topic 1- Germany and the growth of democracy

• the German empire was created in 1871 and lasted until 1918
• when the German empire was created in 1871, its constitution made the Kaiser the most powerful figure in the government, a German parliament called the Reichstag was also created, but it had very little power
• the Kaiser


  inherits his position and rules like a king

  has personal control of the army and foreign policy

  appoints and dismisses the chancellor

  can dissolve the Reichstag at any time
• the chancellor


  runs the government and proposes new legislations

  doesn't need the support of the Reichstag or the Bundesrat to stay in power
• the Reichstag


  members elected by the public every 3 years (and 5 years after 1888)

  members pass or reject legislations handed down by Bundesrat

  the Reichstag could not put forward own legislations and had no choice in who became chancellor or who served in government
• the Bundesrat


  members are representatives from each state in the German empire

  its consent is needed for all legislations (but can be overruled by Kaiser)

  more powerful than the Reichstag and is only accountable to the Kaiser
• before 1871, Germany was made up of lots of independent states- one of these was called Prussia
• the Prussian army played an important role in German unification in 1871. Wilhelm II was strongly influenced by its prestige and power, and adopted a system of militarism- this meant strengthening Germany military and using it to increase German influence
• Wilhelm II wanted to make Germany a world power. he also believed in Germanys traditional class system, where the upper class had the most power
• in the early 20th century, Germanys economy was modernised and the working class grew.
• as a result of industrialisation, new jobs were created and the population of German cities grew, the working class expanded and the upper class was loosing economic power
• because of the economic change the working classes played a bigger part in German society, but their working conditions where still poor. they had a growing sense of identity and wanted more representation
• because of the working classes want for better representation, there was a rise in socialism- a political ideology promoting equality and public ownership of industry. this led to a growth of support for the social democratic party (SPD) in Germany
• social and economic changes where good for the industry but bad for politics
• the growing populations in cities and towns caused new social problems. the working classes wanted better working and living conditions, and new and growing industries needed more regulations
• initially the government didn't wanted to pass any reforms because they thought it would encourage socialist ideas this meant that groups promising change became more popular. in 1887, the social democratic party had just 11 seats in the Reichstag, but by 1903 it had 81. trade unions became more popular too- by 1914 membership was at around 3.3 million. even though the SDP and trade unions promised to work with the government and introduce new reforms, the Kaiser still saw them as a threat, he did not want to give the German public any more power
• German politics became more radical. the upper class feared the growth of the working class and thought rapid industrialisation threatened their wealth and social status. As the SDP's popularity increased so did extreme nationalist groups. the Kaiser was under pressure of socialist reforms, but he knew that doing so would anger his supporters. Too make it worse, the popularity of the SDP made it more difficult to get legislations passed in the Reichstag
• how did Wilhelm try divert attention away from socialism

  introducing some limited social reforms, such as the workers protection act in 1891 to improve safety in the workplace

  in 1897 the foreign policy 'Weltpolitik' was introduced- this focused on expanding German territory and the size of the army and navy

  the Kaiser thought this would draw the eyes from socialism to the monarchy and the navy, as well as making Germany a world power
• how did the navy laws make people feel patriotic

  in 1981, the first navy law was introduced, its main aim was to build up the navy to rival with Britain, it increased Germanys fleet to include 19 battleships

  in 1900, the Reichstag passed another navy law, which put a 17 year navy expansion programme into place.
• the government used propaganda to promote the navy laws and inspire patriotism among the German people. the laws were popular, and socialist opposition to them was seen as unpatriotic in the elections of 1907, the SPD lost 36 seats in the Reichstag
• during WW1 political parties agreed to support the government
• how did WW1 have a devastating impact on Germany

  towards the end of the war, people in Germany where undergoing severe hardship. the allies had set up naval blockades which prevented imports of food and essential goods- by 1918 many people faced starvation

  public opinion had turned against the Kaiser and there were calls for a democracy . Germany's population were war-weary- they were tired of fighting and wanted an end to the war, there was a widespread political unrest
• in November 1918, some members of the German navy rebelled and refused to board their ships. In Hanover, German troops refused to control rioters. A Jewish communist called Kurt Eisner encouraged a general uprising, which sparked mass strikes in Munich
• How the social unrest turned into a revolution

