germany

• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated

  1918
• The Armistice was signed which ended WWI


  1918
• The Treaty of Versailles


  1919
• The Spartacist uprising


  1919
• The Weimar Republic was established under Ebert


  1919
• The Kapp Putsch


  1920
• The French invaded the Ruhr area of Germany


  1923
• Hyperinflation led to rapid price rises from early 1923


  1923
• Stresemann became chancellor


  1923
• The Munich Putsch


  1923
• The Dawes Plan was agreed

  1924
• Hitler's book Mein Kampf was published


  1925
• The Locarno Pact was signed

  1925
• The Bamberg Conference


  1926
• Germany joined the League of nations

  1926
• The Kellogg Briand Pact was signed


  1928
• The Young Plan was agreed


  1929
• The Wall Street Crash in America led to high levels of unemployment in Germany


  1929
• The Nazi party became the largest party in the Reichstag


  1932
• Hitler was appointed Chancellor


  1933
• The Reichstag fire


  1933
• The Enabling Act


  1933
• Boycott of Jewish shops

  1933
• The Gestapo was set up

  1933
• The Concordat with Catholic Church was agreed


  1933
• The Night of the Long Knives


  1934
• Death of Hindenburg


  1934
• The Nuremberg Laws were introduced


  1935
• The Berlin Olympics


  1936
• Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

  1938
• WWII began


  1939
• The First World War ended

  1918
• Germany was crumbling, having been defeated by the combined forces of Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the USA
• Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party, became the first German President and Germany was declared a republic
• Impact of the First World War on Germany

  • 2 million German troops died
  • Over 4 million wounded
  • Germany's debt increased from 50 billion marks to 150 billion marks
  • The British navy was preventing supply ships from reaching German ports, leading to food shortages and more than 750,000 Germans died from malnutrition
  • Food shortages led to riots and strikes across Germany
  • Soldiers and sailors began to refuse to follow orders, triggering the German Revolution
• The German Revolution was ordinary people and soldiers demanding an end to the war and the removal of Kaiser Wilhelm as Germany's leader
• Timeline of the October/November revolution


  1. Early October 1918 - new government formed by Prince Max of Baden

  2. End of October 1918 - Kiel Mutiny, German sailors refuse to fight the British

  3. November 9th 1918 - Kaiser abdicates

  4. November 10th 1918 - New republic set up under Frederich Ebert

  5. November 11th 1918 - Ebert signs the ARMISTICE with the Allies
• Ebert took steps to increase confidence in the new republic
• Ebert's steps to increase confidence in the new republic

  • Civil servants who had run the country with the Kaiser were kept in office to work with soldiers and workers councils
  • The army would not be reformed, in return the army kept the new republic in power
  • Industry was assured the new republic would not nationalise private industry
  • Trade unions - Ebert promised leaders the republic would try to achieve an 8 hour day
• Despite Ebert's efforts, some extreme political parties were not happy and Germany was still in a fragile state