Kaiser appointed Prince Max of Baden as Chancellor
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3
When did Prince Max write to President Wilson
requesting an armistice?
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Why did it take Wilson 3 weeks to reply?
Suspicious that the German High Command was using the request to buy time to regroup and prepare a new offensive
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5
What were Wilson's three demands?
Demanded Germany must evacuate all occupied territory
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How did the German people respond to the armistice?
Strikes in Friedrichshafen on 22nd October
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7
What happened on 8th November 1918?
A republic was proclaimed in Bavaria and the Bavarian monarchy was deposed
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What did the SPD call on 9th November?
A general strike in Berlin
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9
What else did the SPD warn about on 9th November?
Threatened to withdraw support from Prince Max's government if the Kaiser did not abdicate within 24 hours
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How did Prince Max respond to the SPD's warnings?
Released a press statement on 9th November announcing that the Kaiser had abdicated
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Who did Prince Max hand the title of Chancellor to?
Ebert
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Who else announced the Kaiser's abdication?
Scheidemann (stood on the Reichstag balcony and declared that a Republic was now in existence)
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13
What forced the Kaiser to abdicate?
General Groener told him the army would no longer fight for him
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When was the armistice agreed?
11th November 1918
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What was Ebert's priority after the armistice?
To organise elections for a Constituent Assembly
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How did Ebert try to maintain left-wing control?
Made an agreement with Berlin workers' and soldiers' councils on 22nd November stating that the government only exercised power in the name of these councils
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When was the Ebert-Groener Pact?
10th November 1918
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What did the Ebert-Groener Pact state?
Army leadership would support the government so long as Ebert resisted the demands of the soldiers' councils to democratise the army and defend Germany against communist revolution
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How did the struggle for power continue whilst Ebert's government prepared for elections for the Constituent Assembly?
6th December = Spartacist demonstration in Berlin fired on by soldiers
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When were the elections for the Constituent Assembly held?
19th January 1919
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21
Why did the assembly meet in Weimar instead of Berlin?
The political situation in the capital was still unstable in the aftermath of the January Revolution
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22
Who was the first President of the Republic?
Ebert
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Who led the new government?
Scheidemann
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What parties were involved in the first coalition?
SPD
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What did the workers' and soldiers' councils do?
Handed over their powers to the Constituent Assembly
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What did the new Constitution represent?
A break from the autocratic constitution drawn up by Otto von Bismarck in 1871
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What were the strengths of the Weimar Constitution?
Wider right to vote
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What were the weaknesses of the Weimar constituion?
Proliferation of smaller parties
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What were the roles of the President?
Elected every 7 years
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What were the roles of the Chancellor?
Had to have support of at least half of Reichstag
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What was the Reichsrat?
Second chamber of parliament
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What was the Reichstag?
Elected every four years
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What was Article 48?
Gave the President power to rule by decree in exceptional circumstances
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How did the army remain undemocratic?
Officer corps allowed to continue intact into the new republic so the army was far from politically neutral
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How did the civil service remain undemocratic?
Civil servants guaranteed their 'well-earned rights' and freedom of political opinion and expression so long as it did not conflict with their duty of loyalty to the state
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How did the judiciary remain undemocratic?
Article 102 guaranteed the independence of the judges
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37
When did the Allies initially meet at Versailles?
January 1919
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When were Germany allowed to see the terms of the treaty?
7th May 1919
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When was the German government given 7 days to accept Versailles?
16th June 1919
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How did many Germans regard Versailles?
As a Diktat
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How much territory did Germany lose?
70
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What territory was returned to France?
Alsace-Lorraine
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What territory was returned to Belgium?
Eupen and Malmedy
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How much of its iron ore did Germany lose?
75%
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How much of its zinc ore did Germany lose?
68%
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How much of its coal did Germany lose?
26%
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How much of its arable land did Germany lose?
15%
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48
How many men were allowed in the German army?
100
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How many men were allowed in the German navy?
