Nazi Germany 1918-1939

Nazi Germany 1918-1939

1. The treaty of Versailles

   • THE BIG THREE
     • USA-President Woodrow Wilson
       • Wanted a fair treaty
         • To improve international relationships
           • How the League of Nations was set up, to work for world peace
     • Great Britain-Prime minister Lloyd George
       • A general election that would make Germany pay
         • For Germany to be weakened
       • didn't want a league of nations
     • France- Prime minister Clemcenceau
       • Demanded reparations
         • For the 'damage' Germany had caused
     • Each had their own motives and attitudes towards the peace settlement
     • THREE MOST POWERFUL VICTORS OF THE WAR
   • Decided on what would happen to Germany
   • FOUR OUTCOMES
     • 1. LAND LOSS
       • All Germany colonies to be lost
       • Rhineland to be occupied by French troops
     • 2. BLAME
       • For Germany to admit they caused the war
       • Full responsibility
     • 3. REPARATIONS
       • Germany to pay 6.6 billion in reparations
       • Payments to also be made in products also
         • coal and steel
     • 4. MILITARY RESTRICTIONS
       • 100,000 troops only
       • Navy only allowed 15,000 men only
       • 6 battleships only, with no submarines
       • No armed tanks, planes and machine guns

2. The Weimar republic

   • Once Germany lost in the First World War, the Kaiser abdicated and fled
     • Making a new democratic government
     • The Weimar Republic was an attempt to create perfect democratic country
     • leaving uncertainty
   • Key features of the constitution
     • Proportional representation
       • Elections every 4 years
     • Chancellor needs majority in seats
     • Reichstag had to pass all the laws
     • President had full right to suspend any laws
   • Problems the constitution faced
     • Attacks from the left and right
       • Spartacist uprising (JAN 1919)
         • Later defeated by the Weimar government (help alongside with Freikorps)
       • Kapp Putsch (MARCH 1920)
         • Freikorps seized power in Berlin (army and police just stood by)
           • The Kapp Putsch failed as the government calls in workers to go on strike
     • Occupation of the Ruhr
       • French troops occupied the Ruhr, as Germany failed to pay reparations
     • Hyperinflation(1923)
       • Government prints of money to pay reparation and wages
         • this money then has no value to its self, so it becomes valueless and worthless
   • Strengths and weaknesses
     • The Weimar Constitution
       • Comprising
         • An elected Reichstag which made the laws + An elected president using Article 48 in an Emergency
           • Underpinned by
             • A Bill of Rights, the vote by proportional representation
               • Proportional representation
                 • Weimar Germans voted for a party, each of these parties were allocated seats in the Reichstag
                   • These seats were reflecting (proportional) to the number of people who had voted for it
               • Bill of Rights- guaranteed every German citizen freedom of speech and religion, as well as equality
                 • Men and women over the age of 20 were given the right to vote
           • Article 48- in an emergency the President did not need the agreement of the Reichstag, but could issue decrees.
             • Hitler could use this legally
           • Reichstag made all the laws
   • HOW THEY RECOVER
     • Rentenmark (Stresemann introduced new currency)
       • It stablished the new currency and gave German people conifdence
       • Later, converted to Reichsmark (backed with gold)