The Constitution

• Who wanted Germany to be run by small councils of soldiers and workers?

  Spartacists
• When did the Spartacists seize power in Germany?


  6 January 1919
• What did Ebert do to attack the Spartacists?


  He sent a group of 2000 tough ex-soldiers, known as Freikorps (Free Corps)
• How did the Free Corps help? 


  They recaptured buildings and arrested (and later killed) the Sparticist leaders after 3 brutal days of street fighting.
• What was Ebert's party called?


  SPD
• What did Ebert become when he won the election?


  Germany's President
• Where did politicians meet away from the violence?

  Another German town called Weimar
• What is the Weimar Constitution?


  It is a formal set of rules for how Germany would be governed
• Germany was known as what until the Nazi's took over?

  Weimar Republic
• What rules were in the new constitution?


  all Germans had the right to vote and they all had equal rights
• How was proportional representation a weakness?


  It meant that lots of different political parties were able to win some seats in the Reichstag, but it was difficult for one party to get a majority. The leading party had to deal with smaller groups in order to get anything done which made law-making a very slow process.
• What was the weakness of the Weimar Constitution?


  Many groups didn't like the new democratic system and some still wished the Kaiser ruled Germany (older army generals, judges, upper-call families, rich family owners).