15
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What was Germany forbidden from having/using?
Tanks
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What did Article 231 state?
Germany had to accept responsibility for starting the war
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What was the final reparations total?
£6.6 billion
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What else did Germany hand over to the Allies?
Its merchant shipping fleet
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What happened to the Rhineland?
Demilitarised
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What happened to the Saarland?
Placed under the League of Nation's control for 15 years
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What other terms of the Treaty of Versailles were there?
Anschluss was forbidden
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What were the common German objections to Versailles?
Germany had been denied national self-determination
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Why could it be argued that Germany should have expected Versailles to be harsh?
Wilson's Fourteen Points made territorial losses clear
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How did pro-republican parties react to the Treaty of Versailles?
The SPD and its allies in government asked their main opponents in the DNVP
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How did the right wing react to the Treaty of Versailles?
German nationalists could not accept the fact of Germany's military defeat
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What did some soldiers choose to do?
Some working class soldiers
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How did Britain react to the Treaty of Versailles?
Lloyd George was given a rapturous reception from a large crowd upon returning to London
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How did France react to the Treaty of Versailles?
The recovery of Alsace-Lorraine
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How did the USA react to the Treaty of Versailles?
Widespread opinion that the treaty was unfair and that Britain and France had used it to enrich themselves. Republicans in the American Congress opposed the treaty
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How did Germany fund the war effort?
Increased borrowing and printing more money
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What was Germany's final war debt?
1.44 billion marks
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What two options did the German government have to reduce national debt?
Raise taxes
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How much had prices increased between 1918 and 1919?
Doubled
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How much had prices increased between 1919 and 1920?
Quadrupled
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70
How much higher were prices in 1920 compared to 1913?
14x
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Why did the government allow inflation to go unchecked?
The 1920 coalition
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What was unemployment at by 1921?
1.8%
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Why did Fehrenbach's cabinet resign?
In protest to what it considered to be excessively harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles
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When was Germany granted its first postponement of reparations?
January 1922
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What did Germany ask for in July 1922?
A further suspension of reparation payments due that year
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What did Germany ask for in November 1922?
A loan of 500 million marks and to be released from its obligations for three to four years to stabilise currency
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How did this lead to the occupation of the Ruhr?
The French were deeply suspicious that this was simply an excuse
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What were the economic impacts of reparations?
Made the repayment of government debt more difficult
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When did France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr?
January 1923
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How many men were sent to the Ruhr?
60
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What did the French and Belgians do in the Ruhr?
Took mines
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What did Wilhelm Cuno call for?
Policy of passive resistance
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How else did Germany attempt to disrupt the French occupation?
Paramilitary groups crossed the customs border and blew up railways
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How many Germans were expelled from the Ruhr?
150
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How many Germans were shot during the occupation of the Ruhr?
132
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What was productivity in the Ruhr like in May 1923?
Deliveries were only a third of the monthly average in 1922
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What impacts did the occupation of the Ruhr have?
Paying striking workers drained government finances
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What impact did the hyperinflation crisis have?
Workers collected wages in baskets and wheelbarrows and tried to spend money immediately before prices rose
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How much did a kilo of bread cost in January
October and November 1923?
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What social welfare reforms were introduced in 1919?
Working day limited to 8 hours
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91
What social welfare reform was introduced in 1922?
National Youth Welfare Act required all local authorities to set up youth offices with responsibility for child protection and decreed that all children had the right to an education
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Who were the winners of hyperinflation?
Black-markeeters
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Who were the losers of hyperinflation?
Pensioners
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94
Why was it difficult to form stable coalitions?
Fragmentation of political parties became even more pronounced as German society became more divided and in times of social
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How many coalitions were there between February 1919 and November 1923?
10
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96
When was the Spartacist Uprising?
5th January 1919
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Who led the Spartacist Uprising?
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
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What happened in the Spartacist Uprising?
Newspaper offices and some public buildings were occupied
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