Flashcards
History: Germany 1918-1929 Key Points
Cards in this deck (18)
- 1Political Nature of the Kaiserreich• The Kaiser was the supreme leader with the most power (could dissolve the reichstag, appoint and dismiss gov. and foreign policy and military) - hereditary monarch
• Reichstag - members elected by male suffrage, could agree to or reject laws proposed by Kaiser or gov. (no power to remove)
• Government - were chancellor and other ministers, appointed/dismissed by kaiser, proposed new laws to the Reichstag (not dependent on Reichstag)
• Reichsrat - ambassadors from 26 state governments, had veto on legislations passed by Reichstag (undermine)
• Electorate - men over 25 vote in Reichstag elections every 3 years, no individual rights - 2Impacts of the First World War on Germany• The Stab in the Back Myth - believed Germany had been stabbed in the back by unpatriotic socialists, used to criticise Weimar Republic (became associated with peace treaty, armistice and undeserved defeat)
• Starvation and disease
• Economic - war debt cost was £8,394 million, inflation, national income fell and real earnings fell 20-30%
• Political unrest - nationalist pride dented making them hate republic and radicals opposed to war formed, USPD, KPD etc.
• Psychological - war left 600,000 war widows and 2 million children without fathers, pride hurt, mass deaths and meat consumption fell - 3Ebert's Challenges 1918-1919•Socio-economic - inflation, shortages, flu epidemic
•Left Wing Opposition - strikes, threat of communist revolution, workers councils
•Right Wing opposition - freikorps, army, nationalists (carry on war)
•Military - demobilization, allied blockade, peace terms (armistice was harsh) - 4Ebert's Challenges (Continued)•Ebert Groener Pact (Nov-1918) - Joining of moderate socialist government with far right army, The supreme army agreed to maintain stability in new republic (security), in return Ebert promised to stop extreme socialist spread and preserve authority of officers
•Stinnes Legien Agreement (Nov-1918) - between leader of trade unions and leader of employers, trade unions agreed not to interfere with private ownership and the free market, in return employers promised 8 hour working day and full legal registration (got people off strikes and working, Ebert approved)
•Spartacist Revolt (Jan-1919) - armed uprising by communists in Berlin to overthrow provisional government. Failed, Luxemburg and Liebknecht killed and stopped by Freikorps in 3 days, no triumphs - 5The New Weimar Constitution Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths:
•Allowed female suffrage - more accurate representation of population's needs
•Reich Chancellor and Reich Cabinet - less power and can be voted out by Reichstag (if confidence lost), they were also now elected and not appointed by a higher power
•Reichsrat - reichstag can now override their veto, these men are appointed by states and not elected
•No Kaiser or monarchy - no ultimate power
•Bill of rights - freedom of speech and press
Weaknesses
•President - Article 48 allowed the president power in a state of national emergency although there was no definition of these circumstances (could be abused), also commander of the armed forces
•Proportional representation - must win majority for the Reichstag votes, so many parties one could not win so weak coalitions - 6Impact of Treaty of Versailles on the Weimar Republic•Psychological - enforced stab in the back myth as government signed the treaty making people blame Weimar and democracy as a whole, november criminals, people blamed Versailles for many issues (e.g. hyperinflation) they had and thus hated SPD gov. (Ebert was SPD! as was Bauer) that signed it - undermine rep.
•War Guilt - left nationalists, far right and everybody fuming that government had agreed to this. Propaganda by nationalists made public think they were winning - defeat came as surprise so public blamed government and not army
•Economic implications - reparations and thus hefty war debt, cannot be fully blamed on Treaty though! - 7Successes of Stresemann's Foreign PolicySuccesses
•Fulfilment - allowed Germany to leave diplomatic isolation and get good relations, e.g. Locarno pact allowed France to trust, a year later they joined the League of Nations solidifying their place as a great power
•Dawes and Young Plan - made reparations more manageable improving economy and relations as they could be paid
•Removed allied military occupation by France of Ruhr and Rhineland - psychological help
•Locarno improved international relations and trade, also opened discussion for eastern borders
•Treaty of Berlin pushed for concessions from the west - 8Failures of Streseman's Foreign PolicyFailure
•Policy of fulfilment - fulfil the terms of the treaty, enraged the nationalists and far rights , his way of gradually gaining trust as he knew could not challenge allies (too weak) rejected military strength as main growth factor (outrage army and far right) - saw Locarno as capitulation
•Wanted end of occupation - never achieved in his years as chancellor, occurred after death (although did end passive resistance which worked towards it), remained disarmed
•Public afraid of USSR relations - treaty of Berlin
•Doesn't strengthen weimar regime nor public faith
•War guilt still stood - psychological
•Nazi's and DMVP rose to power as far right wanted more - opposed young plan as seen as fulfilment - 9Left Political Threats of the 1920s•Strikes in large industrial areas demanding better conditions and rights - Ruhr
•Red Bavaria - took over various cities and soviet republic proclaimed, Bavaria stood longest but was overthrown by Freikorps
•Ruhr Red Army - formed to stop Kapp Putsch and start soviet states - stopped by Freikorps
•German October (1923) - wave of summer strikes ending in October created by KPD state government
•March Operation - Crushed by police, organised by KPD
(Sparticist uprising was January 5th 1919) - 10Right Political Threats of the 1920s•The Kapp Putsch - attempt to overthrow republic, lead by bitter right wing journalist Wolfgang Kapp joined with leader of the Freikorps, marched to Berlin and tried to overthrow, army wouldn't shoot Freikorps so overthrew and power over Berlin for 4 days until general strike, failed
