Weimar Republic 1918-29

Cards (175)

  • world war 1 lasted from 1914-1918
  • War was devastating for who ?
    germany
  • German people were suffering severe hardship
  • The allies did What to Germany ?
    naval blockades - prevented food and essential food imports =starvation
  • Public opinion turned against kaiser Wilhelm II - ruled German empire like a king
  • Kurt Eisner encouraged general uprising - mass strikes in Munich
  • By november 1918 , huge public protest was held in Berlin , members of SPD called for kaisers resignation
  • When did kaiser Wilhelm abdicate ?
    9th november 1918
  • On same day that kaiser abdicated two different socialist parties - social Democratic Party and independent social Democratic Party declared republic
  • What is a republic ?

    country ruled with no monarch , power held by people instead
  • Germany was made of 18 states and each one had its own government
  • On 10th November all state leaders had been appointed by monarch left their posts , new revolutionary state governments took over instead
  • What did the signing of armistice include ?

    ceasefire- 11th November to end ww1 was agreed , allies signed an armistice with Germany
  • armistice ?

    truce
  • Who were the allies ?

    britain , France , USA
  • The new republic was under pressure to sign , government didn’t think Germany could continue fighting why ?
    its people were starving , military low
  • Who didn’t support the armistice and why ?
    right-wing Germans - they saw truce as betrayal , they believed Germany could still win war
  • What did the socialists do ?

    set up temporary government
  • After the abdication of kaiser , Germany was disorganised true or false ?

    true
  • The temporary national government consisted of who ?

    SPD and USPD
  • What was the temporary national government called ?
    council of people’s representatives
  • How long did the council of people’s representatives control Germany for ?
    until january 1919
  • Why was the weimar Republic designed ?
    give German people a voice
  • germany was now a democracy what does that mean ?
    people would say how country was run
  • Who was the first president of Weimar Republic ?
    friedrich ebert
  • With Philip scheidemann as chancellor
  • Who was the leader of the SPD ?
    Ebert
  • What was the SPD?
    moderate party of socialists
  • in February 1919 members of the new reichstag met at Weimar to create a new constitution for Germany
  • The Weimar constitution made Germany more democratic
  • What was reichstag ?
    new German Parliament, members elected every 4 years using proportional representation
  • What is proportional representation ?
    where the proportion of seats a party wins in a parliament is roughly the same as the proportion of total votes they win
  • Who was the president elected by ?
    German people
  • president
    Was elected every 7years , chooses the chancellor and is head of the army , they can dissolve the reichstag , call new elections and suspend constitution
  • What was the reichsrat?
    Second house of parliament, consists of members from each local region , can delay measures passed by reichstag
  • The constitution
    allowed women to vote for the first time and lowered voting age to 20
  • But the constitution had weaknesses -
  • Proportional representation meant that even parties with small number of votes were guaranteed to get into reichstag -meant difficult to make decisions because so many parties - with different point of views
  • When a decision couldn’t be reached , president could suspend constitution and pass laws without reichstags consent
  • Main problem of proportional representation was ?
    difficult to make decisions , due to too many parties with different viewpoints