‘fulfilment’ rather than confrontation.

Wojciech Korfanty

For the next six months the Upper Silesian issue was dominated Wojciech Korfanty. German self-defence forces backed by volunteers.

Wolfgang Mommsen

The German historian who argued that ‘the seedbed of extremist nationalism and the eventual rise to power of the National Socialists was a set of social and economic factors that had their origins in the Great World War’.

The Ruhr occupation and passive resistance, 1923

The cost of the war itself and then the reparations that followed put enormous pressures on the government to find more money to balance the books

Passive Resistance Failure

By midsummer 1923 it was clear that Germany could no longer maintain the passive resistance campaign

Gustav von Kahr

Since the Kapp Putsch, Bavaria had been governed by a conservative Catholic regime; he wanted to bring the nationalist Right together to form a powerful bloc.

Gustav Stresemann

Leader of the DVP, was at first critical of the Weimar Republic, but he began to support it after Rathenau’s assassination; Chancellor from August to November 1923, and Foreign Minister from August 1923 until his death in October 1929.

Rentemark

The devalued Reichsmark was replaced with a temporary currency, whose value was guaranteed by bonds based on the assets of German industry and agriculture.

Dawes Plan

Chaired by the American banker Charles Dawes, to look into the whole question of reparations.

The true losers of 'Golden Years'

The creditors most of whom came from the professional classess and the Mittelstand bitterly resented this and saw it as a deliberate betrayal of them by the Weimar Republic.

Compulsory state arbitration

The principle by which the state intervenes and forces the employers and workers to come to an agreement.

Stresseman

Germany’s ambassador to Paris, Germany signed with Britain and France agreeing to revise the Versailles financial obligations and Rhineland borders

Historian Jan Kershaw

It was a decision of ‘breathtaking irresponsibility’ since it allowed the Nazi Party to become a major political force