Revolts and Extremism

Question 1

What threats did the Weimar Republic face?

Answer 1

• Threats from left
  
  • Threats from right
  • Revolts + rebellions facing Weimar

Question 2

What were the threats from the left towards the Weimar Republic?

Answer 2

• Inspired by Russian revolution
  Spartacists- revolutionary group led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who broke away from the USPD
  Other revolutionary socialist groups throughout the country- Notable rebellions in Bavaria (Soviet Republic declared) 1919 and the Ruhr 1920 (Red Army forced in Ruhr)

Question 3

What were the threats from the Right towards the Weimar Republic?

Answer 3

• People who had grown up under success of Kaiserreich and wanted strong/autocratic leadership.
  
  • Establishment of Nazi Party.
  • Freikorps
  • Rebellions such as Kapp Putsch where army refused to fire on Kapp’s freikorps and Munich Putsch which marked the Nazi Party’s first push for power.

Question 4

What does Putsch mean?

Answer 4

German word for revolt/rebellion/coup

Question 5

How did Germany use propaganda to the government’s advantage?

Answer 5

led German’s to believe the war was not yet lost
- Betrayed by Marxists and Jews
- Felt bitter to republic-> grew to Nazism
- Skews Jews to be hated, blames the loss of the war on them through powerful speeches

Said there was Widespread hungry and poverty
Blamed minorities rather than the wealthy Germans-> protected themselves through Nationalism

Question 6

What were the Revolts in Germany between 1919 and 1923?

Answer 6

• Spartacist Revolt (Jan 1919)
  
  • Red Bavaria (March 1919)
  • Kapp Putsch (March 1920)
  • Ruhr Uprising (March 1920)
    Munich Putsch (Nov 1923)

Question 7

Who are the Spartacists?

Answer 7

• Broke away from USPD, formed KPD
  
  • Hoped to provoke revolution on similar lines to in 1917 Russia, followed by alliance with Russian state led by Lenin
  • Wished to cancel election to the National Assembly, transferring all powers to workers’ and soldiers’ councils
  • Promised to nationalise and sieze all large scale industries and large and medium scale farms, then become property of the state
  • Police and army would be disarmed, workers militias would be created

Question 8

What did the KPD do on the 1st Jan 1919?

Answer 8

Members of Spartacist Union held first meeting in Berlin, formally creating German Communist Party (KPD) with support of other left wing groups

Question 9

Who were the leaders of the KPD?

Answer 9

Karl Liebknecht + Rosa Luxemburg creating Spartacist Union then KPD

Question 10

Who started the Spartacist Revolt in Jan 1919?

Answer 10

• Radical workers in Berlin started an armed uprising on 5th Jan, trying to spark socialist revolution according to the Bolshevist model
• Leaders felt it was too early for a revolution but went along with it-> Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (leaders) opposed war

Question 11

What happened during the Spartacist Revolt in Jan 1919?

Answer 11

• Similar uprisings of overtaking newspaper offices and public buildings occurred in cities across Germany
• SPD government called Free Corps into Berlin to repress rebellion, fighting occurred for several days in Berlin
• 15 Jan- Uprising broke out, Leaders brutally killed by Free Corps, thrown into central Berlin Canal

Question 12

What impact did the brutal Freikorps intervention have on the people?

Answer 12

Brutal intervention from Free Corps led many workers who didn’t support the SPD or the Spartacist uprisings to resent the SPD- damaged relations + trust between SPD and working class

Question 13

What was significant about the Spartacist Revolt in Jan 1919?

Answer 13

Alliance of Ebert + Majority socialists with army saved Germany from widespread communist uprising
BUT meant governments of Weimar republic were tied to using anti democratic forced ie Army + Free Corps to restore order

Question 14

What is a Proletariat?

Answer 14

working class people regarded collectively, used in reference to Marxism

Question 15

Who caused Red Bavaria in Feb 1919?

Answer 15

21 Feb 1919: Rightist student shot Bavarian Minister President, Kurt Eisner (USPD member), who was on his way to submit his resignation as his party had only won 2% of vote in state elections
This + news of Soviet revolution in Hungary triggered Bavarian Revolution-> 6 April 1919, Bavarian Soviet Union declared, led by Communist Leader ‘Eugene Levine’

Question 16

How long did Reb Bavaria last?

Answer 16

Feb to May 1919

Question 17

What happened during Red Bavaria in Feb to May 1919?

