Weimar Democracy

Weimar Democracy

1. Weimar Constitution

   • President
     • Elected every 7 years
     • Controlled
       • Army
       • Navy
       • Air force
     • Article 48
       • In crisis rule on his own
       • emergency decree
   • Chancellor
     • Chosen by parliment
     • Day to day running
     • 505 of Reichstags support
   • The Reichstag
     • elected every 4 years
     • proportional representation
       • ie. 10% of votes = 10% of seats
       • Hard to make decisions
       • Often no majority
   • The German People
     • electorate

2. Spartacists

   • Communists
   • Red Ruhr in the Rising
     • Stayed on strike after Kapp Putsch
       • took several towns
         • Essen
         • Elberfield
     • Goverment sent Free corps
       • 1000 workers killed

3. Kapp Putsch

   • Right wing grthat tried to take overoup
     • led by Wolfgang Kapp
     • 5000 men (Free Corps)
   • March 1920
   • Took over Berlin
     • Goverment fled
     • Workers went on strike
       • no electricity
       • no gas
       • no water
       • no trains
     • 100 hours then fled

4. Munich Putsch

   • Nazis
     • Stromtroopers
     • Swastika
     • 3000 members in 1920 5000 in 1921
   • 8th November 1923
     • Interrupted a meeting in a beer hall in Munich
       • fired a bullet in the celiling
         • announced he was taking over Bavaria
           • then the rest of the country
           • Ludendorff walked in and said he supported Hitler
       • Gustav von Kahr was there
         • Head of Bavarian goverment
         • Locked him and his companions in a small room
           • Promised to help so released
   • Next morning
     • Kahr went back on his word
       • Contacted police
     • 2000 men marched but met police
       • 16 Nazis and 3 policemen dead
       • Hitler and Ludendorff captured
   • Trial and imprisonment
     • Trial
       • 24 days
       • Media sensation
         • Hitler used to gain support
     • Imprisonment
       • 5 years only
         • allowed visitors and nice room
         • released after 9 months
       • Mein Kampf
         • My struggle
         • Bestselling book
     • Changed strategy
       • Stand in elections

5. Stresemann Era

   • Dawes Plan
     • 1924
     • Germany borrowed money of the USA
       • build the economy
   • New currency
     • Rentenmark replaced old currrency
       • Temporary
     • Reichsmark replaced rentenmrk
   • Locarno treaties
     • Set borders With Belgium and France
   • League of Nations
     • Entered in 1926
     • Improved relations with France and b\ritain
   • Young Plan
     • 1929
     • Reduced reperations
       • £1.8 million

6. Weimar Culture

   • Night life
     • Plays and musicals
     • sexuality embraced
   • Art
     • Inequalities in social class
     • Critical of goverment
     • May fled with Hitler's rule
   • Design
     • Bauhaus
       • Form over function
       • Simple
   • Cinema
     • Films
       • Metropolis
       • Blue Angel
     • Actors
       • Marlene Dietrich
   • Literature
     • Thomas Mann
     • Erich Maria Remarque