•Political Assassinations (1919-1922) - 354 murders by far right, organisation Consul was an assassination group, murder of Walter Rathenau (foreign minister, jewish, figure of democracy - statement against democracy - 11Political, Economic and Social effects of HyperinflationEconomic: creation of black market, avoid crisis and thus avoid taxation and government regulation
•TOV put into deeper debt - tried to meet payments by borrowing and printing more money
•Failure to pay rep. meant occupation of industrial Ruhr - workers striked making production and profit stop, escalated inflation to hyperinflation
Social Factors: people lost confidence in money and bank so turned to black market which worsened situation
•People lost savings and didn't spend money due to wages being worth less
•Employers reduced wages (avoid bankruptcy) - wages, savings, pensions dropped in value
Political Factors:
•Excessive government borrowing during and post war put into debt - spent on welfare for those effected by the war
•Political unrest and ever changing government made economy suffer
•Printing more and more money to compensate gold reserve spending during war - 12Economic Problems of the 1920s•Agriculture - small farms heavily in debt, couldn't pay taxes in some cases, land owners (junkers) like Hindenburg could block farming reforms which didn't suit them
•Trade - Bad relations made trade between allies difficult, isolationism from US caused worldwide shift in trade which lead to tariffs on foreign goods, Germany suffered heavier tariffs due to other countries opinion on Germany's part in the war (untrusting of post war G)
•Money - borrowed money excessively from the US and spent it on welfare (not a great investment for economy) also very unstable if US suddenly recalled loans, people resented heightening of taxes and some refused to pay (or only paid some) which is bad for a government based on loans and public support, production damaged by worker/employer disputes
•Industry - small businesses collapsed, mass bankruptcy, workers and business disputes damaged production and profit - strikes and lock outs - 13The Effects of the Great DepressionRise of unemployment - 6 million unemployed by 1933
Small farms went bankrupt because unemployed bought less food and prices dropped
Many businesses went bankrupt
Many blamed government and lost confidence in democracy - turned to extremist parties who seemed to hold solution - KPD had 13.1% and Nazi's had 18.3% in 1930 election - increase in extremist support
Those who were in work had low wages (avoid bankruptcy) and worked in poor conditions - 14Why the Weimar Republic collapsedEconomic Crises: decline in industrial production and agricultural prices, unemployment rose, 5 major banks collapse 1931, reduction of state benefits - thus poverty and homelessness (poor living standards)
Loss of support: in 1930 election KPD had 13% and NSDAP had 18.6%, significant increase since the crash as throughout Weimar whilst extremist support existed it was certainly not majority. In 1933 this support increased - NSDAP had 43.7% - These parties were anti republic
Problems of the Constitution: Proportional representation meant formation of weak coalitions due to so many parties, article 48 gave unlimited emergency powers ultimately undermining democracy - 15Key Positive statistics for the Weimar Republic 1918-19331919 election turnout for pro-Weimar parties 80.5%
SPD achieves 37.9% of vote in 1919 elections = 165 seats
SPD achieves 29.8% of vote in 1928 = 153 seats
Workers pay increases by 37.5% between 1924-9
By 1927, 17 million workers are covered by social insurance in the event of unemployment
1924 - $800 million received in US loans (Dawes Plan)
1925 - Chemical industry producing one-third more than in 1913
1928 - Young Plan reduces reparation to 37,000 million marks
1928, Nazis gain 2.6% of votes = 12 seats
1929, German exports were 34% higher than in 1913. - 16Key Negative statistics for the Weimar Republic 1918-19331932 election turnout for anti-Weimar parties 58.3%
6.6 billion in reparations
Lose 16% of coalfields
Lose 12.5% of population
Lose 10% of territory
1918 - 33,000 million marks in circulation
150 printing firms, 2000 printing presses
376 political murders
Hitler serves 10 months in Jail
1920 - 1,537,000 disabled veterans
1924 - 420,000 war widows
1,020,000 orphans
1918 - 150 billion marks in debt
May 1922 - newspaper costing 1 mark now costs 100,000 by September 1923 and 700 billion by November.
Number of marks in circulation by 1923 - 17,393,000
1926 - lowest tax band is made up of 62% of taxpayers
1929 - 5.6 million unemployed
750,000 federal and regional government employees lose their jobs - 17Reichstag FirePopularly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, the regulations suspended important provisions of the German constitution, especially those safeguarding individual rights and due process of law. The decree permitted the restriction of the right to assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, among other rights, and it removed all restraints on police investigations. With the decree in place, the regime was free to arrest and incarcerate political opponents without specific charge, dissolve political organizations, and suppress publications. It also gave the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws and overthrow state and local governments. This law became a permanent feature of the Nazi police state.
- 18The Enabling ACtThis gave the Chancellor the power to make laws, for four years, without the
Reichstag voting on them.
The Enabling Act was passed by 444 votes to 94. Only the Socialists were brave enough to risk intimidation by the SA and the SS (who were surrounding the building and the voting chamber) and voted against it.
Information
- Description
- A level History (Modern) (Germany 1918-1990) Flashcards on History: Germany 1918-1929 Key Points, created by Katie King on 11/10/2015.
- Created by
- Katie King
- Views
- 6
- Rating