Answer 17

• Regular government, led by SPD member, fled
  
  • Journalists and writers formed insurrectionary government (Ernst Toller)
  • Communists later entered the government and became dominant force, taking and murdering several hostages

Triggered more violence- Shootings in Munich Parliamentary Building, USPD general strike in Bavaria (unstable for months)

eries of radical reforms, led by Levine-> ie seizing property from the wealthy
- Raised a ‘Red Army’ of workers, who started rounding up well known right wingers ie Prince von Thurn und Taxis, and executing them

Question 18

How did Red Bavaria end in May 1919?

Answer 18

Early May 1919- Army and Freikorps sent 30,000 troops to Bavaria, conquered the Soviet Republic, 1000 Red Army members killed
Freikorps rounded up 800 Red Army members, including Levine, and executed them post fighting

Question 19

What is the significance of Red Bavaria?

Answer 19

Shows the instability of govt and the ability/influence of extremist movements

Enstills the idea that the republic will use fighting to create peace- shows the government to be violent and encourages instability and not calm resolution of issues

Question 20

Who started the Ruhr uprising in March 1920?

Answer 20

Left wing workers revolt in the German Ruhr
- Initial support for general strike issued by Social Democrats in the German government + unions in response to the Kapp Putsch
- 300,000 ‘Red Ruhr Army’ members (Left wing putsch), strikes soon controlled whole Ruhr area

Question 21

What happened in the March 1920 Ruhr uprisings?

Answer 21

Communists + Socialists had laid plans for ‘winning political power by dictatorship of the proletariat’ if there was ever a general strike
- Post Kapp Putsch-> German govt sent Reichswehr (Germany Army) and Freikorps to defeat 50,000 members of the ‘Red Ruhr Army’ -> severe brutality and numerous executions

Question 22

What was the significance of the March 1920 Ruhr uprisings?

Answer 22

Not afraid to use violence against the left-> turns the left away from the Weimar republic (making it more unstable) and encouraging people to think far left views more under the radar

Civil war like circumstances-> lots of illegal activity from the Army, once the Reichswehr General banned any illegal army activity, battles and fights stopped in the area-> poor tensions between the state protectors and the people

Question 23

Who were the groups supporting the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 and why did they support it?

Answer 23

Reduction of Army size under Treaty of Versailles from 650,000 to 200,000 angered right wing nationalists

Army Freikorps and Reichswehr were initially used to fight the Poles and Balts, but eventually backed plots to overthrow the republican regime
- Free Corps + paramilitary wings drew in remainders of the old army + young people who were too young to have been drafted in the war
- Radically anti democratic, nationalistic and opposed the whole peace treaty
- Secretly hoarded arms to fight the communists + go to a ‘war of liberation’ against France and Poland

Question 24

What caused the Kapp Putsch (trigger)?

Answer 24

Came and occupied Berlin, enabled politician Dr Wolfgang Kapp (extreme Right) to declare himself chancellor

Threat to the Republic: March 1920 Putsch by the Free Corps, occupying Berlin without resistance + proclaimed the rightist Wolfgang Kapp (formerly a close political associate of Tirpitz) new chancellor (Kapp Putsch).

Question 25

What happened in the Kapp Putsch of March 1920?

Answer 25

- The army stood by as the president of the government + government fled to western GERMANY - Germany's rump army refused to fight the putschists and was 'neutral', Legitimate SPD government fled to South Germany General strike by trade unions restored the republican government-> rebels failed to gain support of the workers, civil service, financial institutions - The state administration in Berlin, however, did not cooperate with the putschists (because they doubted the success of the Kapp Putsch, not because they feared the destruction of democracy). - Working class parties proclaimed a general strike, bringing down Kapp govt within a few days, even though war hero Ludendorff joined

Question 26

What was the significance of the Kapp Putsch in March 1920?

Answer 26

- Putsch showed how little German Army cared for Weimar, was not adverse to fighting leftist putschists with great brutality but "neutral" toward rightist putschists. The same was true for the justice system, as the mild punishments of the putschists revealed. - Success of general strike, proclaimed by KPD, USPD, and the SPD strengthened worker confidence in socialist action, but the strike turned into communist uprisings in many industrialized areas and thus brought further trouble and chaos to the Republic. - In the aftermath of Kapp's failure radical rightists resorted to terrorism. The murder of Kurt Eisner had set a bloody precedent, and Matthias Erzberger (former Minister of Finance and Center Party leader) and Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau were killed by rightist terrorists in 1921 and 1922.

Question 27

Who caused the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in Nov 1923?

Answer 27

Failed attempt of Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler Around 2000 men marched into Munich centre, 16 Nazis and 4 policemen were killed

Question 28

What happened in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in Nov 1923?

