GCSE history -> Germany 1918-1939

• Germany was created in 1871 and became known as The Reich (Empire)
• Germany was strongly based on the military and aimed to be the best and most powerful country
• The Kaiser ruled the new Germany, which also had a Parliament called The Reichstag
• Kaiser Wilhelm II ruled Germany from 1888, he was ambitious and aggressive, admiring and wanting to copy Great Britain
• Germany started out as friends with Great Britain but became rivals as they wanted to emulate them
• The Germans found it difficult to accept defeat at the end of WW1
• Germany was politically weak after WW1, with the Kaiser abdicating and leaving a weak Reichstag
• Germany was economically weakened after WW1, with disruptions in farming and food production leading to hunger and disease
• Germany was socially weakened after WW1, with ex-soldiers joining protests against the government
• Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for the war and all damage, leading to resentment
• Germany had to pay £6.6 billion in reparations, losing 10% of industry and 15% of farmland
• Germany's armed forces were limited, with no air force, a restricted army, and navy, and the Rhineland occupied by GB and France
• Germany lost 13% of its land and approximately 6 million of its people due to the Treaty of Versailles
• Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles because they felt blamed for a war they didn't start, felt humiliated, and believed politicians had surrendered without being defeated
• Most Germans resented the Treaty of Versailles, with the army resenting it the most
• The Freikorps was a group of armed ex-soldiers who were angry and bitter about the defeat and the Treaty of Versailles
• The Allies, especially France, were worried about the growth of groups like the Freikorps and pressured the new Weimar Government to shut them down
• In March 1920, Ebert's Weimar Government tried to disband the Freikorps
• Wolfgang Kapp led a group of Freikorps to take over Berlin and form a new government against Ebert & the Treaty of Versailles
• Ebert's government ran away to Dresden
• Ebert appealed to the workers to go on strike to stop the army from taking over
• The strike stopped Kapp's Putsch as they could not run anything or do anything
• The Weimar Government was a new government created at the end of WWI in Germany
• The Weimar Government was supposed to be democratic and allow free speech, based on Proportional Representation
• Friedrich Ebert was the first leader of the Weimar Government and faced opposition from the left and right
• Despite strong opposition from the Left & Right, the first free elections were held in January 1919 and Ebert's socialist party won
• The new Weimar constitution was based on Proportional Representation, which could weaken the bigger democratic parties
• The Weimar Republic was seen as weak due to the coalition governments that kept happening
• Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution was criticized as a backdoor way for dictatorship to happen
• The Weimar Republic had to deal with threats from both Left and Right, showing how divided and unstable Germany was after WWI
• The Left hated Ebert as he was not Left enough, while the Right hated him for surrendering in 1918
• The Treaty of Versailles was a constant source of bitterness in Germany, linking Ebert and the Weimar Republic to it
• The early 1920s in Germany were very unstable with rebellions, putsches, and assassinations of politicians
• The occupation of The Ruhr in 1923 by the French and Belgians caused a crisis for the Weimar Republic
• The German government ordered people to go on strike to prevent the French from taking products by force from The Ruhr
• The occupation of The Ruhr led to the collapse of the German currency due to the impact on Germany's economy
• The German government printed more money to pay workers for the strike, leading to hyperinflation
• Inflation in Germany caused the value of money to decrease significantly, making money worthless
• The people blamed the Weimar government for the hyperinflation as they had signed the Treaty of Versailles
• In July 1923, $1 was equivalent to 160,000 DM (Deutsch marks)