KING

• Kaiser Wilhelm II


  • Germany produces twice as much steel as the UK in 1914
  • The population of Berlin was 2 million
  • 1/3 seats in the Reichstag were won by the SPD
• Economic impact of the Treaty of Versailles


  • The reparations are £6.6 billion paid in £50 million year instalments
  • The French invade the Ruhr in January 1923 after the Germans default on the 2nd instalment in December 1922
  • The French invasion leads to hyperinflation: 201 billion for a loaf of bead in November 1923
• Spartacist Uprising 1919


  • A Communist attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic in January 1919
  • The Freikorps fight the Spartacists on behalf of the Weimar Republic
  • The Separatist leaders are executed by the Freikorps against the wishes of President Ebert
• Kapp Putsch 1920


  • An attempt by a Freikorps unit to overthrow the Weimar Government in 1920
  • The police and army do not fire on Kapp's men. Ebert flees to Dresden
  • The workers in Berlin go on strike for 5 days and the Kapp gives up. The police allow him to escape to Holland
• Gustav Stresemann 1924-29


  • The Retenmark is introduced in 1923
  • The Dawes Plan is $800 million from the US in 1924
  • The Young Plan reduces reparations by 20% in 1929
  • The Locarno Treaties make peace with France and Belgium in 1925
• Economy under Schact 1933-36


  • Schact reduces unemployment from 6 million to 302000
  • Schact's New Plan is to get Germany back to work
  • He borrows money to build autobhans
  • The RAD is set up for unemployed men between the ages of 18-25
• Economy under Goring 1936-39


  • Goring's Four Year Plan is to get Germany ready for war
  • More weapons are made, this leads to a shortage of animals: Guns of Butter
  • Autarky: man made rubber and man made oil
  • The Herman Goring Steelworks: the largest in the world
• Women


  • The birth rate in 1900 was 5 per women, in 1933 it was 2
  • The Mother's Cross: Gold for 8; Silver for 6; Bronze for 4
  • The 800RM marriage loan; pay back 200RM less for every child
  • kinder, küche, kirche
• Young people


  • PE is 15% of the timetable. RE is banned in 1937
  • All sports clubs in Germany are given to the HJ
  • The HJ and the League of German Maidens are made compulsory in 1936. You can be put into foster care in 1939
  • The HJ is popular until WW2
• Workers


  • Trade Unions are banned on May 1st 1933 and workers have to join the DAF
  • Meat consumption is down 20% in the 1930s
  • The KdF provides 1 million free hikes in 1938
• Jewish policy


  • Boycott against Jewish shops on 1st April 1933
  • The Nuremburg Laws in September 1935 make Jews subjects of Germany
  • 200 Jews are killed on Kristallnacht on 9-10 November 1938
• Churches


  • The Concordat is signed in 1933. The Catholic Centre Party vote for the Enabling Act
  • The 28 Protestant Churches are forced to join the Reich Church
  • The Nazis set up their own religion called the German Faith Movement
• Opposition in the Army


  • The July 20th Bomb Plot kills 4 at a meeting Hitler is attending
  • Many officers feel Hitler should surrender to the UK and the USA, whilst carry on fighting the USSR
• Opposition in the Churches


  • The Confessional Church is a traditional Protestant Church set up by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • The Pope writes a letter saying the Nazis are anti-Christian in 1937 (the Papal Encyclical)
  • The Nazis stop Action T4 because of protests organised by Cardinal Galen
• Opposition by Young People


  • The Swing Youth listen to American music, drink and smoke
  • The Edelweiss Pirates assassinated the head of the Gestapo in Cologne in 1944
  • Hans and Sophie Scholl (the White Rose Movement) are executed for handing out anti-Nazi leaflets in February 1943
• WW2


  • Cities are bombed heavily: 90000 are killed in Dresden in 1945
  • Refugees flee the USSR in the eastern parts of Germany
  • The Battle for Berlin is the last major battle. Hitler commits suicide on April 30th 1945