OCR A Level History - Germany - Timeline

Ludendorff conceded that Germany was defeated

September 1918

Grand Fleet mutiny at Kiel. Rebellions spread - soldiers' and workers' councils formed

2-9 November 1918

Kaiser abdicated and fled to Netherlands

9 November 1918

Ebert appointed Chancellor and Germany proclaimed a republic

9 November 1918

Armistice signed with Allies at Compiegne, ending WW1

11 November 1918

Spartacist uprising in Berlin (crushed on last day)

5-11 January 1919

National Assembly met at Weimar

6 February 1919

Disturbances, riots and strikes in many parts of Germany

February-May 1919

Treaty of Versailles signed

28 June 1919

Weimar constitution adopted by the National Assembly

31 July 1919

Kapp Putsch

March 1920

Swing to right in Reichstag election

June 1920

Murder of Matthias Erzberger

26 August 1921

Treaty of Rapallo

1922

Stresemann as foreign minister

1923-1929

Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr began, provoking hyperinflation

11 January 1923

Period of Hyperinflation

January-November 1923

Stresemann's 100 days

August-November 1923

Hitler's Munich Putsch - failed

9 November 1923

Introduction of new currency ended inflationary crisis

November 1923

Dawes Plan proposed and accepted - delayed reparations & provided US loans

April 1924

Extremist gains in Reichstag election

May 1924

Moderate gains in Reichstag election (*first time in Weimar period)

December 1924

Death of President Ebert

(28) February 1925

Hindenburg elected President

April 1925

Locarno Conference - Treaty of Locarno

October 1925

Germany joined League of Nations

September 1926

Agricultural depression started

1927

Moderate gains in Reichstag election - Muller's Grand Coalition created - enjoyed over 60% majority support in Reichstag and only coalition without parties hostile to democracy during Weimar era.

May 1928

Nazis only got 2.6% of the vote in Reichstag elections; DNVP lost votes too - falling from 20.5% to 14.2%

May 1928

Kellogg-Briand Pact

August 1928

Young Plan proposals (adopted in March 1930) to reduce reparations and provide US loans

June 1929

Death of Stresemann

3 October 1929

Wall Street Crash and onset of world depression

29 October 1929

Collapse of Muller's government (Germany's last left-wing democratic government) prior to 1969) and Bruning appointed as Chancellor

March 1930

Reichstag election: Nazis emerged as second largest party, Communists also made major gains

September 1930

Bruning's economic measures imposed by presidential decree

December 1930

Banking crisis; 5 major German banks failed/closed

July 1931

Unemployment peaked at 6.2 million

January 1932

Re-election of Hindenburg as President, defeating Hitler

April 1932

Hindenburg sacked Bruning and replaced him with Papen

May 1932

Lausanne Conference ended reparations

June 1932

Papen dissolved left-wing Prussian government

20 July 1932

Nazis won 37% of the vote in Reichstag election, becoming most popular/largest party in Germany; most Germans voted either Nazi or Communist (i.e. extreme)

31 July 1932

Reichstag passed a massive vote of no confidence in Papen's government

September 1933

Nazis lost votes while Communists gained in Reichstag election, but Nazis still largest party

6 November 1932

Papen resigned/dismissed

17 November 1932

Schleicher replaced Papen as Chancellor

2 December 1932

Schleicher resigned/dismissed

28 January 1933

Hitler and Papen made deal to form government

4 January 1933

Hitler appointed Chancellor

30 January 1933

Hitler persuades Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag

1 February 1933

Hitler's government acquires power to ban political meetings and newspapers

4 February 1933

Reichstag fire: communists blamed

27 February 1933

Decree for the Protection of People and State repeals civil liberties

28 February 1933

Last elections according to the Weimar constitution - Nazis win 43.9% of the votes but still have no majority

5 March 1933

First concentration camps announced by Interior Minister Frick

8 March 1933

Day of Potsdam

21 March 1933

Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag

23 March 1933

Creation of the Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda under Goebbels

March 1933

Appointment of Schacht as president of the Reichsbank

March 1933

Laws for co-ordination of the states with the Reich

31 March, 7 April

First official boycott of Jewish shops

1 April 1933

Trade Unions dissolved

2 May 1933

Creation of DAF (German Labour Front)

May 1933

Concordat between Germany and Vatican (signed with papacy)

8 July 1933

All political opposition to NSDAP declared illegal - Nazi party the only official party allowed to exist in Germany

14 July 1933

Reich Ministry of Education created; control of education taken away from Lander

May 1934

Creation of the Confessional Church

1934

Night of the Long Knives; purge of the SA

June 30 1934

Death of Hindenburg

2 August 1934

Hitler proclaims himself both Chancellor and President and adopts the title 'Fuhrer'

2 August 1934

Oath of loyalty taken by the German Army and civil service

20 August 1934

The New Plan introduced

September 1934

Mass arrests by Gestapo of cocialists and communists

1935

Hitler announces that Germany is rearming; return of military conscription

March 1935

Nuremberg (Race) Laws introduced, depriving German Jews of citizenship

September 1935

Hitler sends troops into the demilitarised Rhineland

March 1936

Appointment of Himmler as chief of the German police

June 1936

Four-Year Plan established under Goering to prepare the economy for war

October 1936

Papal encyclical 'Mit Brennender Sorge' issued

1937

Resignation of Schacht as minister of economics

November 1937

Forced resignation of Field Marshal Blomberg and General Fritsch. Purge of army leadership

February 1938

Anschluss with Austria

March 1938

Hitler gains the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia at Munich

September 1938

Kristallnacht: anti-Jewish pogrom

9-10 November 1938

Creation of Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration

1939

Hitler seizes Czechoslovakia

March 1939

Nazi-Soviet Pact

August 1939

German invasion of Poland

1 September 1939

Creation of RSHA (Reich Security Office)

September 1939

France and Britain declare war on Germany

3 September 1939

Germany occupies Denmark and conquers in 2 weeks

April 1940

Germany invades Holland, Belgium and France

May 1940

France capitulates

June 1940

Germany plans to invade Britain but is defeated in Battle of Britain

August-September 1940

Hitler's war economy decrees

December 1940

Hitler prepares to invade USSR

1940

Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece

April 1941

Operation Barbarossa - German invasion of the USSR halted at Moscow and Leningrad

June-December 1941