IB History Weimar Germany

Proportional Representation

each party gains representation in parliament according to the proportion of total votes received in elections. Germany 35 electoral areas. Parties gain 1 seat per every 600,000 votes cast.

Coalition Government

temporary alliances in which parties cooperate to form a government together but each keeps its own name and identity

Left Wing

radical. communist KDP and socialists SPD

Right Wing

Conservatives. Nazis, DNVP

Kaiser Wilhelm II

ruled Germany 1888-1918. Dictator with complete power

1918 (Oct)

German Revolution

1918 (9 Nov)

Kaiser goes to exile in Holland

Friedrich Ebert

SDP leader. Replaced Kaiser. 1st president 1919-1925

1919

Weimar Republic is born and constitution is agreed upon.

Voting Age

all men and women over 20 years old

Reichstag

represented the whole nation and made national decisions

Reichsrat

represented regions

Lander

regional states

Article 48

the president could declare a state of emergency and rule by decree

20 coalitions

number of coalitions from 1919-1933

November Criminals

men who had betrayed Germany by surrendering to the Allies and signing the Treaty of Versailles

40 parties

number of political parties represented in the Reichstag

peoples community.

Volksgemeinschaft - national community within Germany

1926

Germany admitted into League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles

peace settlement signed by Germany and the Allies June 1919

Article 231 (Versailles)

Germany accepts full blame for WWI

30 percent (unemployment)

Unemployment in 1930

Hyperinflation

sudden dramatic rise in prices

Adolf Hitler

leader of Nazis, staged Munich Putsch. 4th chancellor, appointed May 1932

Putsch

an attempt to seize power through violence

Red Guard

pro communist militias

Freikorps

right wing paramilitaries

Kapp Putsch

Mar 1920 Freikorps gain control of berlin and establish a Wolfgang Kapp as the new leader. Government flees, general strike is called and the regime soon collapses

Ruhr Uprising

50,000 person Red Army took control of Ruhr province. Put down by Freikorps

Spartacist Rebellion

Jan 1919 Spartacists led by Eugen Levine, Karl Leibknecht, and Rosa Luxemburg tried to overthrow the government and create a workers republic in Berlin. They didn't get enough support and was brutally suppressed by the Freikorps.

Munich Putsch

8 Nov 1923 Hitler seizes control and declares a new government in Munich. Defeated by 100 police.

1933 (Jan)

Germany claims that it can no longer pay reparations, France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr which leads to hyperinflation

Ruhr

Germany's most productive industrial region at the time

Heinrich Bruning

2nd chancellor, appointed March 1930.

1930 elections

Nazis get 107 seats

Von Papen

3rd chancellor, appointed in 1932

1932 July Elections

Nazis win 230 seats

Enabling Act

allowed Hitler to create a dictatorship within 2 months of assuming office