Weimar and Nazi Germany - The Weimar Republic (1918 - 29)

Struggles in Germany October → November 1918

• brink of a civil war

• losing war (11m → 4m injured, 2m dead)

• loss of faith in the Kaiser (who abdicates)

• British Navy had blockaded Germany → fear of starvation

• debts had trebled during WW1

• USA joined war, extra 2m

• Hindenburg line broken

Statistics of Germany in WW1

11 million soldiers fought

4 million injured

2 million dead

USA brought another 2 million against them

Political Unrest October → November 1918

• Kaiser contacts USA for peace, then commands a final attack on the Royal Navy in the North Sea

• Army refuses (suicide mission)

• Navy mutiny at Kiel November 3rd

• Germany wants a democracy, not a King

• Mass strikes, spread of revolution

9th November 1918

• Kaiser abdicated

• Ebert becomes Chancellor

• Weimar Republic declared by SPD AND USPD

November 11th 1918

THE ARMISTICE

The Weimar Constitution → strengths

• proportional representation → more democratic, all votes represented

• article 48 → emergency powers for war / crises

• chancellor → could be fired by the president if needed

The Weimar Constitution → weaknesses

• proportional representation → unstable, coalitions of parties to sway votes

• article 48 → President could act as a dictator and exclude Reichstag

• Chancellor → President has absolute control

• Prussia → most representation in Reichstag due to being biggest area

Why were a lot of Germans opposed to the armistice and treaty?

• felt like useless sacrifices in the war

• soldiers motivated to fight

• propaganda and censorship convinced the public that war was going well and disguised hardships

• ‘stab in the back’ theory

The Stab in the Back Myth

• belief that Germany didn’t and wouldn’t have lost

• politicians (Ebert) betrayed the army

The Treaty of Versailles date

June 1919 - signed by Ebert

Treaty of Versailles terms acronym

Land

Army

Money

Blame

ToV - Land

• Saar coalfields → France → loss of income and resources

• Farmlands + 54km of land → Poland → loss of population + ^

• Rhineland demilitarised → vulnerable to invasion

ToV - Army

• 100,000 men

• 6 battleships

• 0 submarines and air force

• → vulnerability, unemployment, loss of national pride

ToV - Money

• 6.6 billion pounds reparations bill → impossible alongside loss of money, loss of income and own reparations bill

ToV - Blame

• War Guilt Clause → Germany took full responsibility for losses and damage → national shame

Spartacists

• Communist group

• extreme left

• Rosa Luxemburg

• Karl Liebknecht

Freikorps

• ex-soldiers with weapons

• held extreme right-wing opinions

When was the Spartacist Uprising?

6th January 1919 → 13th January 1919

The Spartacist Uprising

• After Chancellor Ebert fired Emil Eichhorn, police chief of Berlin, leaders of Spartacists encourage a strike

• 100,000 workers strike

• Spartacists controlled the government’s newspaper and offices

• Ebert was stuck as the Reichswehr (army) was weakened after WW1 and there were too many protestors

• Ebert orders setup of the Freikorps (ex-soldiers with weapons, extreme right-wing opinions and a hate for communism)

• Ended 13th January as the Freikorps killed 100+ people, protestors were mainly unarmed, and there was a lack of planning

• 16th January, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were brutally killed

When was the Kapp Putsch?

13 → 17th March 1920

Between 1919 and 1922, how many political murders are there? (first 3 years of the Weimar Republic)

376

Kapp Putsch

• March 1919 there’s 250k Freikorps

• March 1920, Ebert plans to disband them

• Fearing unemployment, 5,000 Freikorps try overthrow the government with leader WOLFGANG KAPP

• Ebert asks General Seeckt, head of the Reichswehr, to stop them, but he sees them as fellow soldiers and refuses

• Freikorps declare return of the Kaiser, upsetting lower classes who had only just gained rights after his abdication, so a strike is called for

• With strike of the workers, Berlin lost gas, electricity, water and transportation

• 4 days later, Kapp leaves Berlin as he could not govern without essential resources

• 1922, returns from Sweden to stand trial yet dies beforehand

causes of 1923 hyperinflation

• Germany could not afford reparations

• Ruhr occupation

• passive resistance

• printing more money

effects of hyperinflation 1923

• savings wiped out

• prices skyrocketed (faster than wages)

• social chaos

• debts and loans could be paid back with ease

When was the Occupation of the Ruhr?

