germany democracy and dictatorship

• characteristics of kaiser wilhelm II( 1890 )

  • relation of queen victoria and royal families in other countries
  • born with left arm 6 inches shorter
  • very jealous of british empire and obbsessed with military
• what is 'weltpolitic'

  
  

  kaisers policy of wanting a huge empire world politics
• what are the 3 main problems the kaiser faced

  • government - kaiser could choose to ignore their advice and make all decisions on his own . he did this relating to army and navy and other countries
  • socialism ( shared power and wealth ) - many lower class working people organised strikes in hope that the kaiser would improve working conditions . many workers began to vote for social democratic party. hoped kaiser would share his power .
  • industry - giving rich factory and land owners important roles but ensure the reichstag are represented
• a series of naval laws ( 1898 + 1912 ) seeing german navy increasing in size and huge amounts of money being spent


  advantages- creates jobs , secure colonies and makes them able to take land

  disad- can be seen as a threat to britain and france ( war )
• why does germany ' loose ' ww1?

  • surrounded
  • ran out of materials , no weapons
  • food shortages as british navy blockaded german ports so people began protesting against Kaiser
  • usa joins war in 1918
  • soldiers refused to fight after this
• what happened on 28 october 1918

  mutiny - german navy was ordered out to sea from kiel to attack british ships but sailors refused to fight and follow rules . This influenced others to refuse too as the news spread. they set up special councils all over germany . kaiser lost control of germany and abdicated on 9th november
• how did ww1 end ?

  freidrich ebert ( leader of SPD ) took control of germany after the kaiser abdicated . he promised to hold elections hoping germans would vote for him . 11 november 1918 = germany surrendered
• what was the impact on germany after ww1

  • bankrupt - germany had borrowed money which they had to pay back , war pensions
  • divided german society- german workers wages was restricted , women working in factorys was seen as a damaged family value
  • politically unstable- mutiny + revolution , germans felt betrayed
• what was a positive impact of the ww1

  • people make money from the war
  • democracy spread
• who were the spartacists revolt

  a communists group led by rosa luxemberg and karl leibknecht
• what did the spartacists revoltists want

  a communists revolt as they didnt trust the new government
• what happened in the spartacists revolt?

  january 1919 - workers protesting which spartacists tried turning it into a revolt but the government sent an army of anti-communist's and freikorps to stop it . 100 workers were killed
• why was the spartacists revolt a failure

  • badly planned
  • no support
  • leaders arrested and killed
• what article said a president can make laws without going through reichstag

  48
• what was the strengths of weimar government

  • all germans had equal rights
  • strong president to keep control
  • each state kept own traditions
  • PR made sure all parties had a seat in reichstag
• what was the weakness of weimar government

  • republic had many enemies who now had equal rights
  • president had too much power with article 48
  • PR gave lots of small parties a number of MPs
  • states could be hostile to government that led to unstable governments
• weimar timeline:

  • 1918 - abdication of kaiser
  • 1919 - weimar republic established
  • 1919 - treaty of versailles and kapp putsch
  • 1920 - nazi party founded
  • 1923 - occupation of ruhr
  • 1923 - peak of hyperinflation
  • 1923 - munich putsch
  • 1923 - stresemann as chancellor ( golden age )
  • 1923 - dawes plan
  • 1928 - young plan
  • 1929 - wall street crash
  • 1935 - hitler becomes chancellor so end of republic
• what was the pros of the weimar constitution

  • most democratic government
  • power lay with the people
  • president could stop people who abused power
• what was the cons of weimar constitution

  • article 48 power
  • coalition governments were weak
• hyperinflation crisis under weimar government

  1. french and belgium troops invaded ruhr in response to german governments failure in paying them reperations
  2. german government printed lots of money to pay workers in belgium and france
  3. workers spent this money quickly therefore shopkeepers raised the prices so the government had to print more money
  4. workers went on strike in the ruhr so governments had to discuss this . they resulted in printing more money , now they are running short
  5. the cycle was repeated
  6. weimar politics and governments lost support in 1923
• what was the impact of hyperinflation

  money = worthless

  government was at blame

  0.6 marks in 1918 for bread

  201,000,000,000 marks in 1923 for bread
• why was the kapp putsch unsuccessful in gaining control of germany

  • no support
  • workers still went on strike
  • resulted in no gas , water , electricity and trains
• who was matthias erzberger 


  a man who was killed for signing the armistice
• who was killed for signing T.OF.V

  walter rathenau
• who led kapp putsch

  wolfgang kapp
• who were the free corps

  ex military
• what was the kapp putsch

  a right - wing group trying to take over germany
• when was the munich putsch

  1923
• why did nazis feel string enough to start a putsch?

  • germany was in chaos
  • supported by general ludendorff
  • 55,000 members and own private army ( SA )
• what did they want to achieve in munich putsch

  general ludendorff to become leader of germany
• why did the munich putsch fail


  • no support
  • snowing on the day
  • nazis guns had no firing pins
• what happened to hitler in munich putsch


  he was arrested and went on trial
• what happened in the munich putsch

  • nazis planned to take over germany starting in munich
  • hitler and 600 of SA burst into a meeting where the leader of bavaria ( Kahr ) to what they forced him to support
• during the time of hyperinflation who were winners and losers

  w:

  • easier to pay off debt and loans
  • people made fortunes
  • people on wages were safe as they renegotiated very day

  L:

  • people with savings as it was worthless
  • wage increases did not keep up with rising prices
  • money was often stolen as it was kept in bags and wheelbarrows
• when did hitler write mein kampf

  after being put in jail from munich putsch
• what did hitler realise in jail

  power must be gained through voting
• how many martyrs died from munich putsch

  16
• what was stresemanns problems

  • hyperinflation
  • not allowed in the league of nations
  • murders and uprisings
  • ruhr invasion
  • rebuilding germany
• what was stresemanns steps to rebuild germany

  1. stop hyperinflation by creating a new currency
  2. get people back to work
  3. reject treaty of versailles
  4. stop reperations to france ( 6.6 billion )
  5. force french to withdraw from ruhr
  6. sign agreements with other countries to gain trust
  7. get loans from usa to make industry strive
• what was the plan called against the french ruhr invasion

  dawes