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?

- germany's economy fell - by 1918 germanys industrial 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 buisness owners made lots of money

what was the German revolution 1918?

- kaiser was forced to abdicate as a result of the unrest in Germany

what was the outcome of the german revolution?

- weimar constitution was formed and germany was made a republic

how was the kaiser abdicated?

- hindenburg and Ludendorff tell Kaiser that germany cant win the war
- they infrom 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 (kiel mutiny), his advisers, 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)

- Kaiser is forced to abdicate
- Ebert suspends the reichstag and forms the council of representatives (cabinet)
- armistice is signed ending the war
- ebert becomes president
- treaty of versailles is signed
- weimar constitution is established

how did the germans 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?

- november criminals

structure of the weimar republic

- president
- government (cabinet led by chancellor)
- parliament (reichstag, reichstrat)
- electorate

what was the reichstag?

- more powerful house of german parliament
- controlled taxes

what was the reichstrat?

- represented each region of Germany

what type of government were 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 reichstags approval
- proportional representation meant that the only way people could gain power was through coalitions

what was proportional representation?

- meant number of votes reflected the number of seats in parliament

why was the Weimar Republic unpopular?

- signed the treaty of versailles

why were the germans 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

- £6.6 billion paid in reparations
- army limited to 100,000
- no air force allowed
- rhineland was demilitarized
- lost 10% of land and all colonies

what opposition did the weimar government face?

- kapo putsch (right wing)
- spartacist uprising (left wing)
- munich putsch

who were the spartacists?

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

when was the spartacist revolt?

- January 1919

what was the spartacist revolt?

- rosa luxenburg and karl liebknecht staged a rebellion in berlin
- they hoped to lead a stike
- ebert sent the friekorps to put down the revolt

aim of spartacist revolt

- overthrow the government

who were the freikorps?

- group of 250,000 ex soldiers

when was the kapp putsch?

March 1920

what was the kapp putsch?

- the freikorps led by dr Kapp marched to Berlin
- weimar ministers fled
- government told trade unions to strike and cause chaos
- kapp couldn't keep control
- kapp fled berlin and ministers returned

aim of the kapp putsch

- seize control
- stop the weimar democratic system

what were the aim of these revolts?

- to overthrow the weimar government

what was hyperinflation?

- government printed more money to pay reparations but didnt have enough gold
- value of money decreased and prices increased

timeline hyperinflation

•1914 - 1918
- government printed more money to pay reparations but didnt have enough gold
- germany became bankrupt
•1918 - 1922
- government asked for longer to pay first reparation installment
•1923 (january)
- french troops invaded the ruhr to take reparation in goods
- this harmed Germany's economy
• 1923 (november)
- german mark was worthless

what was the ruhr?

- main industrial area in germany
- contained 80% of coal and iron

causes of the invasion of the ruhr

- germany stopped paying reparations installments

what happened at the invasion of the ruhr?

- french troops invaded the ruhr to take reparation in goods
- french and helgians took control of all factories, mines and railways in the area
- ebert told german workers to go on strike (passive resistance)

how did the french respond?

- brought this owns workers in

consequences of the invasion of the ruhr

- 132 people were killed
- 150,000 germans were kicked out of 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 for their money

negative impact of hyperinflation

- some couldnt afford essentials
- prices rose faster than wages
- some businesses became bankrupt
- savings became worthless
- people with fixed incomes (prisoners) suffered the most
- people blamed the weimar government, making them more unpopular

how did people get around hyperinflation?

- barter system

how bad was hyperinflation?

- people carried money in wheelbarrow
- price of a loaf of bread increased to 201 million marks

was was the stressman era?

- golden age
- germany's international and economic recovery (1924-1929)

how did germany recover from hyperinflation

- rentemark
- dawes plan
- young plan

what was rentenmark?

- new currency set up by chancellor stressmann
- value was tied to price of gold and land
- was renamed reichsmark and placed in control of the reishbank

what was the dawes plan? (1924)

- reparations were reduced to £50 million a year
- US bank loaned 800 million reishmarks 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
- insustrial production increased
- german exports rose by 40% between 1925 to 1929
- weimar republic introduced a pension, health and unemployment scheme

why wasnt the economy completely secure?

- germany was fragile as it was dependant 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?

- lorcano pact
- league of nation
- 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 demiliterisation of the rhineland

what was league of nations?

- international peace organization that aimed to discuss problemes to avoid war
- initially germany was excluded
- however in 1926 germany was invited
- germany become a 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 Germany's 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

what were unemployment benefits?

- meant workers had basic benefits if they became unemployed or sick

what was the golden age?

- 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 independence
- 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?

- could become more professions (teachers, lawyers, doctors)
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why did some women stop working?

- stopped working after the war
- some stopped after marriage

how did women become more independent?

- no longer dependent on men as they made there 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 indendency
- worried traditional german values were being forgotten

how did art change from (1924-1929)?

- fewer restriction on artistic expression
- expressionism dominated art and cinema
- an influential expressionist is paul klee
- jazz became very popular

how did music change?

- music was shaped by american influence
- jazz became very popular
- no censorship

hitler's past

- born in austria
- moved to munich in 1913
- fought in WWI
- was angry at the germans defeat and treaty of versailles

Hitler's political career (timeline)

- hitler joined the DAP (german work party)
- changed the name to the nazi party
- Hitler became the leader

what was the 25 point programme?

- manifesto of the NAZI party written by Hitler and Drexler
- contained nationalist and socialist policies

what are the main aims of the 25 points programme?

- abolish treaty of versailles
- stop democracy
- get rid of jews

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 rights
- support mothers

who were the SA?

- storm troopers
- unemployed ex soldiers
- nicknamed "browshirts"

who were the SA led by?

- ernest rohm

what were the job of the SA?

- disrupt opposition meetings
- control crowds
- control any opposition to hilter (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 germanys problems
- people were afraid of communism

what was the munich putsch? (1923)

- where hitler tried to take control of germany

causes of the munich putsch

- 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
- lundendorf let the goverment go behind hitler's back
- hitler marched with 3000 supporters to the munich town centre and declared himself president
- Hitler and his supporters fought with the police
- lundendorff, 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
- lundendorf 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 kämpf 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 - 1928 where germany was politically stable

what were the consequences of the lean years?

- no support for extremist parties like the nazis

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

- participate in democratic elections

how many seats did the nazis have in reichstag in the lean years?

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

how did members of the nazi party increase?

- increased from 27,000 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 local official who reported to hitler
- grew the SA to appear strong

what was the bamberg conference?

- conference in february 1926 to relieve tension between the north and south groups of the nazi party

what was their conflict between the north and south?

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

what was the fuhrerprinzip?

- meant hitler had complete authority in the nazi party and would not tolerate any opposition

what was the great depression?

- period from 1929 - 1940 where the economy fell and unemployment increase

what triggered the great depression?

- wall street crash

what was the wall street crash?

- when the US stock market collapsed
- government couldnt 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