The German Monarchy and Weimar Germany

• Kaiser Wilhelm II


  Ruler of Germany after unification in 1871
• Parliamentary Government in Germany

  • Kaiser ruled over all states
  • Chancellor (Chief minister) and ministers advised Kaiser
  • Bundesrat made up of representatives from each state
  • Reichstag Parliament elected by men over 25
• Both the Bundesrat and Reichstag debated and voted on laws drawn up by Kaiser and ministers
• Kaiser Wilhelm II


  • Could ignore government advice and made his own decisions
  • Made all military and foreign policy decisions
• Kaiser Wilhelm II


  • Keen to maintain a powerful army and build up a large navy
  • Spent most of his youth in the army
  • Wanted Germany to be a global power and have an empire to rival Britain's (Weltpolitik)
  • Took great pride in leading the army and was very interested in military tactics
• Prussian militarism - the belief that a country should have strong armed forces - was important to Prussia; Prussian generals, army officers and tactics formed the basis of the new united Germany
• Industrialisation in Germany


  • Production of iron and coal doubled by late 1800s
  • By 1913, Germany was producing as much coal as Britain and more iron and steel
  • By 1914, Germany produced two-thirds of Europe's steel
  • German companies dominated Europe in industries like electrical goods and chemicals
• Some leading factory and business owners had become very rich and influential
• Growth of Socialism


  • Workers joined trade unions and organised strikes to improve pay and working conditions
  • Social Democratic Party (SPD) became popular, believing in socialism and wanting to improve workers' rights and conditions
• Some socialists took more extreme view: they wanted to rebel against the Kaiser's rule, start a revolution and allow cities and towns to be governed by a council of workers
• Navy Laws


  • Between 1898 and 1912, a series of Navy Laws were introduced to rapidly increase the size of the Navy
  • The army expanded in size too
  • Taxes were increased and money was borrowed to pay for this, leaving Germany in debt for a long time
• The First World War began in August 1914


  Germany and Austria went to war against France, Britain, Russia, Belgium and Serbia
• Germany's reaction during the war

  1. 1914: War was popular, Germans thought it would end quickly

  2. 1915-16: Protesters demanded end to war, war weariness increased, soldiers worn down on front line

  3. Politically unstable: Germany close to defeat, flu epidemic, Army General Ludendorff advised Kaiser to make country more democratic
• The Kaiser allowed the main political parties to form a new government, and transferred some of his powers to Reichstag. But the German people were not satisfied and more demonstrations followed.
• Defeat and the end of the monarchy

  1. 28th October 1918: German navy Kiel mutinied, spread to soldiers and workers, workers' and soldiers' councils governing towns and cities

  2. 9th November 1918: Kaiser abdicated, Ebert (SPD) took over temporarily, promised elections and ended the war

  3. 11th November 1918: Germany surrendered, World War I over
• Impact of the War on Germany by 1918


  • Virtually bankrupt, owed vast sums of money, factories exhausted, war pensions costly
  • Politically unstable, mutiny and revolution all over Germany, ex-soldiers and civilians felt betrayed
  • Society divided further, some factory owners profited while workers had restrictions
• Weimar Germany 1919-1933


  • Germany in poor state after WWI, blockade led to lack of food and supplies, riots breaking out
  • Kaiser abdicated, Social Democrats led by Ebert took over, tried to improve people's lives
• Spartacist Revolution January 1919


  German communist party (Spartacists) attempted revolution, not successful, Ebert with Freikorps stopped rebellion and killed communist leaders
• Weimar Constitution


  • Everyone over 20 could vote, Reichstag suggested and voted on laws, Chancellor head of Reichstag, President chose Chancellor and controlled army
  • Proportional Representation led to many parties in Reichstag, Article 48 could be abused by President
• Treaty of Versailles June 1919


  Punished Germany with war guilt, £6.6 billion reparations, reduced army, took away tanks/submarines/planes, took 13% of land
• Diktat


  Dictated peace
• The Germans accused the Weimar Government of "stabbing them in the back" by agreeing to such harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles
• People began to look to other politicians to rule Germany better than the Social Democrats
• The German communists continued to create riots around Germany, even after the Spartacist Revolution failed
• The right wing also hated the Social Democrats
• Over 200 people connected to the Weimar Government were assassinated between 1919 and 1923
• The most famous assassination was Walther Rathenau, the politician who had been involved with the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles
• These assassinations showed how much people disliked their new government and also made people feel that they were doing a bad job as they weren't stopping violence on the streets
• Anton Drexler


  Had a party called the German Workers Party
• Hitler


  Joined the German Workers Party in 1920 and soon had become its leader, renaming it the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP/Nazi Party)
• The Nazi Party gave itself a new flag and a new private army to protect it (the SA/Brownshirts)
• The Nazi Party began to attract attention because of Hitler's powerful speeches, especially his rants against the Treaty of Versailles
• The SA would also beat up opponents, especially the communists
• Germany's payment of reparations

  1. Germany paid her first reparation payment in 1921

  2. Germany couldn't afford the 1922 payment

  3. France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, Germany's main industrial area, to take goods

  4. The Germans reacted with passive resistance, going on strike and refusing to make the goods that the French and Belgians wanted, sabotaging factories and flooding mines

  5. The French and Belgians reacted with violence, shooting some Germans and expelling some others

  6. The Weimar Government supported the strikers by printing more money to pay them so that they could afford to keep striking
• Too many notes in the economy meant that prices went out of control. November 1923 was the worst month: bread cost 201,000,000,000 marks
• People had to carry their wages home in wheelbarrows. Prices went up so fast that a day's wages would just buy a cup of coffee the next day
• The middle classes and the elderly suffered badly as their savings and pensions were wiped out
• Hitler chose November 1923 as the moment to attempt his Munich Putsch, thinking people were so fed up of their situation that they would support another leader
• The Putsch was easily stopped and he ended up in prison, but he got very useful publicity from his trial and wrote Mein Kampf
• Hyperinflation ended in November/December 1923 as Stresemann introduced the Rentenmark