Power and Conflict - Hitler's Rise to Power

Created by

Liza

Cards (100)

Describe hardships faced by people in Germany during and shortly after the war
- many German people faced starvation due to naval blockades set up by allies which blocked the transport of German goods, leaving many Germans living on turnips and bread
- shortages of medicine and clothing, and thousands were dying from the flu epidemic
- 60,000 war widows and 2,000,000 children without fathers
Describe rebellions in Germany shortly after and during the war
- in 1915 500 women stood outside parliament and demanded men come back from the war
- in 1916, 10,000 workers shouted "down with the government
- in November 1918, some members of the German navy rebelled and refused to board their ships, and in Hanover, German troops refused to control rioters
Describe the rebellion events during November 1918
- Situation was almost a civil war, public protest in Berlin, members of SPD called for Kaiser to resign
- Nov 10th: state leaders appointed by the Kaiser resigned, new revolutionary state governments took over, monarchy was demolished
- Nov 11th: the leader (Friedrich Ebert) signed armistice and ended war. SOme people didn't support; believed Germany could still win
- After abdication of Kaiser, Germany was disorganised, workers, soldiers, and different governments were running towns. A temporary government was established, called the Council of People's Representatives
What was the role of the president in the Weimar Republic? 
- elected every 7 years
- chooses chancellor + is head of the army
- can dissolve Reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution
What was the role of the Reichstag in the Weimar Republic?
new German parliament, members elected every 4 years, proportional representation
What was the role of the Reichsrat in the Weimar Republic?
second, less powerful government, members from each local region, can delay measures passed by the Reichstag
What were the benefits of the Weimar Republic?
women could vote, voting age lowered to 20, even very small parties were given a voice as long as they got 0.4% of the vote
What was the problem with Proportional Representation?
even parties with very few votes could get seats, so it was hard to make any decisions in the Reichstag
there were sometimes as many as 20 parties
What were the problems with the Weimar Republic?
- proportional representation made decision making hard
- when decisions couldn't be made, the preseident would suspend the constitution and pass laws without the Reichstag's consent (Article 48)
- this power was supposed to be used in an emergency, but was a useful way of getting around disagreements and problems in the Reichstag, so was actually undermining the dmeocracy
Describe the Red Rising
In 1920, a communist group (the Red army) made from 50,000 workers occupied the Ruhr and controlled the raw materials
- the German army and the Freikorps crushed the workers - over 1000 were killed
Describe the Kapp Putsch
- right wing attempt to overthrow government
- freikorps marched into berlin, army wouldn't fire at them so the government asked workers to strike
- they did strike, and kapp was forced to retreat as Berlin was paralysed.
Who led the Kapp Putsch?
Wolfgang Kapp
When was the Kapp Putsch?
March 1920
When was the Spartacist Revolt? 
January 1919
Who led the Spartacist revolt?
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
Describe the Spartacist revolt
- communist uprising aiming to take over Berlin
- they took control of important buildings like newspaper headquarters, and 50,000 workers went on strike in support
- Ebert asked Freikorps for help, and they stopped the rebellion, killing 100 workers
Who was the leader of the Weimar Republic?
Ebert
When was the Red Rising?
March 1920
Describe the threat that the Red Rising posed
- took control of Germany's raw materials and main economic area, so posed an economic threat
- the Red Army had weak leadership and no clear plan
- some demonstrations over next few years, but nothing seriously threatened the government
- was a threat in 1919 when government was most vulnerable, but easily defeated by the Freikorps
Who were the Freikorps?
Bands of ex-soldiers who refused to disband and formed private right-wing armies - they opposed the Republic.
They were given a purpose by this
How did the Treaty of Versailles affect Germany?
- people felt "stabbed in the back" by the government, and referred to the treaty as Diktat
- the weimar republic became ascossiated with the pain and humiliation it caused
- the politicians were called the "November Criminals"
What were the German politicians who signed the Treaty of Versailles called?
The November Criminals
When did France and Belgium invade the Ruhr? 
January 1923
Why was the Ruhr invaded? 
- France and Belgium could use the coal and steel produced there
- Easy to invade as it was in a demilitarised area
- Germany had been late paying reparations
Describe how the invasion of the Ruhr caused hyperinflation 
- The government promised to pay all the striking workers in the Ruhr, and the workers spent this money very quickly
- this meant that productions couldn't keep up with money in circulation, so hyperinflation occured
What is passive resistence, and when was it used in Germany?
non-violent opposition to authority - was used in the mass strikes when the French invaded the Ruhr
What was the Dawes Plan? How much money did it involve?
It was a American's investors plan to find a way for the German's to continue to pay reparations. This will work for about 5 years till Hitler comes to rule.
America lent £40,000,000 to Germany
Set up loans for education, hospitals, schools, private firms, houses and pensions
When was the Dawes Plan brought in?
1923
What was the role of the Kaiser?
- inherits position and rules like a king
- personal cotrol of army and foreign policy
- appoints and dismisses chancellor
- can dissolve Reichstag and bypass Bunderstat
- has the most power
What was the role of the Chancellor?
- runs government and proposes new legistlation
- doesn't support of Reichstag or Bunderstat's support to stay in power
What was the role of the Bundersrat? 
- members are representatives from each state in the German Empire
- its consent is neede for all legislation, but it can be overruled by the Kaiser
What was the role of the Reichstag (old gov format)
- members elected by the public every 3 years
- members pass or reject legislation put forward by the Bundersrat, couldn't sugggest own laws
When did Kaiser Wilhem Rule?
1888 - 1918
What did Kaiser Wilhelm want for Germany?
He wanted to show the world how mighty Germany had become and did not want to share his power with anyone.
He believed in militarism and and wanted to increase germany's military power
He wanted Germany to have an Empire like Britain and France
Believed in traditional class system
What was Kaiser's Wilhelm's policy for a Weltpolitik? 
- he wanted Germany to be a world power (have an empire)
What laws did Kaiser Wilhelm pass and when?
- passed navy laws in 1898 and 1912 to massively increase Germany's navy to rival Britain's
What political problems did Kaiser Wilhelm face?
- there was a socialist party supporting workers (SPD) who were put into bad living situations due to the industrial revolution - they wanted all wealth to be shared
- german politics became more radical, and the popularity of extreme nationlist parties was also growing
- Kaiser was under pressure to introduce social reforms, but doing so would anger his followers
- popularity of SPD also made it hard for the Chancellor to gain enough support in the Reichstag to pass new legislation
What economic and social problems did Kaiser WIlhelm face?
- workers in new mines were unhappy with low wages, poor conditions, and high costs of taxes
- more and more workers joined trade unions to try and change things
- SPD party became popular and more extreme
- lots of people thought the government shouldn't waste money on the navy
- initially, gov didn't pass reforms (afraid of encouraging socialism) so SPD gained lots of support
- By 1914, trade union membership was around 3.3 million
How did Kaiser Wilhem deal with growing socialism?
- tried to reduce discontent by introducing some reforms, like the Worker's Protection Act in 1891
- In 1897, he adopted the new policy of of Weltpolitik to distract people from socialism, and increase support for the moarchy and navy
- gov used propaganda to prmote navy laws and inspire patriotism
- the laws became popular and socialist opposition to them was seen as unpatriotic
What did the navy laws do (+ dates)?
- 1898: first navy law passed to build up the navy to rival Britain's, and increase Germany's battleship fleet
- in 1900, another navy law put a 17 year navy expansion programme into place