11th January 1923 → 35th August 1925

The Occupation of the Ruhr

• End of 1922, Germany states they’d miss the next reparation payment that was due

• 1923, France and Belgium send 60k troops to the Ruhr to take goods in place of money

• Germans were arrested, 100 killed, 15,000 threw out of homes

• Government orders passive resistance, but their strike disrupts German economy due to being the most industrial region of Germany

• High unemployment as French and Belgian workers overtake

• Government relents, prints more money to pay striking wages and reparations, leading to hyperinflation

Example of Hyperinflation (egg)

• 1918 → ¼ of a mark

• 1923 Nov → 80 million marks

Who was Gustav Stresemann?

• key politician

• stabilised economy and foreign relations

Why did the US economy recover?

• US loans

• Stable currency

• Increased investment

• Reichsbank set up to monitor cash flow

• Rentenmark set up (1 rentenmark = 1 billion old marks)

The Dawes Plan

• September 1924

• Reparations = same, but only 50m pounds each year

• USA lent $25b to Germany

• Troops removed from Germany → weak, loss of power

The Young Plan

• Agreed January 1930

• reduced reparations by 20 percent → 2 billion pounds

• debts to be paid over 59 years till 1988

• tax cuts → more money

• considered ‘passing on the penalty to the unknown’

How much did America loan Germany?

$25 BILLION

What were Stresemann’s foreign policy successes?

• Locarno Pact → 1925 October

• League of Nations → 1926

Locarno Pact

1925 october

• Germany, France and Belgium respect joint borders

• Agreed with free will, unlike ToV → Germany seen as equal → confidence restored in the Weimar Republic

League of Nations

1926

• already existed (ToV) → Germany was excluded

• organisation to solve problems without war

• impractical and held no real power to stop an incoming war

5 components of societal changes 1924 → 29

• housing

• pensions

• education

• employment

• wages

Golden Age - Housing

• 1925 → 15% rent tax for funding buildings

• 37,000 homes built privately

• 65,000 homes built by government

Golden Age - Pension Law

• 1920 Pension Law:

• 750k war veterans

• 200k parents of dead soldiers

• 400k war widows

• elders and veterans

Golden Age - Education

• pre-WW1 → 70,000 students

• 1928 → 110,000 students

Golden Age - employment

• 1926 → 2 million

• 1928 → 1.3 million

• Unemployment Insurance Act 1927: 3% of wages from all → pay 60 marks/week for sick and unemployed

• more jobs from increase in education and housing

Golden Age - Wages

• Value of money increased by 1925

• Average work hours had decreased from 50 to 46 in 1927

• Big businesses lost power

• Middle class felt threatened by the support offered for the lower class

Weimar Republic - Women

• could vote if over 21

• 1919-1932 → 112 women in Reichstag

• women working increased due to capability during war

• number of divorces rose

Causes of the Golden Age

• less censorship

• more freedom of speech

• enough money to fund art and culture

Golden Age - Art

• expressionism → society being criticised through uncomfortable images

• undermined authority of upper class who used to control cultural flow and art

Golden Age - architecture

• Bauhaus movement 1919 → connected all forms of art to express the beauty of individuality and originality

Golden Age - Cinema

• By 1929, there were 500 cinemas

• Expressionist films were made and enjoyed

• One of the First Vampire Films: Nosferatu

• Government funded (5 million pounds): Metropolis

• First talking film 1930

• 3800 Cinemas had sound 1932

Opposition to the Golden Age

Extreme left KPD:

• It was a waste of money when people need financial help

Extreme right NSDAP:

• It was destroying German traditions, causing a moral decline in Germany

What caused the end of the Golden Age?

The Wall Street Crash - October 1929

The Wall Street Crash

• October 1929

• US Stock Market collapsed, prices plummeted due to overproduction

• End of the Roaring Twenties

• Germany was heavily reliant on US money

• This caused unemployment to rise to 6.1 million by 1933

• Banks and businesses collapsed

• Government finances were ruined → tax rises → unpopularity

How did the Wall Street Crash affect support for political parties?

• Support for extremist parties soared as the government’s moderate approach had failed

• NSDAP went from 12 seats in 1928 to 230 in 1932, July