Violence in the Weimar Republic

In Jan 1919, 50,000 Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by the Communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.
In 1919, communist workers' councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist People's Government took power in Bavaria.
March 1920, the right-wing nationalist Dr Wolfgang Kapp took over Berlin. The army refused to attack him; he was only defeated when the workers of Berlin went on strike.
In 1920, after the failure of the Kapp Putsch, a Communist paramilitary group called the Red Army rebelled in the Ruhr.
Nationalist terrorists assassinated 356 government politicians, including Walter Rathenau, the foreign minister, and Matthias Erzberger who had been finance minister. The judges, many of whom preferred the Kaiser's government, consistently gave these terrorists light sentences, or let them go free.

Weimar Crisis 1923
In 1923 the Weimar Republic nearly collapsed. Put the events in the correct order to see how the situation escalated out of control:

Germany missed a reparations payment
The French invaded the Ruhr
German workers went on strike
The government printed off paper money
There was hyperinflation
There were Communist and nationalist rebellions

Hyperinflation

The sudden flood of paper money into the economy, on top of the general strike - which meant that no goods were manufactured, so there was more money, chasing fewer goods - combined with a weak economy ruined by the war, all resulted in hyperinflation.
Prices ran out of control - eg a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923 had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923. German's currency became worthless.

People collected their wages in suitcases.
One person, who left their suitcase unattended, found that a thief had stolen the suitcase but not the money.
One boy, who was sent to buy two bread buns, stopped to play football and by the time he got to the shop, the price had gone up, so he could only afford to buy one.
One father set out for Berlin to buy a pair of shoes. When he got there, he could only afford a cup of coffee and the bus fare home.

	Created by chelsearankin over 10 years ago

History Note on History Germany revision notes, created by chelsearankin on 01/12/2014.

History Germany revision notes