Germany 1918-1945

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GCSE History Flashcards on Germany 1918-1945, created by Tom Fitzgerald on 04/04/2015.
Tom Fitzgerald
Flashcards by Tom Fitzgerald, updated more than 1 year ago
Tom Fitzgerald
Created by Tom Fitzgerald almost 9 years ago
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Treaty of Versailles ( Terms) - Germany were not allowed to join the League of Nations - Rhineland was to be demilitarised - The Saar (rich coalfields) was given to France for 15 years - Army limited to 100,000 men -Navy were only allowed 6 battleships and no submarines - They were not permitted to have an air force - Alsace-Lorraine given back to France - £6.6 billion pound in reparations were to be paid - Germany made to take responsibility for the war - Land in the east of Germany given to Poland -
Reaction to the TOV Germany: - anger over the fact they couldn't negotiate - Germany denied the war guilt clause in 1927 - A putsch against the treaty in Berlin 1920 - Hated the reparations, crippled the economy
The new government - The Kaiser abdicated at the end of WWI (November 1918) - New government gained control in 1919 led by Friedrich Ebert - New government changed Germany to a republic - Ebert was the first president - Scheidemann was the first chancellor - Ebert was leader of the Social Democratic party - The Weimar republic was not invited to discuss peace in Paris in 1919
The Weimar dynamic Reichstrat -> Upper house, could delay measures passed by the Reichstag Reichstag -> The new german parliament (elected by proportional representation) President -> Elected every 7 years. Head of army. Chooses Chancellor. Due to being elected through proportional representation meant there were many parties in the Reichstag at one time making it difficult to pass laws.
Problems with the Weimar republic - Due to there being many parties in the Reichstag meant laws were difficult to pass - Hard to pick a chancellor that had the majority of support from the Reichstag - Germans hated the new government because they signed the TOV - There were many outbreaks of trouble, so Ebert formed the Freikorps, these were soldiers to keep the peace.
Discontent among the germans - Thousands of civilians were poor and starving - The German people denied losing the war and blamed the 'November Criminals' who had agreed the armistice and TOV - The government was viewed as weak by most - TOV caused living conditions to get worse -
Riots and Revolts -In 1919 the spartacist revolt took place led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, they were beaten by the Freikorps - In 1920 some right-wing members of the Freikorps partook in the Kapp putsch, this was led by Wolfgang Kapp, they managed to take over Berlin and established a new government, the workers then staged a strike and Kapp gave up, the rebels were not punished because many judges sympathised with them. - In 1922 Walter Rathaenau was assassinated, he was foreighn minister who agreed peace with russia after the war, he was also Jewish - At this point many germans were now anti-jewish (anit-sematic)
Hyperinflation In 1923 Germany coun't afford to pay reparations. Because of this French and Belgium soldiers occupied the Ruhr, the most industrially rich area of Germany. The Weimar ordered German workers to go on strike but because they were told to, they still got paid. With no money coming in, government kept printing money cause the value of the currency to go down. This is escalated, causing the economy to go into hyperinflation. Value of an egg: 1918: 1/4 mark Aug 1923: 5000 marks Nov 1923: 80 million marks Three major results of hyperinflation: - Wages were to be paid twice a day - Many lost out as bank savings became worthless - The German mark became worthless.
The recovery & Stresemann - In Sept 1923 he told Ruhr workers to return to work - He accepted the Dawes plan, and changed currency to a Rentenmark, this brought stability to the currency - 1925 french and Belgium troops leave the Ruhr - Oct 1925 agreed the Locarno treaty, this was agreeing Germany's western borders - Won the Nobel Peace prize - 1926 Germany joined the league of nations - 1928 joined the Kellogg-Briand pact promising not to use violence to settle disputes
Dawes plan This extended the time for Germany to pay reparations
The recovery Although the German economy was on its way to recovery it also was highly dependant on American loans.
Wall Street Crash Stresemann' plan only worked if the U.S had enough money to keep lending Germany, but after the Wall Street Crash. The US wanted all their money back.
Achievments of the Weimar Republic - Berlin became the centre of culture under the Weimar Republic - Advances in art, architecture, music and literature. German films also became successful e.g. 'Metropolis' by Fritz Lang. - Some developments were bold and new: like the drama of bertolt brecht, And the Bauhaus school of design was highly influential. - The weimer republic encouraged new ways of critical thinking at places such as Frankfurt University - Not everyone approved of these changes: The vabaret culture was viewed as immoral by some. The culture of the Weimar died under the Nazi regime.
The 'early' nazi party - In 1920 it was a small organisation with big ambitions - Originally led by Anton Drexler - orgininal party name was German Workers Party - Name was changed in 1920 to National Socialist German Workers party (Nazis) established their own aremer group call SA - The SA were brown shirted stormtroopers who protected Nazileaders and harrassed opponents
Adolf Hitler Background DOB : 1989 Place of birth : Austria Livedin Germany 1912 onwards - throught on the western front for the whole of WWI - Was awardedthe iron cross twice - Couldn't accept Germany lost the war - Was the 55th member of the German workers' party - Was a very charismatic speaker - Brought in many new members - Made party leader in July 1921 - wrote a book called Mein Kampf translating to mean 'my struggle'
Beer hall putsch / Munich putsch - took place on 8-9th November 1923 - 15 Nazis were killed - originally plotted with Kahr and Lossow - On the 4th October Kahr and Lossow backed out - On the 8th November, Hitler and 600 stormtroopers burst into a meeting held by Kahr and Lossow and forced them to agree to rebel. - The SA gained control of Army HQ and the local newspaper - On the 9th November Hitler and the other Nazis marched through the streets of Munich thinking they had won. - Kahr had called in Police and the military, there was a short fight where 16 Nazis were killed. -Hitler escaped
The arrest and imprisonment of Hitler - Hitler was arrested 2 days after the beer hall putsch - used his trial as a chance to spread propaganda - admitted to wanting to overthrow the government - usually you'd be sentenced to life in prison or even death - Judges were picked by a Nazi sympathizer in the government - Hitler was sentenced to 5 years, or 6 months with parole - In prison he was treated very well, had a large cell and even got his own assistant - He wrote 'Mein Kampf' - Decided he couldn't get into government through force and altered his attention to gaining it through diplomacy
The great depression (In Germany) - Caused widespread unemployment (over 6mil by 1933) - Germany's biggest bank collapsed (1931) - The weimar governments constantly changed yet none could resolve the economic problems. - The depression contributed to the downfall of the Weimar - Extremist groups gained mass popularity (e.g. Nazis) - The nazis promised strong leadership - The Nazis promised prosperity and that germany would be great again - This was appealing to many people e.g. the unemployed, businessman and the youth - Some supported the Nazis anti-sematic and anti-communist views -1930 Nazi membership was over 300,000
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