Germany:The Weimar Republic 1918-1929

• Who led Germany during WW1?

  Kaiser Wilhem (the German Emperor)
• What did Kaiser Wilhem do in November 1918?

  He abdicated
• Where was the new government set up?

  In Weimar, Berlin was too dangerous
• What is the German word for parliament?

  Reichstag 
• What was the armistice?

  The formal agreement between Germany and the Allies to end World War One
• What does the term ‘constitution’ mean?

  The rules which set out how a country is run
• Who was the first leader of the new Weimar Republic?

  Friedrich Ebert (Social Democratic Party, SDP)
• What was the voting system of the new Weimar Constitution?

  Proportional Representation (meant to make sure that even the smaller parties had a fair share of seats).
• What was the peace treaty that Germany had to sign at the end of WW1?

  The Treaty of Versailles, 1919
•  What did the German people call the treaty?

  The diktat - imposed upon them, not agreed 
• What was Article 231?

  The War guilt clause, they had to accept blame for the war
• How much reparations did Germany have to pay?

  6.6 billion
• What land did Germany lose?

  11 German colonies in Africa, Alsace Lorraine and the Saar coalfields
• What was Dolchstoss

  The stab in the back myth
• November Criminals

  The name the German people gave to the Weimar politicians who signed the Treaty of Versailles
• Who led Spartacist Rising

  • Led by Rosa Luxemburg (Red Rosa) and Karl Liebneckt (Communists)
• Who led the Kapp Putsch

  • Led by Wolfgang Kapp - a right-wing politician
• Germany failed to meet its reparation payments

  The French invaded the Ruhr region in 1923
• Weimar Government's response to workers going on strike

  Ordered workers to go on strike, but then needed to pay them so they resorted to printing more money
• Rentenbank


  New currency introduced by Stresemann in 1923
• Economic deals signed by Stresemann

  • The Dawes Plan, 1924
  • The Young Plan, 1929
• Foreign relations changes under Stresemann

  • The Locarno Pact, 1925
  • The League of Nations, 1926
  • The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928
• Changes for women 1924-1929

  • Women had the right to vote in elections
  • Women could be teachers and doctors
  • Some 'new women' experienced greater social independence
• Artistic movements in Weimar Germany

  • Modernism
  • Expressionism (e.g Otto Dix)
• Bauhaus


  New architecture movement in Weimar Germany
• What economic crisis did this lead to?

  Hyperinflation. In 1923 a loaf of bread cost 200,000 billion marks!
• What military losses did Germany have to accept?

  Only allowed an army of 100,000 men. 6 battleships, no submarines and no air force