  1. By November 1918, the situation in Germany was almost a civil war

  2. A huge public protest was held in Berlin

  3. Members of the SPD called for the Kaiser's resignation

  4. Kaiser Wilhelm II resigned on 9th November 1918

  5. On the same day, 2 different socialist parties - the social democratic party and independent social democratic party - declared a republic

  6. On November 10th, all state leaders appointed by the monarchy left their posts

  7. New revolutionary state governments took over instead

  8. The monarchy had been abolished and Germany had the chance to become a democracy
• the signing of the armistice

  on 11th November 1918, a cease fire to end WW1 was agreed. the allies signed an armistice with Germany. The new republic was under pressure to sign , the government didn't think Germany could continue fighting- its people were starving and military morale was low. The armistice was not supported by some right-wing Germans, who saw the truce as a betrayal. they believed Germans could still win the war
• the socialists set up a temporary government

  after the abdication of the Kaiser, Germany was disorganised, different political parties claimed control over different towns. a temporary national government was established, consisting of the SPD and the USPD, it was named the council of people's representatives. it controlled Germany up until January 1918, when elections were held for a new Reichstag
• how was the Weimar republic set up

  the council of people's representatives organised elections in January 1919 to create a new parliament, Germany was now a democracy- people could say how the country was run.

  Friedrich Ebert became the first president, with Philip Scheidemann as chancellor. Ebert was leader of the SPD a moderate party of socialists. In February 1919, the members of the new Reichstag met at Weimar to create a new constitution for Germany. this was the beginning of a new period of Germanys history that historians call the Weimar republic
• the president in the Weimar republic


  elected every 7 years

  chooses chancellor and is head of army

  can dissolve the Reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution
• the Reichstag in Weimar republic

  the new German parliament

  members elected every 4 years using proportional representation.
• the Reichsrat in Weimar republic


  second house of parliament

  consists of members from each local region

  can delay measures passed by the Reichstag
• the Weimar republic was designed to be as fair as possible, even small political parties where given seats in the Reichstag if they got 0.4% of the vote or above
• the Weimar republic allowed woman to vote for the first time, and lowered the voting age to 20- more Germans could vote and the German public had greater power
• the Weimar republic weaknesses

  proportional representation, meant it was harder to make decisions because there were so many different parties with different views.

  when a decision could not be reach, the president could suspend the constitution and pass any laws without the Reichstag's consent

  the power was only supposed to be used in an emergency, but became a useful way of getting around disagreements that took place in the Reichstag this meant it undermined the new democracy
• the treaty of Versailles was signed June 1919. the treaty as unpopular and many Germans did not want the government to sign it.
• the German government had no say in the terms of the treaty
• Germans called the treaty a 'Diktat' (a treaty forced upon Germany) and many blamed Ebert for accepting terms
• some Germans believed the armistice was a mistake and that Germany could have won the war. they felt stabbed in the back by Weimar politicians, who bought the treaty on Germany unnecessarily. The Weimar politicians became known as the 'November criminals'
• the extreme left wing wanted revolution


  in January 1919, communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg tried to take over berlin. they took control of important buildings such as newspaper headquarters, and around 50,000 soldiers went on strike in support of left wing revolution. this became known as the Spartacist revolution.

  Ebert asked for help from right wing Freikorps (ex soldiers) to stop the rebellion. over 100 workers were killed. the Freikorps use of violence caused a split on the left between social democratic party and the communists
• the right wing parties also rebelled against the Weimar government

  in march 1920, some of the Freikorps themselves took part in Kapp Putsch- led by Wolfgang Kapp. they wanted to create a new right wing government.

  the Freikorps marched into Berlin to overthrow the Weimar regime. But German workers opposed the putsch and staged a general strike. berlin was paralysed and Kapp was forced to give up.

  even after the putsch failed threats to the government remained. in 1922, some former Freikorps members assassinated Walter Rathenau- he'd been a foreign minister and was a Jew
• in 1923, Hitler tried to overthrow the Weimar Government