booklet 2 Flashcards
Armistice
An agreement to cease fire before drawing up a peace settlement.
Article 48
Gave the Weimar president the power, in and emergency, to rule by decree and to override the constitutional rights of the people.
Black Market
The underground economy where goods are sold at unregulated prices.
Central Powers
The name for Germany and is allies: Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Constitutional Monarchy
Where the monarchy has limited power within the lines of a constitution.
Fatherland Party
Vaterlandspartei. A conservative, right-wing party which supported the government’s pursuit of war and annexations.
Freikorps
Means “free corps” (soldiers) who acted as paramilitaries. They were right-wing, nationalist soldiers who were only too willing to use force to suppress communist activities.
KRA
Kriegsrohstoffabteilung: war raw materials department.
Paramilitary
A force whose function and organisation is similar to the professional military, but it is not considered part of the state’s formal armed forces.
Plebiscite
A vote by the people on one specific issue - like a referendum.
Proletariat
The industrial working who, in Marxist theory, would ultimately take power in the state.
Reparations
Payments of money (and gold) and the transfer of property and equipment from the defeated to the victor after war.
Revolutionary stewards
Obleute. Left-wing activists who organised strikes and demonstrations against the war. The did much to create the worker’s councils (soviets) in 1918-19.
Siegfriede
A victory peace, which would establish Germany’s supremacy in Europe.
Soviet
A Russian word meaning and elected council. Soviet’s developed during the Russian Revolution in 1917. In Germany, many councils were set up in 1918, which had the support of the more radical and revolutionary, left-wing working class.