Who and what were the ‘big three’?
Main leaders to decide the terms for the peace Treaty of Versailles:
Georges Clemenceau (France)
Woodrow Wilson (US)
David Lloyd George ( Britain)
Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
According to the Treaty of Versailles, how much did Germany have to pay for reparations?
Fixed amount of £ 6.6 billion in 1921
What areas of land did Germany lose after the treaty?
Alsace-Lorraine given to France The Saar (coalfields) Posen and West Prussia given to Poland to create the Polish corridor
Total 13% of land lost
Rhineland was demilitarised
Who were the SS?
Stands for Schutz-Staffel meaning protection squad
Initially Hitler’s private bodyguards
Himmler made them elite force of ‘Aryan’ supermen
Made an oath to follow Hitler
By 1939 had 240,000 members
Power to arrest people without trial
What is the Gestapo?
State secret police run by Hermann Goering
Network of informers in Germany
Spy on people, tap telephones, intercept mail
Could strike any time, any where
Probably who Germans feared the most
What does Untermenschen mean?
Sub humans - what the Nazis called other races such as Jews to make them feel inferior
What does Aryan mean?
Race thought to originate from Scandinavia
Tall, fit, blonde hair, blue eyes
Nazis believe they are the master race and are superior to others.
Define Einsatzgruppen.
Special SS unit of soldiers who rounded up Jews in foreign towns, made them dig trenches and shot them so they fell in
What are Ghettos?
Walled off sections in cities in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Lithuania where Jews were held.
Overcrowded, cramped, little food Hundreds of Jews died each day here.
How many German soldiers had died since 1914 in the war?
2 million
Where and when did Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicate?
9th November 1918
Fled to Holland
What party formed a new temporary government after the Kaiser fled?
Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Led by Friedrich Ebert as the new Chancellor
New German state created
Democratic System - Weimar Republic
When was the Weimar constitution signed into law and by who?
11th August 1919
President Ebert
How often were members of the Reichstag elected?
Every 4 years
Who could vote in Germany?
All women and men over 20 years
Define the role of a chancellor
Head of the government who chose ministers and ran the country
Needed majority of support in Reichstag to pass laws
Define the role of the president
Head of state
Directly elected every 7 years
No part in day-to-day government
Chose the chancellor
Could dismiss Reichstag, call new election and control the army
Under article 48 could suspend constitution + pass laws by decree
What problems did proportional representation cause?
Even small number of votes gained seats in the Reichstag, increasing instability of government
To get majority of support often formed coalitions.
Coalitions are unstable as they can’t agree
Growth in extremist parties
Who was the first president of the Weimar Republic?
Friedrich Ebert
What was the ‘War Guilt Clause’?
Article 231
Germany had to accept blame for starting the war
Who were the ‘November Criminals’?
The people who signed the Treaty of Versailles and accepted war blame for Germany
‘Stabbed in the back’
When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
28th June 1919
Why was the German government bankrupt at the end of the war?
All gold reserves had been spent in the war
How many French and Belgian troops were sent into the Ruhr?
750,000
Why did the French invade the Ruhr
Germany missed a reparation payment as they were bankrupt.
French retaliated by confiscating raw materials and manufactured goods
How much of German coal and iron was based in the Ruhr?
80%
Who benefitted from hyperinflation?
Farmers - rising food prices
Businesses - able to pay off loans and buy smaller businesses cheaply
People with mortgages and debts
What was the price of bread in 1919 and 1923?
1 mark 1919
100,000 marks 1923
When was Gustav Stresemann appointed Chancellor?
September 1923
What new currency introduced in Germany and when?
November 1923
Rentenmark
Who were the worst affected by hyperinflation?
Those with savings
Those with fixed incomes
Pensioners
Mainly middle class
By 1939, how many SS members were there?
240,000
When was Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg arrested and murdered? Who murdered them?
15th January 1919
Murdered by the Freikorps (ex-soldiers)
When was Germany a republic?
9-10 November 1918
Kaiser abdicated
When did the First World War fighting end?
11 November 1918
When was the Spartacist revolt?
January 1919
In Berlin
Communist revolution
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg
When did Hitler join the German Workers’ Party?
September 1919
What did the German Workers’ Party change its name to and when?
24 February 1920
National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis)
When did Hitler become the leader of the Nazi party?
1921
Takes over from Anton Drexler
When was the Kapp Putch?
March 1920
Summarise the Spartacist Revolt in 1919
Spartacist League (communists)
Inspired by 1917 Russian revolution
Took over Gov’t newspaper and telegraph bureau
Tried to organise general strike in Berlin
Freikorps shot Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
Summarise the Kapp Putsch in 1920
Freikorps (ex-soldiers as Germany had to reduce army) led by Dr Wolfgang Kapp
Right wing nationalists
Occupied Berlin
Trade unions organised a general strike causing too much chaos
Kapp forced to flee
When were the SA formed?
1921
Storm troopers
Violent part of Nazi party that would break up communist meetings and beat up people
When did the french troops invade the Ruhr?
January 1923
Germany missed first reparation payment
What two jobs did Gustav Stressemann do and when?
Chancellor (Aug-Nov 1923) Foreign Secretary (1923-29)
When did the French leave the Ruhr?
1925
What hew currencies did Stresemann introduce and when?
Rentenmark (Nov 1923)
Converted to Reichsmark - backed with gold (1924)
Dawes Plan
Gustav Stresemann
1924
Negotiated US loans
Helped pay reparations
Improved German industry
Locarno treaties
1925
Stresemann
Improved international relations with UK and France
Guaranteed borders with Belgium, France, Italy
League of Nations
1926
Stresemann
Germany recognised as a great power and important country again
Young Plan
1929
Stresemann
Set timescale and reduced reparations
France agreed to leave the Rhineland early
Nazi Party no.of seats in Reichstag
12 seats 1928
107 seats 1930
230 seats 1932
Night of the Long Knives
30 June 1934
Ernst Rohm and SA Leaders arrested and shot by SS
Death of Hindenburg
August 1934
Reichstag Fire
27 February 1933
Marius Van Der Lubbe Dutch communist found inside
Hitler accused communist party
4000 communists arrested
Hindenburg persuaded to pass emergency decree to arrest people without trial
Enabling Act
March 1933
Gave Hitler power to make any law without consent of Reichstag
Germany a dictatorship