GERMANY

• germany 1890s

  • created in 1871

  •after defeat of france

  •prussia was the most powerful state

  •called the second reich (second empire)
• germany 1890s

  •very large

  •lots of natural resources

  •wealthy and very new

  •surrounded by france and russia (2 very powerful countries)

  • needed a sea port to receive and send shipments
• Kaiser wilhelm II

  •in 1888 kaiser wilhelm becomes emporor

  • he wanted to make germany as powerful as britain

  • so built factories (causing industrialisation) causing social issues
• order of rule in germany:

  the kaiser

  the chancellor and government

  the reichtag (parliament)

  the electorate
• the kaiser

  •hereditary position

  •has the job for life, couldn’t be voted out

  •controlled the army

  •could propose laws
• the chancellor and government:

  •government was made up of ministers who helped the kaiser

  • the chancellor ( most important) proposed new laws to the reichtag
• the reichtag:

  •members were elected every 3 years

  • could agree to reject laws put forward by the kaiser

  •the government needed the reichtag to agree on how money was spent
• the electorate:

  • men over 25 voted for members of the reichtag

  • the people they voted for belonged to political parties
• bundesrat: 2 representatives from each german state
• armistice: an agreement or truce to stop fighting
• constitution: a set of rules by which a country is governed
• democratic republic: a system of running a country
• free corps: ex-soldiers who formed a right wing paramilitary group
• majority: over half of the votes or politicians in parliament
• proportional representation: a political system in which the number of politicians for a party is directly related to the number of votes that party wins
• sparticus league: a group of german communists who were inspired by the russian revolution of 1917 and wanted a similar uprising to happen in germany
• weimar republic: the democratic system which ran germany between 1919 and 1933
• most germans were surprised they lost WW1 as the german propaganda i decayed that they were winning and censored anything that said anything
• terms of cease fire of WW1:

  1. surrender all their arms and warships
  2. germans to leave occupied territory
  3. withdraw all forces from the west of the river Rhine
• fighting stopped in ww1 at 11’O clock on the 11th of november
• after WW1 many german citizens felt betrayed, calling the government “november criminals“
• republic: country without a king or queen
• the problem with proportional representation is that no party ever gets over the majority as there are so many parties
• the president:

  •elected for 7 years at a time

  • chooses chancellor from the biggest party in the reichtag

  •head of state

  • monarch like

  • could declare war and sign treaties
• the chancellor (after the weimar constitution):

  •like a prime minister

  •runs germany

  •ideally from the biggest party

  • could pass laws but needed support from the reichtag

  •chooses ministers to help him run the country
• the reichtag (after the weimar constitution)

  •elected every 4 years by the people
• the german people (after the weimar constitution)

  • all men and women, over 20, were aloud to vote

  •they vote for their president and the deputies to represent them
• article 48

  • in an emergency the president can pass laws without consulting the reichtag

  •known as the suicide clause (deemed as political suicide)

  • the president determines the emergency
• national assembly: the weimar constitution had to be drawn up very quickly under the threat of revolution (had to meet in weimar because of violence in berlin) they didn’t have much experience but they reached an agreement in 6 months
• coalition: (two or more political parties working together) this is okay, until they disagree and the government collapses
• the treaty of versailles:

  signed in 1919 by the weimar
• terms of the treaty of versailles:

  1. Land lost: west prussia goes to poland, east prussia is cut off from the rest of germany
  2. Germany was disarmed: the german army was reduced to 100,000 men which is not enough maintain germany
  3. germany was forced to pay reparation at £6,600 plus shipping coal and timber. loss of land made it harder to pay reparations
• SPARTICIST REVOLT:

  •communists

  •jan 1919

  •lead by ross luxemburg and karl leibknect

  •wanted to achieve a communist state in germany

  •frekorps hates communists and killed most of the spartacists
• THE BAVARIAN REVOLT

  •communists

  • march- may 1919

  •there was a communist takeover in munich and a socialist republic was set up

  • crushed by the freikorps
• THE KAPP PUTCH

  •nationalists (right wing)

  •march 1920

  •frekorps weren’t happy about the treaty of versailles, fear of communism

  •Ebert convinced to berliners to go on strike, they did because they didn’t want the kaiser back
• MUNICH PUTSCH

  •nazis

  •8th november 1923

  •nazi attempt to seize power

  • police intercepted the Nazis

  •general ludendorff and hitler were arrested
• Germany's economic problems began


  First World War
• Four years of fighting had been very expensive for Germany
• The British naval blockade of Germany's ports made matters much worse
• Imports were prevented from reaching Germany and this led to shortages of food and fuel