Resentment towards Gov for signing
into such a humiliating contract
Germans forced to live with and follow the terms of the
Treaty following their defeat in ww1 - if they resisted,
they ran the risk of another war erupting
Germans believed they had been
'stabbed in the back' by the
'November criminals'
Government had no other option
but to sign into TOV and were
given only a month to do so
June 28th, 1919
German army faced collapse
Loss of Territory
The Saar Coalfields were given to
France for 15 years due to the
German destruction of the French
coalfields during their 1918 retreat.
Serious blow to
German economy
and loss of natural
resources
Loss of land to Belgium, Denmarck and Poland -
all of Germany's colonies were taken away from
her control and given to her former enemies.
The Appeal of The Nazi
Party and Hitler's
Leadership
By 1930 the Nazis had 108 seats in the
Reichstag
The Economic Crash was the catalyst that
transformed the apeal of the Nazis.
"it was the Great Depression that
put the wind in Hitler's sails." - AJP
Taylor
American Banks demanded
the return of Loans they had
made to Germany following
the Wall Street Crash
Unemployment in Germany rocketed
after the returns and economic crash
and German citizens were desperate
for a saviour to help them out in their
economic chaos.
Although Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch at Munich failed,
his actions gained a great deal of support and
publicity for the Nazi Party
While in prison, Hitler decided that in order to
gain power, he would campaign for power
legally and destroy the system he desipsed so
much.
Flaws in the Constitution
The Spartacists (or KPD) tried to
start a revolution to create a
new communist Germany in
1919
Spartacist ring was defeated with great
brutality by an aliiance between the new
socialist Gov and gangs of ex-soldiers
called Freikorps.
10 years later the hatred felt by the
communists towards the SPD for
destroying the ring prevented the left
wing from uniting against Hitler in
Elections
Equally
hated by
Right-wing
Kapp Putsch supported by German
Officers and Right also included many
professionals whose early careers had
been spent within the imperial
Germant of the Kaiser
They were very unlikely to support the new
democracy when a crisis arose in the early
1930s
Blamed for Weakening
German Politics
Weimar meant to be fair to all - but
new voting system produced a
series of short-lived, indecisive
Governments
Gave Representation in the
Reichstag to minority parties such
as the Nazi's whose main aim was
to destroy the new Republic
Blamed for Confusion
within the new
democratic system
Confusion about the voting
system and power of the
President increased
discontent
The System allowed small, extremist parties to gain
some representation in the Reichstag. Article 48
gave the President the power to rule in an
emergency without needing approval.
The Use of Propoganda and the SA
By 1930, Nationalist Groups led by
Alfred Hugenberg saw the Nazis as
a possible rute to power
Hitler was happy to use Hugenberg - owner of
most of Germany's new Cinema industry and
hundreds of local Newspapers - to gain more
support for the Nazis
Hitler saw his friendship with Hugenberg as a way
of becoming a 'nationally-known figure very quickly
in a pre-television age'
As unemployment rose towards 6Million,
Nazi posters claimed 'Hitler - Our Last
Hope'.
Rallies began to spread
throughout Germany
which were in support
of the Nazi Party
Many Germans approved of the SA (a Nazi
parliamentary group) attacking
communists.
it appeared to many that the Nazis were a strong, positive
force, especially when compared to the weak and divided
political parties of the Weimer Republic
Economic Crisis
Germany were to pay £100million
per year for 66years as part of the
TOV terms
This was virtually
impossible for Germany
to afford as they now
lacked resources and
land
Severely weakened the German
Economy
The 1923 Hyperinflation resulted in the
economy's dramatic collapse and the
German Marck became worthless
In Nov 1923, $1 = 4,420
MILLION marcks
M/C families lost everything they had gained over
the years and those on fixed incomes (e.g.
pensions) were unable to survive financially.
It appeared that the Government were doing
little to ease the 1923 crisis and many german
citizens would never forgive the Weimer
Republic for this.
Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch brought a great deal
of publicity to the Nazi Party and support for
them grew largely