weimar and nazi germany

• Germany was created in 1871
• It was a new united country which became known as The Reich (Empire)
• Germany

  • Strongly based on the military (army) and wanted to be the best and most powerful country
  • The people were proud and determined to be stronger
  • Wanted a new Empire - after all other European countries had huge Empires which made them rich
• The Kaiser

  King/Emperor
• The Reichstag

  Parliament which advised the Kaiser and could make laws
• Kaiser Wilhelm II

  • Ambitious and aggressive ruler
  • Admired and wanted to copy GB
• Germany started out as friends with GB

  Became rivals because they wanted to copy them
• He became leader unexpectedly - lots of pressure on him
• The Kaiser

  • Ambitious and intelligent
  • Obsessed with the military
  • Especially obsessed with making Germany as powerful as GB
  • Did not like people who disagreed with him & he ruled in a very strict authoritarian way
  • Expected everyone to be loyal and to obey him
• In Spring 1918 the Germans must have felt they were winning the war - they had beaten Russia and were attacking in the West

  
• By June 1918 the German military were exhausted as their attack organised by Ludendorff slowed and stopped

  
• Sept 1918 - it looked like Germany was losing BUT most Germans refused to accept this at home

  
• When Germany surrendered it was very weak

  
• Germany after WW1

  • Politically weak - the Kaiser abdicated (ran away) and left a weak Reichstag (Parliament) to pick up the pieces
  • Economically - farming was disrupted and G was not producing as much food as she needed e.g. 50% of the milk. 750,000 Germans died of hunger and disease in the war due to the naval blockade of Germany
  • Socially - Germany was weakened - a proud and confident people looked for someone to blame for the defeat
  • Socially, Politically & Economically - ex-soldiers went home and joined protests against the government or against the end to the war!!!

  
• Dolchstoss


  Belief that Germany was "stabbed in the back" and did not really lose the war

  
• Article 231 of The T of V blamed G for the war and all of the damage
• 1921 a commission said £6600million in reparations to be paid
• The T of V also took 10% of industry and 15% of farmland from Germany
• Germany lost 13% of its land and approx 6m of its people
• Alsace - Lorraine given back to France, West Prussia & Posen given to Poland, Eupen/Malmedy given to Belgium, Saarland given to League of Nations for 15 years
• They were a new nation and were blamed for a war they did not believe was their fault - Article 231
• They were a proud nation and the T of V humiliated them - Dolchstoss
• Many Gs believed that new politicians had stabbed them in the back and surrendered and agreed to the TofV without really being defeated. Dolchstoss!!!
• Old traditionalists like Ludendorff encouraged the view that G should have fought on to defend its honour
• The T of V made G very poor - huge reparations
• People were still starving in G
• G had not really been consulted at Versailles - G was just forced to sign it or war would be re-started
• Most Gs resented the T of V. (BRAT - what was it?)
• The army resented it the most
• Men who could not be in the army joined a group called the Freikorps. They were armed ex-soldiers who were angry and bitter about the defeat and the Treaty
• 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 T of V
• Ebert's government ran away to Dresden
• The army did not stop Kapp & Ebert was unsure who it would support
• Ebert also could not rely on the army as there were only 100,000 of them
• Ebert appealed to the workers to go on strike to stop the army taking over
• The strike stopped Kapp's Putsch as they could not run anything or do anything
• who could not be in the army joined a group called the Freikorps
• They were armed ex‐soldiers who were angry and bitter about the defeat and the Treaty
• The Allies (esp France) were worried about the growth of groups like the Freikorps and put pressure on the new Weimar Government to shut them down