The origins of the Weimar Republic

• ww1 started in 1914 and ended in 1918.
• in ww1 the allies (Britain, France and Russia) fought against the central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey)
• the winners of ww1 were the allies
• ww11 started in 1939 and ended in 1945
• after ww11, Germany was forced to sign the treaty of versailles, which put an end to ww1
• the Cold War ended in 1991 when the Berlin Wall came down
• reichstag


  germanys first parliament
• kaiser


  the empower of Germany. forced to abdicate after ww1
• armistice


  a formal agreement between 2 countries or groups at war to stop fighting
• fourteen points


  points put forward by the American president woodrow Wilson for international peace
• constitution


  the set of principles and rules by which a country is organised
• republic


  a country whose leader is a president, not king or queen
• ww1 started in 1914 and tore Europe in 2
• ww1 = allies vs central power
• in 1917, Russia dropped out of the war and the us joined the side of the allies
• in the early summer in 1918, the Germans attacked and made a massive breakthrough alongside the western front. but by autumn, the allies were close to winning the war and Germany was in a state of chaos
• since 1916, Britain used their navy to blockade German ports to allow no food to go into germany
• in the winter of 1916/17 the supply of vital potatoes ran out in Germany
• by early 1918 around 750000 German people had died from hunger and disease and millions more were starving
• in the late summer of 1918, the allies launched a counter-attack against the Germans.
• in autumn 1918, allies offered peace but insisted Germany become more democratic. kaiser refused. he was a dictator
• November 1918, rebellion spread throughout Germany and were forced to drop out of the war
• 9th November 1918, kaiser abdicated and fled the country
• January 1919, a new republic was declared and elections for reichstag were held
• February 1919- Weimar government elected
• january 1919- no party have majority of seats so create coalition government
• Weimar republic was very democratic. all men and women over 20 could vote. in Britain in 1918 men over 21 and women over 30 could vote.
• many government officials wanted to destroy the Weimar government
• the army’s leaders wanted kaiser to return
• lots of disagreement as it was a coalition government
• article 48 meant that the president had power to rule by themselves with the army in times of emergency
• When did kaiser abdicate

  9th november 1918
• who was friedrich ebert

  elected president of new weimar Republic