Germany

• Left Wing


  The group is more important than the individual
• Right Wing


  The individual is more important than the group
• Left Wing ideas


  • Collective farms to supply food for the people
  • High taxation- used to support those that need help
  • Everyone has access to education, but are welcome to buy a superior one or to pay to achieve higher levels
  • Key industries etc. may be nationalised or supported by the state
  • Everyone has access to the healthcare provided by the group
  • The group is more important than the individual. Prison should act as a deterrent but should also offer rehabilitation
  • "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs"
  • System of universal healthcare paid for by the state
  • Criminals and homeless people are victims of society and should be helped
  • Nationalisation of housing/ industry/ agriculture/ transport
• Right Wing ideas


  • No choice of political parties/ government
  • Choice of political parties/ government
  • Laissez Faire attitudes, individuals to help themselves out of difficulties
  • People are criminals/ homeless through their own choices and shouldn't be helped
  • All contribute to the group but their rights as individuals are respected
  • Low taxation to allow for an increase in private enterprise
  • Government regulations control economic markets to make them fairer
  • Private ownership of property: housing/ industry/ agriculture/ transport
  • Free economic markets- who can make the most money in whatever way WINS!
  • State institutions exist to help individuals- e.g. a welfare state
  • "Our" group/ nationality is superior to all others
  • Choice of religion
  • Religion banned or forced
  • "Equality for all, special privileges for none!"
  • Private and individual farms to sell food for profit
  • The most skilled and best educated people will rise to the top
• There are more complex spectrums that actually make more sense when considering the extreme left and right wings. For example, there are a lot of similarities between Communist (extreme left wing) and Fascist (extreme right wing) states. So many political philosophers and theorists believe that actually, the political spectrum should be more of a circle, or on a grid.
• Absolute Monarchy


  A system of government where the monarch has complete control over the whole government
• Article 48


  Gave the Weimar president the power (in an emergency) to rule by decree (without passing laws through the Reichstag)
• Autocracy


  A system of government where there was an absolute monarch
• Chancellor


  Prime Minister of the German government
• Coalition government


  A government made up of different political parties, because there isn't one that has an overall majority
• Conservative (with a small c)


  Normally someone resistant to change. Often someone who champions individual rights and protection of wealth
• Constitution


  The laws used to govern a country
• Federal structure


  Where power and responsibilities are shared between regional and central governments (e.g. the USA)
• Freikorps


  Right wing nationalist soldiers who acted as paramilitaries and were only too willing to use force to suppress communist activity
• Proportional Representation


  A system that allocates parliamentary seats in proportion to the total number of votes
• Provisional government


  A government that is set up temporarily while a new government is arranged/ voted for
• Reactionary


  Opposing change and supporting a return to traditional ways
• Reichstag


  The German Parliament
• Republic


  Power is held by the people to elect a president/ government leader
• Soviet


  Russian word, meaning an elected council. Usually reserved for those created by workers/ soldiers in the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the end of the First World War in Germany
• Weimar Republic


  The name given to the system in Germany. It took its name from the first meeting of the National Assembly in Weimar, which had moved from Berlin because of many disturbances. Weimar was chosen because it was a town of great historical and cultural tradition
• The collapse of Imperial Germany
• There were a number of reasons why Germany lost the First World War, but it was wholly unexpected
• The German propaganda machine had continued to talk about German victory right up until the very end and therefore it was a huge shock to the people when it ended in defeat
• Reasons for German defeat

  • Failure of the Schlieffen Plan to result in a quick victory
  • Stalemate (neither side could advance) turning WWI into a war of attrition (resources gradually running out over time)
  • The Allies' naval blockade limiting German supplies- including food, clothing and soap. This affected the civilian population as much as the German armed forces
  • Strengths of the Allies- especially following the USA's entry into the war, bringing fresh troops, and eventually supplies
  • Limitation of Germany's war economy. Germany had been unable to successfully fully mobilise its economy for the prolonged war that followed
• Consequences of the First World War

  1. Political:

  2. Germany had to change how it was governed due to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II

  3. Distinct threat of revolution in the air

  4. Mutinies amongst the sailors

  5. Formation of workers' councils (or soviets) in cities

  6. Full scale chaos emerging around Germany

  7. Social:

  8. Increased divisions between rich and poor

  9. Shortages had been bad and got worse

  10. Family life had been affected significantly by war casualties and increased women in the workforce

  11. Economic:

  12. War had been expensive and long

  13. Industrial production had fallen

  14. Inflation was widespread and severe

  15. Further weakened by the Treaty of Versailles
• C) The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles

  
• General Ludendorff


  One of the main military leaders
• General Ludendorff realised an Allied invasion would lead to destructive internal disturbances


  He pushed for political change
• Ludendorff wanted to turn Germany from an autocracy into a constitutional monarchy


  From a country ruled by an absolute monarch to a democratic government with a monarch
• Ludendorff wanted to do this

  • To ensure the Allies would give more favourable peace terms
  • To prevent the outbreak of revolutionary disturbances in Germany
• If Germany became a democracy

  The responsibility for the defeat would shift from the military leadership, landowners and conservative forces within Germany, and would put the responsibility and blame for the defeat on the new democracy
• What actually happened


  1. Germany became a parliamentary democracy

  2. Prince Max von Baden was appointed Chancellor

  3. Kaiser Wilhelm II gave up his powers over the army and the navy to the Reichstag

  4. The chancellor and his government were made accountable to the Reichstag instead of the Kaiser

  5. Armistice negotiations with the Allies were opened
• This was not enough to put an end to revolutionary disturbances
• Revolutionary disturbances


  • A mutiny at Wilhelmshaven near Kiel on the 29th October
  • The creation of workers' and soldiers' councils in various cities, similar to the soviets set up by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917- 6th November
• When the realisation that the war was lost hit the German people

  The anger of the people made it clear that more drastic government changes were needed
• By the 9th November

  1. The Kaiser had abdicated

  2. A left wing provisional coalition government was formed by Friedrich Ebert
• New republic set up in Germany

  Left-wing provisional coalition government had been set up (temporary government, made up from a number of different left wing parties)
• Support for that new republic was limited
• Many Germans wanted an authoritarian government