Cognitive Test Flashcards
(37 cards)
World War 2 Start & End
September 1 1939
May 8 1945
Treaty of Versailles
- May 1919
- Signed 28th June 1919 (despite protest)
INTENTIONS - France: Weaken Germany so they couldn’t start another world war (in theory)
- United States; Germany to become a DEMOCRACY
- US/UK; Did not want to create pretexts for a new war
- Germany pay for ALL war debt incurred by Allies (exception of US)
TERMS - 10% land
- ALL overseas colonies
- 12.5% population
- 16% coal
- 48% iron industry
- Army reduced to 100 000
- No air force
- Reduced navy
- Accept blame (starting)
- Reparations 6 600 billion (annual repayments)
GERMAN REACTION/RESULTS - November Criminals
- ‘Stabbed in the Back’ myth
- Betrayal
- Hyperinflation
- Dishonor/glorification
- Destabilized Germany politically
- Germans’ blamed it for their economic crisis
- Hatred of T/V evident in all classes (called a diktat or imposed peace)
- Long term bitterness in German society
- 1919 + governments sought to evade or reserve terms of T/V
The Friekorps
- December 1918 appointed Gustav Noske to be Defence Minister
- Noske, saw the Freikorps as reliable (over army) to counter left threat
- Volunteer groups of ex-soldiers who formed themselves into independent military groups under former officers
- Totally opposed to Communism
- Politically unreliable, saw threat of communist as a more immediate danger
- Used brutality, were thugs and put down Spartacists’ uprising
Sparticists Uprising Berlin
- January 1919
- Extreme left; the Spartacists League
- Leaders; Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
- Karl Max ideology; COMMUNISM
- Spartacists wanted counter-revolution to overthrow Ebert government
- 30 December 1918; Communist Party of Germany
- Seized buildings in Berlin (railway station, office of socialist newspaper)
Ebert Govt
- 9th November, chancellor Prince Max von Baden stepped down
- Handed government to Ebert, leader of Social Democratic Party (SDP)
- Germany became a REPUBLIC
- Threat to Ebert’s government from the radical/extreme left of the spectrum (Spartacists) and right wing
- Friedrich Ebert first president of Weimar Republic (1919-1925) after winning January 1919 free electrons
The Reichstag
- German Parliament
- Two Houses
- Reichsrat (represents the German states_
- LOWER (represented German people) held immense power
- Members of the Reichstag elected every 4 years (voting age 20)
- Chancellor and Ministers appointed by President
Mein Kampf
- Written in prison
- Clarified and presents his ideas for Germany
- Nazi’s would not be able to seize power by force
- Use democracy to destroy democracy
- After release, rebuilt the Nazi Party; recruitment drives and youth organisations
5 MAIN BELIEFS - NATIONAL SOCIALISM; loyalty to Germany, racial purity, equality and state control of the economy
- RACISM; Aryan’s supremacy (Master Race), Jews especially were inferior
- ARMED FORCE; War and struggle were essential to Aryans healthy development
- LEBENSRASUM; expansion needed, mainly at the expensive of Russia and Poland
- THE FUHRER; Democracy and debate produce weakness, strength lay in the loyalty to a single leader (the Fuhrer)
SA
- Storm Troopers
- Brownshirts
- Paramilitary organsation
- Thugs
- Street violence
SS
- Schutzstaffel
- Hitlers personal body guards
- Aryan supermen
- Elite
- 250 000
GERMANY PRIOR TO WORLD WAR ONE/END OF
- Proud people
- World finest army
- Ruled by Kaiser
- Great optimism
- Strong Germany
Nov Criminals
- Socialist and Liberal politicians that signed the armistice
- November 11 1918
Stab in the Back
- Encouraged by; right wing conservatives and army
- German army had been betrayed by Socialists, pacifists, war profiteers and the Jews
- Army had strength to continue, not surrender
- Surrender seen as betrayal
- Army’s honor and military tradition became shameful
- Aim; preserve honour of army
Weimar Democratic
- Autocratic to Democratic
- Berlin too violent for Parliament to be held there
- Extreme Left; Communist (working class)
- Extreme Right; Nazi’s (middle/rural class)
- Democracy was NEW to Germany; elections for government
- New German parliament responsible to all the people, drew up NEW constitution to preserve democracy and liberties/rights of people
- Included; women’s right to vote (still denied in US/UK)
- 1919, Germany one of the most democratic states in the world
KAPP PUTSCH
- Ebert faced opposition from right win
- Right Wing opponents grew up in a Kaiser Germany
- Liked dictatorial style of government
- Liked Germany having a strong army
- March 1920
- Dr. Wolfgang Kapp led 5000 Freikorps into Berlin
- Kapp Putsch
- Putsch; to overthrow/rebellion
- Army refused to fire on the Freikorps
- Government saved by workers; declared general strike (no transport, power, water)
- Kapp realized he couldn’t succeed and left, he was hunted down and imprisoned
HYPERINFLATION
- Extreme or rapid inflation of the German economy
- November 1923
- No goods to trade, printed money
- Money was WORTHLESS
Occupation of the Ruhr
- Occupation of the Ruhr Valley
- 2 ½ years
- Ruhr Valley: rich in raw materials (coal, ¾ of steel)
- January 1923, French and Belgian troops
- G failed repayment: occupied and took materials as payment (for their own repayments) of both raw and manufactures goods
- Troops marched non-essential workers out of area
- Occupation LEGAL according to T/V
Passive Resistence
- Occupation of the Ruhr led to PASSIVE RESISTENCE by Germany
- Encouraged trade unions to organize strike in Ruhr
- Freeze industrial production
- Delayed French confiscation of resources
- French reacted, killing 100 workers and expelling 100 000 protestors
- Halt in production caused COLLAPSE of Germany currency
Kaiser Wilhelm 2
- Nov 9 1918
- To Holland
Munich Beer Hall Putsch
- 8th of November, Hitler hijacked local government meeting to announce he was taking over the government of Bavaria
- Ludendorff joined Hitler and the Nazi’s
- Nazi storm troopers began to take over office buildings
- 16 Nazis were killed
- Ludendorff arrested, Hitler escaped
- SHORT TERM: Munich Putsch was a disaster
- Hitler was arrested, charged with treason
- Hitler gained publicity for himself and his ideologies
- Given 5 years in prison, and only served 9 months
LEBENSRAUM
- “living space,”
it was a basic principle of Nazi foreign policy. - Hitler believed that eastern Europe had to be conquered to create a vast German empire for more physical space, a greater population, and new territory to supply food and raw materials
LEBENSBORN
- ‘fountain of life’
- Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935
- Was to offer to young girls who were deemed “racially pure” the possibility to give birth to a child in secret
- The child was then given to the SS organization which took charge in the child’s education and adoption
- Both mother and father needed to pass a “racial purity” test.
- Blond hair and blue eyes were preferred, and family lineage had to be traced back at least three generations.
THE ENABLING ACT
THE ENABLING ACT
FEBRUARY 1933
- 27th February the Reichstag burnt down
- Hitler blamed COMMUNSIST ‘beginning of another uprising’
- Hitler demanded special emergency powers to deal with situation, given by Hindenburg
- Powers were used to arrest Communists, break up meetings and frighten voters
- May have been foul play by Nazi’s
MARCH 1933 ELECTIONS
- Won largest share of votes
- Overall majority
- Passed ENABLING ACT; make laws for 4 years without consulting the Reichstag
- Hitler was dictator of Germany
- Achieved position by ELECTORAL SUCCESS
night of long knives
- June 30th 1934
-
Rudolf Hess
- prison with hitler
- secretary for writing the book
- nazi party member politician