Germany

• Womens lives in weimar Germany


  Women had lots of freedom and job opportunities
• Germany before the war

  • Had a Kaiser, Wilhelm II, and a parliament elected by adult males who held the right to vote
• Main political themes in Germany before the war

  • Wilhelm was determined to turn his nation into a world power
  • Industrialisation and the social and economic problems it brought led to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) becoming the largest party in the Reichstag
• Germany building an empire, becoming active in world affairs and taking part in an arms race with other European nations
• Before normal politics were suspended during the war, there was a growing demand for greater democracy in Germany and reforms that would improve the condition of Germany's working class
• Representative democracy


  A system of government where all adult citizens are able to vote and a wide range of views are given voice in Parliament
• After the war, with the Kaiser removed, Germany began a bold experiment with representative democracy
• The legacy of defeat in the war, in the shape of crippling reparation payments and the military restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles
• Hyperinflation


  A crisis in 1923 that left Germany's currency worthless
• Rescued by Gustav Stresemann and American loans, which enabled reparations payments to be made, Germany eventually recovered from these crises
• By the late 1920s the Weimar Republic was a key member of the League of Nations, a centre of modern culture and growing in prosperity
• The German people had suffered terribly during both the First World War and the Depression
• A huge part of the Nazis' appeal was that they promised to make Germany's economy strong again
• Hitler aimed for full employment and by 1939 there was virtually no official unemployment in Germany
• TOV: (TRAWL)

  • Territory
  • Reparations
  • army
  • war guilt clause - article 231
  • League of nations
• Stresemann and the recovery (can you do ketamine like linda)

  • Currency (rentenmark)
  • Young plan (loans)
  • Dawes plan (loans)
  • Locarno treaty
  • LON (joining)
  • Kellogg - Briand pact
• why did people begin to support Hitler (IPAD)

  • Image of Hitler
  • Propaganda
  • army (SS)
  • Depression (wall street crash)
• How did Hitler consolidate is power (1933-34) (PAROLE)

  • Political parties banned
  • Article 48
  • Reichstag fire
  • Oath of loyalty by army to hitler
  • Long knives (night)
• How did Hitler control Germany (tcp)

  • Terror (SS)
  • coordination (control of everything)
  • propaganda
• Pre WW1:

  • Kaiser Wilhelm II was in charge of the government
  • the people could vote but didn't have any power
  • the Kaiser was obsessed with the military
  • the kaiser fled 2 days before war ended
  • the German people like this form of government
  • many factory workers were unhappy because their wages were low, poor working conditions and food was expensive. more of the working class began joining trade unions and organised strikes and workers also began to vote for the social democratic party (SDP) they believed in socialism
• Effects after WW1

  • political - no kaiser (ran away) all that was left of a government where the reichstag parties
  • physical and financial impact - farming was disrupted by war germany were producing less milk and meat
  • psychological effects - losing was devastating to the pride of Germany
  • "stab in the back"
• new constitution :

  january 1919 germans voted for a new government and the SPD (led by Freidrich Ebert) won

  august 1919 a constitution was made :

  • all men and women over the age of 20 can vote
  • proportional representation - % of votes = seats
  • human and civil rights granted to all
  • reichstag - house of parliament
  • President is elected by the people (every 7 years)
• president 1919 - 1925: Friedrich Ebert
• president 1925 - 1934 von Hindenburg
• strengths of constitution:

  • proportional representation - fair way of voting
  • article 48 of the constitution allowed the president to rule the country without consulting the reichstag in an emergency
  • the constitution allowed freedom, press, political parties, women to vote and joining trade unions
• weaknesses in the constitution:

  • proportional representation - no party ever has majority of 50% - harder to make decisions
  • article 48 allowed president to act as a dictator
  • the new republic gave rise to parties such as nazis who wanted power
• Terms of TOV (gargl)

  • Guilt - article 231
  • army - 100000 men / no submarines / no Luftwaffe / 6 battleships/ demilitarisation of the Rhineland
  • Reparations - £6.6 billion - in instalments
  • LON & Land - Saar (industrial land) was given to France for 15 years. 70 square kilometres were given to nearby countries
• German reaction to treaty :

  • too harsh
  • felt diktat - dictated peace
• threats to weimar republic

  • reparation
  • ruhr crisis
  • hyperinflation
  • sparticists
  • kapp putsch
  • passive resistance
  • munich beer hall putsch
• spartacist uprising

  spartacists were a communist group led by Rosa Luxembourg and Carl Liebknecht who attempted to replicate the russian revolution in Berlin. The Rising was crushed with the help of the freikorps and the leaders were arrested and murdered
• Kapp Putsch

  Wolfgang Kapp led Freikorps (scared of unemployment) in an attempt to seize Berlin in 1920. Kapp set himself up as the head of the government he wanted to recover land taken away by the tov. Kapp was defeated by the Berlin workers organising a strike with no water, gas, electricity, trains or buses running Kapp tried to flee but was captured and arrested
• French response to Germany not sending coal

  1. Sent troops to the Ruhr

  2. Confiscated coal

  3. Took control of every factory and railway
• Ruhr crisis 1925 


  Germany could not afford to pay reparations. The French invaded the Ruhr (industrial). Under the TOV, Germany was obligated to send coal to France from the coalfields in the Ruhr but in 1922 they didn't. French sent troops to the Ruhr, confiscated coal and took control of every factory and railway. Germany resorted to passive resistance (army was too small ) - German workers went on strike - french arrested them and brought in their workers. Stressemen agrees to the Daws plan & calls off the passive resistance and the French agree to leave in 1925
• Daws plan


  temporarily reduce reparations. US banks give loans to Germany
• Hyperinflation 1923


  the Weimar government printed money to help the Ruhr workers carry on their strike. This meant that with more money around, the value of everyone's money went down. The government kept printing money causing hyperinflation. People had to carry money in wheelbarrows and many shops refused money and instead opted for trading items.

  bread cost £200 billion
• solving hyperinflation


  Chancellor (Gustav Stresemann) set up a new bank (Rentenbank) and a new currency Rentenmark which was later renamed the Reichsmark
• Young plan 1929


  reparations reduces from £6.6 billion to £2 billion
• Stresemann signs the locarno pact 1925
• In 1926 Stresemann persuades the powers to accept Germany as a member of LON and are put on the council - further support for Weimar government
• 1928 Stresemann signs Kellog-Briand pact - Germany is included in the main powers & there is a further support for the Weimar government