GERMANY

• Paul von Hindenburg
• General Erich Ludendorff
• Kaiser Wilhelm II
• November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
• January 1919 elections for new government
• February 1919 New constitution agreed in the town of Weimar + President Ebert
• System of government

  President controlled army, administration, made emergency laws

  Chancellor responsible to the Reichstag + made laws controlled the government + Foreign policy

  Proportional representation + Bill of Rights
• Weimar Republic Phases

  1919 - 23 Problems

  1923 - 29 Prosperity

  1929 - 33 Collapse
• Problems 1919 - 1923

  Ineffective constitution - Article 48 gave president 'emergency' powers, Proportional voting = lots of small partes + frequent changes in government, Army + Judges Right-Wing
• Problems 1919 -1923

  Left-Wing Rebellion

  • 1919 Spartacists led by Luxemburg + Leibknecht workers councils seized power + communists took over Bavaria
  • 1920 Red Army rebelled in Rhur
• Problems 1919 - 1923

  Right-Wing Agitation

  • 1920 Kapp Putsch rebellion in Berlin + Nationalist terrorists murdered politicians
• Problems 1919 - 1923

  Invasion + Inflation

  • France occupies Ruhr = workers on strike = hyperinflation caused by money printed to pay strikers
• Problems 1919 - 1923

  • Munich Putsch Nazis try to take control of Bavaria
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Communists wanted world revolution + hated new government (Democracy)
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Right Wing politicians hated 'November criminals' those that signed the Treaty of Versailles wanting the Kaiser back
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Officials, judges disloyal + hated the government sympathetic to the Right
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Army led by Seeckt unreliable to protect the government
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Proportional Representation / voting, prevented 1 party from gaining majority
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 -1924

  • Occupation of the Ruhr by the French humiliated the Germans + led to hyperinflation
• Instability of Weimar Republic 1919 - 1924

  • Printing of more money to pay the strikers -> led to hyper inflation
• Weimar Republic Survival 1919 - 1924

  • Freikorps put down Communists Revolts -> Spartacists 1919 + Red Army 1920
  • Army put down Communists Revolts -> Bavaria 1919 + Rhineland 1923
• Kapp Putsch 1920

  • Government attempt to demobilize two Freikorps brigades
  • Wolfgang Kapp + Ludendorff start a new government
  • Strike from the labor unions caused the Putsch to collapse
• Munich Putsch 1923

  • Hitler + Ludendorff attempt to start insurrection in Germany against Weimar Republic
  • Failed