History - Germany Depth Study

History - Germany Depth Study

1. Germany's Defeat and Revolution

   • Low Morale
     • 1918 - Food Shortage (Semi-Starvation)
     • 1918 - Coal, Gas and Electricity Shortage
       • Cold and Dark Country
       • Boredom set in
     • Summer of 1918 - Spanish Influenza
       • Weak from years of hunger
       • Death Toll
         • 400,000 German Civillians
         • 186,000 German Soldiers
   • Revolution
     • Allie's wouldn't make peace with Germany until democratic government
     • 28th October 1918
       • German Navy chiefs ordered Kid Port warships to be put to sea for battle
       • 2 ships worth of sailors refused, this was mutiny
       • 600 Arrests
       • Mutiny spread to workers and they took over Kiel
     • Revolution spread to all over Germany
       • Socialist's took over
       • Germany became a republic
   • Abducation
     • Kaiser Wilhelm II
       • Forced to abducate
       • 10th November 1918 - Fled to Holland

2. New Democratic Weimar Republic

   • 'Weimar' - town in which the government hid during the 1919 Berlin violence
   • First President - Friedrich Ebert (social democratic party)
   • Article 48
     • In times of emergency, the president could rule by degree without consulting the Reichstag
     • No specification of an emergency so led to dictators
   • Proportional Representation
     • Votes for each party were turned into a percentage of seats
     • A party could only rule if the party got 50% of votes
     • Coalitions occurred and this caused problems and disagreements
   • Signing of the Treaty of Versailles
     • "Stab in the back" Theory
       • The treaty was very harsh and took money, land and army from the Germans
       • The public felt the government had betrayed them and "stabbed them in the back"

3. Opposition to the Weimar Republic

   • Inside the Reichstag
     • KPD (Communist)
       • Supported by the working class
       • Policies
         • Against the republic
         • In favour of a workers revolution
     • DNVP (Nationalist)
       • Supported by Middle and Upper Class
       • Policies
         • Against the republic
         • Strongly nationalist
         • Strong central government
     • NSDAP (Nazi)
       • Supported by Nationalists and Conservatives
       • Policies
         • Against the republic
         • Strong government
   • Outside the Reichstag
     • Spartacists
       • Rosa Luxemburg
       • Karl Liebknect
       • Started a communist revolution on 6th January 1919
       • The free corps destroyed the Spartacists and arrested, then killed, both their leaders
     • Free Corps/ Kapp Putsch
       • Ex-Soldiers
       • Wolfgang Kapp
       • Supported Ebert to fight off the Spartacists
       • They turned on Ebert and took control of Berlin but for only 100 hours, as all workers went on strike
       • Wolfgang Kapp fled to Sweden

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