Answer 28

Hitler arrested 2 days later and charged with treason BUT the failure brought him his first national publicity - Arrested for 24 days, sentenced to 5 years but released after 9 months

Question 29

What was the significance of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in Nov 1923?

Answer 29

lasting outcome of the putsch was a decision by Hitler to change NSDAP tactics, and the development and furthering of Nazi propaganda At his trial, Hitler was allowed to make long speeches explaining his reasons. This transformed him from being a little known politician into a champion of the right wing. His imprisonment, for just 9 months, allowed him time to reappraise his methodology and provided an opportunity for him to write Mein Kampf. These combined to make Hitler an obvious leader of the Right Wing opponents of the Weimar Republic.

Question 30

When was the first election in the Weimar Republic and what was it for?

Answer 30

19th January 1919- elections to constituent National Assembly

Question 31

What happened in the 19th January 1919 election?

Answer 31

- First time women had right to vote and stand for election - MSPD, Zentrum Party and German Democratic Party won outright majority- Formed government known as the Weimar Coalition - Chancellor- Philipp Scheidemann of the SPD - USPD campaigned for radical change but derived no benefit from revolution November onwards, well beaten by other parties

Question 32

What was the 6th June 1920 election for?

Answer 32

First election of Reichstag in Weimar democracy

Question 33

What happened at the 6th June 1920 election?

Answer 33

- Governing Weimar coalition suffered heavy losses at polls-> lost 124 seats therefore parl majority - DVP increased vote share by 9.5%, formed minority govt with Zentrum party and German Democratic Party - Chancellor- Konstantin Fehrenbach - USPD increased votes by 10.3, 84 Reichstag deputies (second largest party) DNVP increased vote share by 4.8%, 71 Reichstag deputies (3rd largest party)

Question 34

What was the 4th May 1924 elections for?

Answer 34

Second Reichstag election

Question 35

What happened at the 4th May 1924 election?

Answer 35

- Known as 'Inflation election' - Extreme Right and Left parties made substantial gains as the people wanted economic reform + widespread sense of insecurity - KPD vote share rose from 10.5% -12.6% - DNVP and NSDAP used nationalist propaganda to rally support against the Ruhr occupation + Dawes plan - DNVP- 19.5% vote share, 95 deputies

Question 36

What was the 7th December 1924 election for?

Answer 36

election held for minority govt of DNP, Zentrum Party and DDP to gain a majority due to times of economic revival

Question 37

What happened at the 7th December 1924 election?

Answer 37

- Chancellor at the time= Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum) - Far Right/National Socialist bloc lost 3.5% of vote - Social Democrats gained 5.5% of vote - Ruling coalition failed to gain majority as DNVP vote rose to 20.5%

Question 38

What was the significance of the 20th May 1924 election?

Answer 38

time of economic recovery

Question 39

What happened at the 20th May 1924 election?

Answer 39

- SPD won with 29.8% of vote, increase of 3.8% - Grand coalition between Social Democrats, Zentrum, DDP, DVP, BVP and SPD formed, majority in Reichstag - Chancellor of GC= Hermann Muller (SPD) - DNVP lost 6.5% of vote

Question 40

What was the 14th September 1930 election for?

Answer 40

Called in hope to provide Parliamentary support for Heinrich Bruning's (Zentrum) cabinet, who was ruling by presidential decree

Question 41

What happened at the 14th September 1930 election?

Answer 41

- Dominated by the Great Depression - Impoverishment and radicalisation of large numbers of the population, benefitted Extremist left and right parties - Communists + KPD gained 2.5% of vote - NSDAP National Socialists went from 2.6% to 18.3% of vote - 184 seats went to extremist parties (32%) - Heavy SPD losses - Government failed to gain working majority, Bruning cabinet remained dependent on presidential emergency decrees for implementation of policy

Question 42

What was the significance of the 31 July 1932 + 6 November 1932 elections?

Answer 42

called early with aim to secure parliamentary majority for presidential government, last democratic election

Question 43

What happened at the 31st July 1932 and 6th November 1932 elections?

Answer 43

Chancellor- Franz von Papen - Climate of economic depression and radicalisation - In Both elections, NSDAP was strongest party with 230 seats then 196 seats respectively (small loss in November did little compared to impact of July) - KPD increased share in both elections, 100 seats by November - 319/608 seats, then 296/584 seats- Communists and National Socialists had joint power of veto in Reichstag - Rest of the Liberal parties lost votes and failed to gain political ground

Question 44

What was the significance of the March 1933 election?

Answer 44

- Electoral process subject to Nazi policy of repression and intimidation, therefore cannot be considered democratic