Nazi Germany

Kaiser Wilhelm visited army headquarters in Spa where ministers tried to persuade him to abdicate

9th November 1918

Kaiser Wilhelm fled to Holland

10th November 1918

The German Republic was declared by Philipp Scheidemann of the SPD

9th November 1918

Friedrich Ebert suspended the old Republic and formed the Council of People’s Representatives

10th November 1918

The Treaty of Versailles

11th November 1918

The Weimar Constitution was signed

31st July 1919

Memel was lost to Lithuania

1923

The Freikorps had 250,000 men

March 1919

Spartacists took over the government’s newspaper and telegraph bureau and tried to organise a general strike in Berlin

January 1919

Freikorp troops marched on Berlin ~ the Kapp Putsch

March 1920

Bread was worth 1 mark

1919

Bread was worth 100 marks

1922

Bread was worth 200,000 billion marks

1923

Government printed more money to pay for WW1 but was bankrupt due to lack of gold

1914 - 1918

Weimar government printed money for post-war shortages and asked for longer to pay the 1st reparation instalment

1918 - 1922

French troops invaded the Ruhr where 80% of Germany’s coal, iron and steel reserves were, plus many factories ~ workers went on strike + gov. printed more money

January 1923

The German mark was worthless

November 1923

Gustav Stresseman appointed chancellor

August 1923

Stresseman set up the Rentenbank and issued the Rentenmark

November 1923

The Reichsbank was given control of the new currency, which became the Reichsmark

August 1924

The Dawes Plan

1st September 1924

The Young Plan ~ reduced reparations to £2 billion

August 1929

Under the Young Plan, reparations were to be paid off (by this year)

1988

Industrial output doubled (by this year) and passed pre-WW1 levels

1928

Gustav Stresemann resigned chancellorship (but remained at foreign secretary until 1929)

November 1923

Locarno Pact

1st December 1925

League of Nations set up (Germany excluded)

1920

Germany became a member of the League of Nations

September 1926

Kellog-Briand pact signed

27th August 1928

101,000 homes were built

1925 - 1929

Women earned the vote

1918

75% of women worked

1918

36% of women worked

1925

“The Woman One Longs For” is directed by Bernhardt

1929

Gropius’ school, the Bauhaus School, began to focus on architechture

1927

The Bauhaus School set up by Walter Gropius

1919

Hitler born in Austria

1889

Adolf Hitler moved to Munich

1913

Anton Drexler set up the DAP - German Workers’ Party - in Munich

February 1919

Hitler joined the DAP

September 1919

Hitler became the DAP’s second in command

1920

Hitler suggested a new name for the DAP - the National Socialist German Workers’ Party - NSDAP, or NAZI Party for short

August 1920

Hitler took over control of the NSDAP from Drexler

July 1921

Hitler and Drexler wrote up the 25-point programme

February 1920

Hitler formed the Sturmabteilung (SA) and put Ernst Rohm in charge

August 1921

Mussolini marched on Rome, and the Fascists overthrew the democratic government

1922

Hitler with 6000 SA entered a beer hall in Munich where the Bavarian government was meeting

8th November 1923

Hitler with 1000 SA and 2000 volunteers marched on Munich town centre ~ the Munich Putsch

9th November 1923

Hitler found hiding after Munich Putsch

11th November 1923

Hitler was released from prison

December 1924

The ban on the NSDAP was lifted (by this year)

1925

Hitler was banned from public speaking (until)

1927

Bamberg Conference

February 1926

The Wall Street Crash

October 1929

6 million Germans were unemployed

January 1933

Nazis have 18% of the vote

1930

Nazis have 32% of the vote

July 1932

The Reichstag Fire

27th February 1933

Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to call an electrion after the Reichstag Fire

March 1933

The Enabling Act

March 1933

Local governments closed + reorganised with Nazi majorities

31st March 1933

Trade Unions replaced with German Labour Fronts + many union officials arrested

2nd May 1933

SPD/Communist funds and offices were taken by Nazis

May 1933

Other political parties banned

July 1933

Hitler set up the SS (Schutzstaffel) as his personal bodyguards - selected by Schreck and then Himmler

1925

Night of the Long Knives

30th June 1934

Hindenburg died ~ a Law Concerning the Head of State was passed + Hitler announced that the army should swear an oath of allegiance to him, not to Germany

August 1934

Heinrich Himmler set up the SD (security service) to be lead by Reinhard Heydrich

1931

Herman Goerring set up the Gestapo (secret state police) to be lead by Reinhard Heydrich

1933

The first concentration camp was set up in Dachau

1933

The Concordat

July 1933

The Reich Church was founded ~ 2,000 Protestant churches + lead by Ludwig Muller

1933

The Confessional Church was founded ~ 6,000 Protestant churches + led by Martin Neimoller

Joseph Goebbels was Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda

1933 - 1945

Berlin Olympic Games

1936

Reich Chamber of Culture set up

1933

Niemoller voted for the Nazis

1924 and 1933

Niemoller was repeatedly arrested for speaking against the Nazis

1934 - 1937

Neimoller was in concentration camps (ending in Dachau)

1938 - 1945

The Edelweiss Pirates had 2,000 members

1939

The number of employed married women fell

1933 - 1936

The Marriage Law introduced Marriage Loans

1933

The Hitler Youth formed military brigades to help defend Berlin

1945

70% of Germans had a radio

1939

The Lebensborn programme set up

December 1935

Membership of the Hitler Youth was compulsorary

1936

The Hitler Youth had 7 million members

1939

All textbooks had to be approved by the Nazi Party

1935

It was compulsorary for all men to serve 6 months as part of RAD (National Labour Service)

July 1935

Hitler announced that Germany were going to begin rearming themselves for war

1935

26 billion marks were spent on rearmament

1939

1 million Germans were unemployed

January 1938

Nobody had paid enough to buy a VW Beetle

1939

Average wages rose by 20% from 1933

1939

Average weekly work was 43 hours

1933

Average weekly work was 49 hours

1939

The Nuremberg Laws

1935

All gypsies were arrested and banned from travelling

1938

Gypsies were told they would be deported

1939

The Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring ~ sterilised mentally handicapped people

1933