Weimar and Nazi Germany

Consequences of WWI

* Germany was defeated
* 2 million troops and 750,000 civilians died
* Germany's debt increased from 50 to 150 million marks

What happened after the war?

* Germanys economy fell
* by 1918 Germanys industry were 2/3 of what they were in 1913

How did wealth become unevenly distributed?

* wage in 1918 was 60% of what it was in 1913
* armament business owners made more money than others

what was the German revolution of 1918?

* the Kaiser was forced to abdicate as a result of the unrest following the Armistice

What was the outcome of the German revoltution?

* Weimar constitution was formed and Germany was made a republic

How was the Kaiser Abdicated?

* Hindenburg and Ludendorff tell the Kaiser that Germany cant win the war
* they inform him that a democratic government is needed to settle peace
* Kaiser appoints a new chancellor
* German military hands over power to civilian government
* Kaiser loses support from the military, his advisors, and the army

What was Kiel Mutiny?

* German sailors refused to fight British navy in revolution against the Kaiser

How was the Weimar republic formed? (timeline 1918 - 1919)

1. Kaiser is forced to abdicate
2. Ebert suspends the Reichstag and forms the council of representatives (cabinet)
3. armistice is signed ending the war
4. Ebert becomes president
5. Treaty of Versailles is signed
6. Weimar constitution is established

How did the German people feel about the treaty of Versailles?

* unfair
* felt “stabbed in the back”
* felt it was a diktat (dictated peace)

what were the politicians that signed the treaty called?

the November criminals

Structure of the Weimar Republic

* president
* Government (cabinet led by Chancellor)
* Parliament (Reichstag, Reichsrat)
* Electorate

what was the Reichstag?

* more powerful house of German Parliament
* controlled Taxes

What was the reichstrat?

it represented each region of Germany

What type of government was the Weimar republic?

Democratic

Strengths of the Weimar Constitution

* Democratic system meant that no group could hold absolute power
* voting age was reduced to 21 for men and women
* presidential elections were held every 7 years

Weaknesses of the Weimar constitution

* proportional representation made it difficult for the chancellor to get a majority
* Article 48 allowed the President to pass laws without the Reichstag’s approval
* proportional representation meant that the only way people could gain more power was through coalitions

what was proportional representation?

the number of votes reflected the number of seats in parliament

Why was the Weimar republic unpopular?

it was founded by the same people who signed the treaty of Versailles.

why were the German people angry at the Weimar Government for signing the treaty of Versailles?

* Damaged the economy
* made Germans accept blame for the war (article 231)
* Germans felt “stabbed in the back” by politicians
* Germans believed they could’ve still won the war.

Treaty of Versailles SFD

* £6.6 Billion to be paid in reparations
* army was limited to 10,000
* no air force was allowed
* Rhineland was demilitarised
* lost 10% of land and all colonies

what opposition did the Weimar government face?

* Kapp Putsch (right wing)
* Sparticist uprising (left wing)
* Munich putsch

who were the sparticists?

* socialist party who wanted a revolution
* backed by the soviet union

when was the Sparticist Revolution?

January 1919

What was the Sparticist revolution?

* Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht staged a rebellion in Berlin
* they hoped to lead a workers strike
* Ebert send the Friekorps to put down the revolt

aim of the Sparticist Revolution

To overthrow the Weimar government

Who were the Friekorps?

a group of 250,000 ex soldiers, who were on the right wing

When was the Kapp Putsch?

March 1920

What was the Kapp Putsch?

* the Friekorps, lead by Dr Kapp marched on Berlin
* Weimar Ministers fled the Reichstag
* Government asked trade unions to strike and cause chaos
* Kapp couldn’t keep control of his men
* Kapp fled Berlin and the ministers returned.

Aim of the Kapp Putsch

* to seize control from the Weimar government
* Stop the Weimar democratic system

What was Hyperinflation?

* the government was printing too much money in order to pay reparations, but did not have enough gold to back the money
* the value of money decreased and prices increased

Hyperinflation timeline

1914 - 1918:

* Government printed more money to pay reparations but did not have enough fold
* Germany became bankrupt

1918 - 1922

* Government asked for longer to pay first reparation installment

1923 (January)

* French troops invaded the Ruhr to take reparations in goods
* this harmed Germanys economy

1923 (November)

* the German mark became mostly useless

What was the Ruhr?

* main industrial area in Germany
* Contained 80% of coal and iron in the country

Causes of the invasion of the Ruhr

Germany stopped paying reparation installments

What happened during the invasion of the Ruhr?

