key question 1: Weimar Germany

• The Weimar Republic was established on November 9, 1918.
• The Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms on Germany, including reparations payments, loss of territory, and restrictions on military strength.
• Wilhelm II abdicated as Kaiser and fled into exile in Holland.
• Germany's economy suffered greatly during the war due to inflation, unemployment, and hyperinflation.
• The Young Plan reduced Germany's annual reparations payment to $2 billion per year.
• Germany faced economic instability due to hyperinflation caused by printing money to pay war debts.
• The Dawes Plan provided financial aid from America but also increased German debt.
• Unemployment rose from 5% in 1913 to 6 million people unemployed in 1923.
• Hyperinflation led to the collapse of the German mark and the introduction of the Rentenmark in August 1923.
• Weimar Government


  The new government in Germany after World War 1, called the Weimar Republic, with Ebert as president
• Weimar Republic


  • Germany turned from a dictatorship to a democracy
  • People had a say and the president was elected
  • Proportional representation meant all parties got a share of the votes
  • The Allies didn't invade as they approved of the new system
  • Welfare plans were promised like workers' rights, council housing, healthcare etc.
• Germany 1918-19; the impact of war

  1918-1919
• Germany lost World War One and an Armistice ended the war November 1918
• Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and fled to Holland
• A new government was hastily put together in the absence of the Kaiser which meant that Germany turned from a dictatorship to a democracy
• The Treaty of Versailles was negotiated


  1919
• The Treaty of Versailles was negotiated by Woodrow Wilson (President of USA), Georges Clemenceau (French Prime Minister) and David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister) following Germany's defeat in World War One
• Key points of the Treaty of Versailles

  • Loss of German land
  • Creation of a buffer zone
  • Reduction of Germany's military strength
  • De-militarisation of the Rhineland
  • 'War guilt clause' which deemed Germany solely responsible for all the losses and damage of WW1
  • Payment of reparations at £6.6 million
• Opposition to the Weimar government

  • Spartacist Revolt (left wing)
  • Kapp Putsch (right wing)
  • Munich Putsch (right wing)
• Spartacist Revolt


  Communist rebellion against the Weimar republic
• Spartacist Revolt


  1. Days of street fighting

  2. Ebert called in the Freikorps to crush the Communists

  3. It failed and the leaders were executed
• Kapp Putsch


  Kapp tried to take over Berlin, held the government responsible for the humiliating Treaty of Versailles
• Kapp Putsch


  1. The army refused to attack Kapp

  2. It failed when the workers of Berlin went on strike

  3. Kapp fled to Sweden
• Munich Putsch


  Hitler plotted with nationalist politicians to take over Munich in a revolution
• Munich Putsch


  1. Hitler collected his storm troopers to rebel

  2. Kahr and Lossow called off the rebellion

  3. Hitler and 600 storm troopers burst into a meeting and forced them to agree to rebel

  4. The SA took over the army headquarters and the offices of the local newspaper

  5. The next day, Hitler and his Nazis went into Munich but were met by police and army reinforcements

  6. There was a short scuffle in which the police killed 16 Nazis

  7. Hitler fled but was arrested two days later
• Germany could not afford to pay back reparations to the French
• The French believed that the Weimar Government could pay the reparations and that it was testing international patience
• Ruhr crisis


  1. The French and Belgian armies sent 60,000 soldiers into the Ruhr region of Germany to get back the unpaid reparations

  2. The Weimar Government instructed the Ruhr workers to go on strike (called passive resistance)

  3. They also flooded worthless paper money into the economy causing hyperinflation
• Prices ran out of control - a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923 had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923
• Opposition groups (Munich Putsch) used the Ruhr crisis to criticise the Weimar government
• Gustav Stresemann


  Became Chancellor of Germany for 100 days in 1923
• Stresemann's reforms


  1. Passive resistance was called off and the French left the Ruhr

  2. He introduced a new currency called the Rentenmark to deal with hyperinflation

  3. The currency was stabilised and foreign powers were willing to invest in German industry again

  4. Germany engaged positively with the Allies over debts which led to the Dawes Act

  5. Germany had her debts reduced and was lent lots of money

  6. German industry recovered and unemployment fell

  7. Exports increased by 40% and wages improved every year up to 1929

  8. He signed treaties with France and America to build relations, and negotiated German membership of the League of Nations in 1926

  9. The Locarno Pact with France saw both countries agreeing to respect each others' borders
• By 1927 German industrial output had surpassed pre-WWI levels
• The 'golden age of Weimar' was much to do with Stresemann but he died a few days before the Wall Street Crash in 1929, which would cause Germany further economic problems
• Changes in Germany 1918-1923

  • New Weimar democratic government was put together
  • Political revolts led by the Sparticists in 1919, and the Kapp Putsch in 1920
  • Germany went from a dictatorship to a democracy and this was unpopular with many political groups
  • Germany went from being military dominated to politically dominated, and from a stable country to an unstable country
  • Germany went from being a great power on the world stage to being a controlled country with not much say
• Continuities in Germany 1918-1923

  • The right were still powerful
  • Germany was still economically wealthy
  • Germany was still a sophisticated nation with a large middle class