my cards for germany

• situation in 1918 


  naval blockade prevented food and supplies entering germany and this meant many people were starved, and had a huge lack of shortages
• 9th nov 1918


  kaiser abdicates as he loses people's support including army , now germany was a republic
• declaring a republic 


  once kaisers abdication philipp scheidemann declared republic , and the leader of SDP appointed council of peoples representative
• strength of weimar republic 


  • germany was a democracy
  • allowed small parties to have a say through proportional representation
  • voting age was 21 for men and women
  • no one had too much power and could be elected out various ways
• weakness of weimar constitution


  -proportional representation often led to coalition governments and they were quite unstable

  -article 48 defeated purpose of of a democracy
• why was ToV unpopular

  many people believed that germany could have won the war as they were unaware of germany's condition during war , so the signing came as a massive shock and also as an embarrassment. ebert had no choice as germany was extremely weak
• terms of Tov


  • germany was reduced to some of its land , 13% of land - usually used in exports so tied with economy
  • army was reduced to 100,000 soldiers and only allowed 6 battleships - this was shameful and made them feel weak to damage
  • also forced germany to pay reparations of 6.6 bill and was a huge amount , economy was alr ruined so even worse
  • forced to take blame article 231 which was humiliating
• spartacists belief 1919 - extreme communism 


  they wanted power for the people and communism

  rosa luxemburg and karl liebnecht tried to march down berlin and take over newspapers and telegram bureaus
• spartacists uprising resolved 


  the government asked the freikorps to put down the revolt , and they did to both leaders were murdered
• kapp putsch 1920 - freikorps 


  ex-german soldiers led by wolfgang kapp and marched through berlin attempting to gain power and overthrow the government
• kapp putsch resolved

  the government asked for the general public to put on a strike and this stopped the putsch all together , so they didnt have any resources
• how many political murders though 1919 and 1920

  376
• occupation of Ruhr 1923


  germany could not keep up with the reparations as they were in debt , so the french decided to take on industrial materials in place of money . so they invaded the ruhr (which was a very rich part of germany)
• impact of occupation of the Ruhr


  german workers in the Ruhr responded by passive resistance , but still needed money so the government printed more money to pay workers- just resulted in hyperinflation .
• hyperinflation 1923 pros

  everyday life was impossible for many

  1. people with fixed debts and loans easily paid off debts
  2. farmers had more value
  3. foreigners found own currency gave them an advantage
• hyperinflations cons 


  -wages could not support majority of working class

  -those with savings basically lost all their moneys worth

  -old people with pensions become worthless
• recovery of hyperinflation 


  gustav stresemann created rentenmark and this stabilized economy, also stopped the resistance in the ruhr
• dawes plan 1924


  The economic plan that allowed germany to take in economic loans from america and also extended payment dates
• young plan 1929


  reduce the reparations to from 6.6 b to 2 bil and also extend the amount of time for germany to be pay them (59 years)
• locarno pact 1925


  britain , france , belgium and germany agree to respect new borders with france and shows improved relations with france
• league of nations 1926


  germany allowed to join the LoN , previously weren't allowed , and allowed them to establish world power and avoid problems
• kellogg briand pact 1928


  62 countries agreed to not use war to settle disputes , so showed that peace was being promised - shows germany is internationally recognised
• women in 1924-29


  women were given equal rights at 21 , nearly 10% were part of political roles , allow had greater freedom to smoke+take big jobs - showing a change in the traditional roles they were expected in
• living standards 1924-29


  increased as unemployment insurance was set up in 1927 , unemployment fell to 1.8 million by 1928 , working hours reduced , 2 million homes built by 1924 - 1931
• culture 1924-1929

  culture spread as a freedom of expression , german films like metropolis , painters like otto dix that highlighted effects of war in art , critical institutions like frankfurt uni.
• hitlers start 


  he fought as a soldier in WW1 and after the outcome of ToV he decided to join the Germans workers party that was first led by anton drexler
• 25 point programme 


  in 1920 hitler wrote a political manifesto that showed the partities basic beliefs : german people are better , no jews , lebensraum (space for german people) , abolish ToV
• rebrand to NSDAP 


  In 1920 he adopted structure for his party , with hitler being at the top and other chancellors being in charge of certain nazi groups
• SA (brownshirts) 1921 


  They were hitler's own militia and were made of ex-soldiers who were under ernst rohm's leadership

  their job was to disrupt rival meeting and showcase nazi propaganda
• munich putsch 1923 


  Hitler attempted to overthrow the bavarian beer hall where many military and political leaders would be . He announced a revolution with SA at his side , however the putsch failed to take control and news was leaked to the police
• consequence of munich putsch 


  • failed due to a lack of support and 14 nazis killed
  • hitler realised he needed to gain power through political means
  • used trials to gain publicity
  • also released mein kampf
  • served 9 months
• mein kampf 


  aryans are superior , traditional gender roles , jews are bad
• reorganising nazi party 1925


  Hitler set up different branches across the country to further control spread of nazi ideology
• formation of SS 1925


  they were made to be hitler's personal bodyguards and were led by himmler
• bamberg conference 1926


  some splits in the party were unacceptable and hitler needed to deal with it by making it clear that it was only socialist and followed hitler
• little support fo nazis (lean years)

  stresemann improved relations

  The working class had many benefits so didnt need to look for other support
• effect of wall street crash on germany 


  • people/businesses lost their savings
  • mass unemployment (1929 1.6)
  • taxes went up by bruning (he also often used article 48)
  • growing support for small parties (230 seats in 1932)
• nazis increase in support 1930-1932

  • fear of communism of big businesses
  • lost face in weimar republic
  • hitler was a persuasive figure
  • promised to make germany better again
  • intimidation to rival groups
  • also set up soup kitchens to show support to working class and problems of hunger
• amount of seats for nazis in 1932 july to nov 1932

  37%- 33%
• re-election with hindenburg 


  1932 hindenburg stood for re-election but failed and only 46% of votes so stood for re-election