* French troops invaded the Ruhr to take reparations in goods
* French and Belgians took control of all factories, mines and railways in the area
* Ebert told German workers to go on strike

How did the French respond to the Workers strike in the Ruhr?

they brought their own workers in to operate the industry

Consequences of the invasion of the Ruhr

* 132 people were killed
* 150,000 Germans lost their homes

Positive impact of hyperinflation

* farmers were paid more for food crops
* some people and businesses could pay off loans
* fixed rent became very cheap
* foreign visitors could buy more with their money

negative impact of hyperinflation

* some couldn’t afford essentials


* prices rose faster than wages
* some businesses became bankrupt
* savings became worthless
* people with fixed incomes suffered the most
* people blamed the Weimar government, making them more unpopular than previously

How did people get around hyperinflation?

the barter system

Evidence for the extremeness of hyperinflation

* people carried money in wheelbarrows
* price of a load of bread increased to 201 billion marks at the worst point of the crisis

what was the Stressman era?

* the golden age of Germany
* Germanys international and economic recovery (1924 - 1929)

how did Germany recover from hyperinflation?

* the Rentenmark’s introduction
* the Dawes Plan
* the Young Plan

what was the Rentenmark?

* new currency set up by chancellor Stresemann
* value was tied to the price of gold and land
* was names Reichsmark and placed in control of the Reich bank

what was the Dawes plan? (1924)

* reparations were reduced to £50 million a year
* US banks loaned 800 million reichmarks to Germany

What was the Young plan? (1929)

* reduced reparation debt from £6.6 billion to £2 Billion
* payments could be made over a longer period, until 1988

how did this help the economy?

* employment and trade increased
* lower reparations led to lower Taxes
* industrial production increased
* German exports rose by 40% between 1925 and 1929
* Weimar republic introduced a pension, health and unemployment scheme

why wasn’t the economy completely secure?

* Germany was fragile as it was dependent on America for loans
* Extreme parties still disagreed with paying reparations at all
* unemployment was still a problem

How did Gustav Stresemann help Germany’s international recovery?

* Locarno pact
* League of nations
* Kellogg - Briand pact

what was the Locarno pact? (1925)

* Agreement between Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Belgium
* Germany recognised borders with France and agreed to the permanent demilitarisation of the Rhineland

What was the League of Nations?

* international peace organisation that aimed to discuss problems to avoid war
* initially Germany was Excluded
* however in 1926 Germany was invited
* Germany became a new member of the council

what was the Kellogg-Briand pact? (1928)

Treaty was signed by 62 countries that declared that war would not be used to achieve foreign policy objectives

what was the positive impacts of these pacts?

* strengthened Germanys confidence in the Weimar republic
* less support for extremist parties like Nazis and Communists
* Improved relations with other countries
* Germany had international power again

what were the failures of these pacts?

* Hated terms of treaty of Versailles were still in place
* some were against the border with France
* extremist parties still gathered support

how did the living standards improve germany from (1924 - 1929)?

* wages increased and working hours decreased
* 100,000 new homes were built
* working conditions improved
* unemployment benefits were introduced

what was the golden age?

the period of time where Germany was stable and German culture began to thrive

how did the lives of women change from (1924-1929)?

* women in full time work decreased from 75% to 26%
* women were encouraged to study at university
* women had more freedom and independance
* women could vote in 1918 and were granted equal rights

how many women exercised the right to vote?

90%

how were women granted equal rights?

women could enter more professions (teachers, lawyers, doctors)

why did some women stop working?

* stopped working after the war
* some stopped after marriage

how did women become more independent?

* no longer dependant on men as they could make their own income
* focused more on leisure and less on traditional values of marriage and family

how did germans feel about the "new woman"?

* did not like female ‘indecency’
* worrried traditional german values were being forgotten

how did art change from (1924-1929)?

* fewer restrictions on artistic expression
* expressionism dominated art and cinema
* an influential expressionist was Paul Klee
* Jazz became very popular
* \

how did music change?

* music was shaped by American influence
* jazz became very popular
* there was no censorship

Hitlers Past

* Born in Austria
* Moved to Munich in 1913
* Fought in WWI
* was angry at the Germans defeat and the treaty of Versailles

Hitler's political career (timeline)

* Hitler joined the DAP (German workers party)
* changed the name to the Nazi party
* Hitler became the leader

what was the 25 point programme?

