Germany revision

The war ends

 Near the end of the war, the allies had set up naval blockades
 This prevented food and essential goods from being imported
 Near the end of the war, many Germans wanted a democracy and turned
against the Kaiser
 In November 1918, a public protest was held in Berlin
 The Kaiser abdicated on November 9th 1918
 The SPD and USPD declared a republic-a country ruled without a
monarchy; the power is held by those elected
 A temporary nationalist government was set up called the Council of
Peoples Representatives

The Weimar Republic

 Friedrich Ebert was the first president of the Weimar Republic
 On February 1919, the constitution was created
 President
-elected every 7 years
-Chose the chancellor and the head of the army
-Can dissolve the Reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution
 Reichstag
-The new German parliament
Members are elected every 4 years using proportional representation
 Reichsrat
-Second (less powerful) house of parliament
-Consists of members from each local region
-Can delay measures passed by the Reichstag
 Allowed women to vote for the first time
 Lowered the voting age to 20
 Gave the German public greater power
 Proportional representation meant that parties with a small number of
votes could make it into the Reichstag
  This made it difficult to make decisions
 Article 48 allowed the president to suspend the constitution and pass
laws without the Reichstag’s consent
 Article 48 was only to be used in an emergency but became a useful way
to get around disagreements
 This undermined the new democracy

Early unpopularity
 The new German government were not invited and had no say in the
Treaty of Versailles
 They had little choice than to sign the treaty
 Germany was too weak to risk restarting the conflict
 Article 231 said Germany had to take full responsibility for the start of
the war
 Germanys army was reduced to 100,000 men, no armoured vehicles,
aircrafts or submarines and they could only have 6 warships
 6.6 billion in reparations
 Germany lost many of its colonies-Alsace-Loraine to France, Upen and
Malmedy to Belgium, Northen Schleswig to Denmark, West Prussia and
Silesia to Poland and Hultschin to Czechoslovakia
 The Rhineland was demilitarized
 Many Germans called the treaty a “Diktat” and blamed Ebert for
accepting the terms
 Some people felt Germany could have won the war and felt “stabbed in
the back” by the Weimar politicians
 They became known as the “November Criminals”
 It harmed the republics popularity and created political and economic
unrest that hindered the government or years to come

Years of unrest
 People blamed communists and Jews for losing the war
 On January 19th, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to take over
Berlin-The Spartacist Revolt
 Ebert used the right-wing Freikorps to stop the rebellion
 On March 1920, the Freikorps took part in the Kapp putsch led by
Wolfgang Kapp
  However, German workers opposed of this and staged a general strike
meaning Berlin was paralysed and they had to give up
 By 1923, Germany could no longer pay of the reparations so France and
Belgium occupied the Ruhr
 This caused a huge strike problem leading to Germany printing money to
solve their debt problem
 This plunged the economy into hyperinflation
 German currency became worthless, nobody wanted to trade with
Germany causing food shortages, bank savings became worthless-the
middle classes were hit the hardest
 Immense hardship had now become associated with the rise of Weimar
Republic

Recovery
 In 1923, Gustav Stresemann became chancellor
 His domestic and international policies helped the German economy
recover, resulting in the “Golden Years” of the Weimar Republic
 In September 1923, he ended the strike in the Ruhr reducing tension
between Germany, France and Belgium
 Stresemann replaced the German mark with the Rentenmark to stabilise
Germanys currency
 Stresemann created the “great coalition”-a group of moderate, pro-
democracy socialist parties which allowed parliament to make decisions
quicker
 In November 1923, Stresemann became the foreign minister
 The Dawes Plan-signed in 1924 and secured France and Belgiums
withdrawal from the Ruhr and agreed more realistic payment dates for
the reparations. It also secured loans form the USA to help pay of debts,
however, this now meant Germanys economy were reliant on these
loans
 The Locarno Pact-signed in October 1925 agreed that Germany, France
and Belgium would respect their borders
 The League of Nations-Germany joined in 1926. Germany was re-
established as a international power
 The Kellogg-Briand Pact-signed in 1928 alongside 65 other countries.
They promised not to use violence to settle disputes
 The Young Plan-agreed in 1929 and reduced the reparations to a quarter
of the original amount. It also gave Germany 59 years to pay them
  In October 1929, Stresemann died just before the disaster of the Wall
Street Crash
 This plunged the world into a global economic depression
 This was a problem for Germany as their economy was reliant on loans
from America that they were no longer getting

Changes under the Weimar Republic

 Unemployment-In 1927 the government introduced unemployment
benefits that workers could pay into and receive cash benefits if they
became unemployed
 Wages-The working classes became more prosperous. Wages for
industrial workers rose quickly in the late 1920s
 Housing-More than 2 million new homes were built between 1924 and
1931
 However not everyone benefited from higher standards of living-The
middle classes felt ignored by the Weimar Republic making it easier for
their political opponents to gain support
 Women were awarded the vote and could enter politics easier
 The traditional role of women began to change
 Some German nationalists however, thought giving women more power
and freedom threatened traditional family life and values in Germany
 Artists began to question traditional forms and styles, especially ones
that focused on authority and militarism
 Not all Germans liked the rejection of traditional forms and values in the
Weimar Culture. Some were afraid it symbolised a loss of German
tradition

