part 1: growth of democracy

• What was Germany like before unification?

  • loose collection of small states: linked similar culture and language
  • Prussia was the biggest state
  • unified in 1871
• What was Prussian Militarism and why did this become so important in the new Germany?

  • Prussia wanted to unite other states into a unified Germany
  • Having a mighty army and advanced weapons was important because unified Germany could be strong and well defended.
• How did the Kaiser rule over Germany?

  • Bunderstrat: representatives from each of the states in Germany assembled to meet and advise him on new laws
  • Reichstag: elected by public and its members could pass or reject laws
• Why might some people describe Kaiser's government a dictatorship dressed up as a democracy?

  • Kaiser disliked working with Reichstag
  • didn't believe in democracy
  • relied on his army and military advisors
  • Kaiser held ultimate power (could dismiss the chancellor and ignore the Bunderstrat and Reichstag when he disagreed).
• What were Kaiser Wilhelm II's ambitions and beliefs?

  • wanted to make Germany a leading industrial power
  • wanted an empire to compete for his place in the sun
  • wanted most powerful armed forces in the world
  • wanted a navy like Britain's to enable him to fight for his place in the sun (gain more power)
• Describe 3 ways in which German economy grew between 1890 and 1914

  • surpassed Britain in industrial production
  • produced more iron and steel than Britain
  • German electrical and chemical goods dominated European markets (enables them to become global leaders and traders)
• How did the economic growth lead to a rise in socialism?

  • the working class were the largest social group in Germany
  • wanted better representation
  • political groups like the SPD started becoming more popular
• how did socialism pose as a problem for the Kaiser?

  • they didn’t believe in the class system and monarchy
  • trade unions became more popular (by 1914 membership was 3.3 million)
  • in 1903, the SPD had 81 seats in the reichstag, which made it harder for the Kaiser to pass legislation
  • the Kaiser still saw the SPD and trade unions as a threat and didn’t wanna give them more power
• How did the Kaiser try to deal with the threat from socialism?

  • introduced limited social reforms: the Workers Protection Act, which introduced safety in the workplace
  • Weltpolitik focused on expanding German territory, army and navy. The Kaiser hoped this would distract them and appeal a sense of patriotism with Germany becoming a world power
• What were the naval laws?

  extract tax to fund navy & expansion
• Why were the naval laws unpopular with socialists?

  • increased spending on navy led to an increase in taxes, which affected the poor
  • naval laws were popular and opposition towards them were seen as unpatriotic
  • as a result, socialist campaigned against the naval laws and SPD lost 36 seats in the 1907 election
• why did the tide of feeling in Germany turn against the Kaiser during WW1?

  • naval blockades prevented imports of food and led to starvation
  • people were war-weary: epidemic of the Spanish flu, which lead to widespread deaths
  • a jewish communist (Kurt Eisner) encouraged a mass uprising amongst workers
  • the navy and troops mutinied
• how did the social unrest lead to the November 1918 revolution?

  • SPD staged a public protest in Berlin calling for the abdication of the Kaiser
  • the Kaiser abdicated and Germany was declared a republic in November 1918
  • on November 11th the Armistice was signed under pressure from hunger and low public morale
• why did the new government sign the armistice?

  • right wing Germans believed that Germany could have won the war and that the military and their sacrifices had been betrayed by socialists and communists
• who saw the signing of the armistice as a betrayal?

  • socialists signed it allowing assurances from the US that there would be a fair peace that followed.
  • those who signed the armistice were nick named the ’November Criminals’
• why did the new german government came to be known as the Weimar government?

  the government relocated to Weimar because Berlin was too dangerous and unstable
• who was the first president of the new government?

  Frederich Ebert
• what is a constitution?

  • a set of written rules
  • how to govern
• how was the new constitution democratic?

  • small political parties were given seats
  • women could vote for the first time and so could adults aged over 20
  • MP’s were elected every 4 years and were given seats in parliament based on proportional representation
• what were the constitutions weaknesses and flaws?

  • proportional representation meant that there were too many parties present. this made decision making very slow at a time when Germany needed decisive leadership
  • the president had the ability to override decisions using Article 48
  • the whole system was inefficient and idealistic, which meant it didn’t work well in practice
• what was Article 48?

  special emergency laws and whoever had access to it could rule without parliament
• what was the social unrest in Germany between 1919-1922 and how were they dealt with?

  • The Sparticist Revolt 1919: communists led by Rosa Luxembourg and Carl Liebknecht tried to take over Berlin.

  50,000 workers went on strike but the revolt was violently suppressed by the Freikorps

  • The Kapp Putsch 1920: organised to attempt to overthrow the government (rebellion)
• Why was it so dangerous to be a Weimar politician in these years?

  • there were 350 political assassinations between 1919-1922
  • in 1921, Mathias Erzberger was shot dead by a right wing group because he signed the armistice
• Why was the Ruhr invaded?

  • because of the failure to keep up with the reparations payments
• who was the Ruhr invaded by?

  • French and Belgian troops as Germany failed to pay the second instalment
  • took over the factories that reserved coal and steel (this was a trigger of the hyperinflation crisis)