Germany [2]: World War I - Weimar Republic

Post World War One Germany
1. Germany was virtually bankrupt. The war had made them skint
2. The German populace was starving because of the British navy blockades.
3. Kaiser had abdicated (stepped down from power)
4. Treaty of Versailles
  1. REPARATIONS: Germany to pay for the damages of the war
  2. German Army was restricted to 100,000 men.
  3. Germany Navy was restricted to 6 ships and 0 submarines.
  4. German Airforce forbidden
  5. Rhineland demilitarised - no soldiers, tanks or military could enter it.
  6. Alsace-Lorraine to be returned to France
  7. Germany forbidden to unite with Austria.
  8. League of Nations created
    1. To prevent war outbreak again
5. November Criminals: the soldiers felt that the government had betrayed them because they ended the war so quickly; and so refused to support them.
Weimar Republic
1. Formed in 1919
2. Leaders decided to meet up in a small town called Weimar as Berlin was far too violent.
3. Friedrich Ebert became the leader of Germany after the Kaiser abdicated.
  1. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
  2. President of the new Republic of Germany.
  3. Hated communists.
  4. Used the Freikorps (ex-soldiers) to attack the Spartacists.
4. Signed the Treaty of Versailles - known as the 'November Criminals'
  Annotations:
  - see 'Post World War One Germany'
5. Democratic political party
Spartacus League (or KPD)
1. Communist political group (Anti-Weimar)
2. COMMUNISM
  1. 'the belief of everyone being equal, there are no different classes and no great difference in wealth. There is no private property and the state owns everything you have.'
3. They believed that Germany should become a communist country.
4. Named after 'Spartacus' - a Roman gladiator who led a revolt, consisting of slaves, against slave masters.
5. Leaders were Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
6. The Spartacist Uprising - Jan. 1919
  1. On the 6th of January, thousands of Spartacists attacked and tried to take over Berlin. Their objectives were to capture important political buildings.
    1. Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), sent 2000 Freikorps (ex-soldiers).
      1. After 3 days of brutal fighting, the Freikorps re-captured the buildings and tortured and executed Spartacist leaders.
National People's Party (DNVP)
1. Wanted one strong government and one man leading the country.
2. Hated the idea of democracy, believing it was weak.
3. Nationalist political group (Anti-Weimar)
4. Leader was Alfred Hugenberg
National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi)
1. Also wanted Germany to have a strong government and one man leading the country
2. Hated idea of democracy, believing it was weak.
3. Leader was Anton Drexler
4. Nationalist political group (Anti-Weimar)
Proportional Representation
1. 'an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them'
2. This meant that lots of political parties that were different were able to win seats in the Reichstag. This means every vote counted and the percentage of votes that they got equaled the percentage of seats they got in the Reichstag. However, this process was long and so law-making was long.

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Germany [2]: World War I - Weimar Republic

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	Created by Marcelo Arenas over 6 years ago