Early stages of the Nazi party

 Hitler joined the German workers party in January 1919
 In 1920, the party was rebranded to the Nazi party and was led by Hitler
 It was a nationalist party that believed the interests of Germans should
be in the centre of government policies. They were anti-Semitic and was
opposed to the Weimar Republic
 On February 1920, the Nazis promoted their policy in the 25 point
programme
 It stressed the superiority of the German people
  Wanted to raise pensions and improve health and education but only for
German people
 Rejected the Treaty of Versailles
 In 1921 Hitler formed his own militia called the SA
 They were political thugs who carried out violent actions

The Munich Putsch

 In 1923, things were going badly for the Weimar Republic-it seemed
weak
 Hyperinflation was at its peak and there were food riots
 Many Germans were angry at the French and Belgium occupation of the
Ruhr
 On November 1923, Hitlers soldiers occupied a beer hall in Bavaria,
Munich-he announced a revolution had begun
 However, news of the revolt had leaked to the police so the next day
when Hitler marched on Munich, they were waiting and they fired on the
rebels quickly collapsing the revolution
 Hitler was arrested and the Putsch failed, however, his trial gave him
valuable publicity
 In prison he wrote a book called Mein Kampf-my struggles-which
described his beliefs and ambitions
 It was read by over a million German people and was vital in spreading
his Nazi ideology
 Nazi support declined in the mid-1920s as the German economy began
to recover
 The Nazi party was banned after the Munich Putsch, along with the SA
 The ban was lifted on February 1925
 Hitler changed tactics-he wanted to gain control through the democratic
system
 In 1926, Hitler held the Bamberg conference
-Hitler was worried that the party was divided in 2. He made it clear they
were to follow his agenda

The Great Depression

 Germanys economy was built on unstable foundations
  After the Wall Street Crash, America could no longer afford to loan
Germany money anymore
 Germanys economy crashed without American help
 Mass unemployment
 Industrial production went into decline
 Heinrich Bruning became chancellor in March 1930
 Bruning increased the cost of importing food to help German agriculture,
but this also raised food prices
 Government pensions and salaries were reduced and tax increased
 Social services were cut back, and unemployment benefits were reduced
 These policies caused standards of living to fall
 He was nicknamed the “Hunger Chancellor”
 High unemployment and reduced benefits also meant that the Weimar
Republic lost some of its backing from the working classes who had
always formed a large part of their support
 His policies were so unpopular he had trouble passing them in the
Reichstag
 He had to rely on article 48
 He also asked Hindenburg to suspend the constitution so he could make
decisions without parliamentary approval
 This made the Weimar Republic no longer feel like a democracy as the
German people felt neglected. This led to them turning to alternative
political parties like the Nazi party

The rise of the Nazis

 An important factor in the Nazis popularity was Hitlers personality
 He was a patriotic and energetic speaker
 His speeches brought hope to those who listened
 In the 1932 election campaigns, he was depicted as Germanys saviour
 The Great Depression made Nazi popularity soar
 Hitler promised to make Germany great again which appealed to the
growing ranks of unemployed and young people
 Wealthy business men who had lost in the Great Depression supported
the Nazis anti-communist stance
 People supported the Nazis anti-communist and anti-Semitic views and
saw the Jewish as scapegoats
  By the 1930s, the Nazi party was well structured and well organised. The
SA held demonstrations, distributed propaganda and appeared more
disciplined
 This helped Hitler secure support in the middle classes
 Propaganda was very efficient
 It targeted specific groups which made people feel more valued by the
party

Hitler became Chancellor

 In May 1932, Chancellor Bruning was dismissed and replaced by Von
Papen
 Hitler demanded to be made chancellor but Hindenburg refused
 In December 1932, Hindenburg replaced Von Papen with one of his
advisors, Kurt Von Schleicher
 Papen made a deal with Hitler where they agreed if Papen convinced
Hindenburg to make Hitler chancellor, Hitler had to make him Vice-
chancellor
 In January 1933, Papen persuaded Hitler to replace Schleicher with Hitler
 Papen argued they would be able to control Hitler like a puppet

Achieving total power

 Hitler controlled the news, media and made opposition meetings
banned
 Hitler used the SA to terrorize political opponents
 The SA raided the communist headquarters in Berlin and claimed to have
found evidence that the communists were planning an uprising against
the government
 In February 1933, a fire broke out in the Reichstag and Hitler blamed the
communist party and used the event to whip up anti-communist feelings
 Hitler used the fire to claim that communists were a threat to the
country
 Hindenburg issued a decree giving Hitler emergency powers
 Hitler used these powers to intimidate communist voters
 The decree also allowed the SA to round up and imprison 4000
communist members
 In March 1933, the Nazi party did not win majority of the seats so Hitler
made the communist party illegal
 This gave him enough support to bring in the enabling act allowing him
to govern for 4 years without parliament
 The enabling act was an important step in Hitler’s consolidation of power
 It allowed Hitler to bring in controversial legislation into force to
strengthen the nazi party’s position