* manifesto of the Nazi party as written by Hitler and Drexler
* contained nationalist and socialist policies

what are the main aims of the 25 points programme?

* abolish the treaty of versailles
* stop democracy
* get rid of jews in germany

nationalist elements of the treaty of Versailles

* abolish treaty of Versailles
* lebensraum - expand Germanys territory
* build up german military

Socialist elements of the treaty of Versailles

* give every man employment
* give every man equal right
* support mothers

who were the SA?

* storm troopers
* unemployed ex soldiers
* nicknamed the “brownshirts”

who were the SA led by?

Ernest Rohm

What was the job of the SA?

* disrupt opposition meetings
* control crowds
* control any opposition to hitler (Violently)

why was Hitler able to rise to power?

* germans were looking for a strong leader and the Weimar republic was weak
* treaty of Versailles gave Hitler a scapegoat for Germans problems
* people were afraid of communism

what was the Munich putsch? (1923)

when Hitler tried to take control of Germany

Causes of the Munich putch

* angry over invasion of the Ruhr
* treaty of versailles; Weimar republic was weak
* Hitler wanted to imitate Mussolini who overthrew democracy in Italy

Munich Putsch

* Hitler entered the hall where the Bavarian Government were having a meeting with 600 SA soldiers
* Hitler forced the government leaders to support him
* Rohm took over the police and army force
* Ludendorff let the government go behind Hitlers back
* Hitler marched with 3000 supporters to the Munich town centre and declared himself president
* Hitler and his supporters fought with the police
* Ludendorff, Rohm and Streicher were arrested
* Hitler was found hiding and was arrested

why did the Munich Putsch fail?

* Putsch failed due to lack of support
* Ludendorff let the government go

short term consequences of the Munich putsch

* Hitler imprisoned
* Nazi party was banned
* Nazi had lost support

Long term consequences of the Munich putsch

* Hitler used his trial to publicise his views
* Wrote Mein Kampf in prison
* Hitler realised that he needed different tactics to win power, violence wasn’t enough

how was Mein Kampf a success?

* became bestseller
* outlined his political views which people agreed with

meinkampf political views

* lebensraum
* inferiority of jews

what were the lean years?

Period between 1924 and 1928 where Germany was politically stable

what were the consequences of the lean years?

there was little support left for extremist groups like the Nazis

what was the only way the Nazis could gain power in the lean years?

they had to participate in democratic elections

how many seats did the Nazis have in the reichstag in the lean years

* 32 seats in 1924
* dropped to 12 seats in 1928

how did members of the Nazi party increase?

the membership increased from 17,000 to 130,000 in 5 years

How did Hitler reorganise the Nazi party to maximise support?

* made himself the centre
* this meant that the appeal of the Nazis rested on him as a charismatic leader

How did Hitler expand the Nazi party?

* each region of Germany was run by a Nazi official who reported to Hitler
* grew the SA to appear strong

What was the Bamberg conferance?

Conference in February 1926 to relive tension between the north and south groups of the Nazi party

What was the conflict between the north and south Nazi party?

* north stressed socialist parts of the 25 point programme
* south stressed nationalist parts of the 25 point programme

what was the fuhrerprinzip?

it meant that Hitler had complete authority over the Nazi party and would not tolerate any opposition

what was the great depression?

the period from 1929 to 1940 where the economy fell and unemployment increased

what triggered the great depression?

the wall street crash triggered the great depression

what was the wall street crash?

* when the US stock market collapsed
* Government couldn’t borrow money from USA and had to start paying back loans

how did the Weimar government pay back loans?

* increased taxes
* cut unemployment benefits
* cut government wages

what were some consequences of the wall street crash?

* millions of workers (40%) lost jobs
* unemployment benefits were cut
* taxes increased
* people turned towards extremist parties to help them out of poverty

how did the Weimar republic struggle to solve the great depression?

* neither chancellor muller or Bruning could not improve Germany's economy
* Hindenburg lost faith in democracy and used Article 48 to bypass the Reichstag

how did the nazi grow support?

* Nazis exploited the great depression to gain party members


* used the weakness of the weimar government to present themselves as strong
* Hitler was a strong leader and gave many speeches
* propaganda was used to gain support
* SA intimidated political opponents

who did the nazis use propaganda to appeal to?

* the working class that they could give them work


* the middle class that they could protect them from the communists
* young that they could join something exciting
* women that they would prioritize home and family

how did the support for the Nazis increase?

votes increased from 18% in 1930 to 37% in July 1932