Summary 2: 1919-1923/4

Question 1

What was the legacy of the Kaiser Reich ?

Answer 1

• war had been financed by borrowing and printing money (meant govt. debt grew and value of the mark fell)
• Germany relied on winning and using reparations to repay the costs of the war
• Cost of war: national debt in 1913; 5,000 million marks - in 1919 144,000 million marks
• Inflation: 1920 the mark was worth 10% of its 1914 value
• reperations

Question 2

What was the cost of the war ?

Answer 2

• national debt in 1913; 5,000 million marks
• in 1919 144,000 million marks

Question 3

How did the Weimar constitution chose to deal with the financial consequences of the war ?

Answer 3

• decided they could not risks further unpopularity and so refused to raise taxes of cut spending so carried on borrowing and adding to debts and inflation
• most significantly this led to more inflation (1918-1919: prices doubled) and (1919-1920: prices quadrupled)

Question 4

What were the benefits of the rising inflation ?

Answer 4

• industrialists benefitted by taking out short term loans (by the time they had to pay back the loan the value of the money borrowed had significantly fallen)
• the burden of govt debt was also lessened by inflation

Question 5

What where the terms of reparations made in 1921 ?

Answer 5

a total of £6.6bn or 132 marks to be paid in annual instalments

Question 6

What was the political impact of reparations ?

Answer 6

• the govt resigned rather than signed the treaty
• the new govt under Wirth saw no alternative than accepting the terms (first payment was the beginning of the policy of fulfilment)
• by Jan 1922 Germany asking for 1st postponement then again in July
• by nov 22 Germany asking for loan to help pay obligations causing France to become increasing suspicious

Question 7

What was the economic impact of reparations ?

Answer 7

• reparations added to existing economic problems (DID NOT CREATE THEM ALL)
• harder for govt to pay off debts
• payments in coal difficult as TofV had taken reserves and Saar areas
• Merchant fleet had been confiscated by Allies so difficult to earn money through exports
• Govt resorted to printing more money (adding to inflationary pressure)

Question 8

What happened during the Ruhr occupation 1923?

Answer 8

• Jan 23: French and Belgium forces occupied the Ruhr after Germany missed a reparation payment
• up to 100,000 men occupied German soil/factories/mines/steelwork and railways
• Germany military response impossible so govt of Wilhem Cuno ordered passive resistance and the German workers in the Ruhr went on strike - this stopped the French seizing coal and steel (briefly uniting the Germans in resisting foreign invaders)
• however put huge pressure on the Germany economy as the govt promised to keep paying German workers
• french response escalated eg.military courts and violent police confrontations

Question 9

What were the economics effects of the Ruhr occupation ?

Answer 9

• paying workers further drained govt resources
• tax revenue lost from business in the Ruhr
• Germany had to import coal (draining valuable foreign currency reserves)
• shortage of goods added to inflations as prices rose
  ❗️the combined cost was x2 that of annual reparations
• the new constitution had established the right for germans to work or receive welfare, crisis meant more germans needed welfare and more money had to be printed

Question 10

How did the Ruhr crisis impact hyper inflation ?

Answer 10

• govt had to pay strikers and compensate for lost tax revenue therefore had to print more money which caused inflation to accelerate into out of control hyperinflation
• by aug 1923, the german mark was virtually valueless which meant the prices of goods rose every day
• people collected salaries in wheelbarrows and spent it immediately (as it would buy them much less tomorrow)
• food started to run out as people hoarded it in anticipation of higher prices

Question 11

What were the underlying causes of hyperinflation ?

Answer 11

• inflation did not start in 1923, it had grown into a serious problem since 1914 and so Germany made no provision for a long drawn out war. Kaiser did not raise taxes to pay for the war (maintain popular support) and therefore massive sums of money were borrowed through war bonds and increasing national debt
• there was an assumption that the Germans would win and so be able to charge the losers high reparations to pay off their debts
• ❗️the new Weimar Government was faced with financial mess which would need to be tackled by cutting expenditure or raising taxes- neither option was attractive as it would alienate support for the new republic, instead they opted to pursue a policy of DEFICIENT FINANCING (funding govt spending by more borrowing)
• 🔔therefore, reparations seen as a contributory factor and not a primary cause

Question 12

Who were the winners from hyperinflation ?

Answer 12

• black marketeers
• those with debt: could pay of their loans/mortgages with inflated worthless money)
• entrepreneurs: took out new loans to establish a business and easily pay it off with worthless money later
• big businessmen: could buy small bankrupt businesses for later
• owners of foreign exchange: kept its value
• famers: coped well as they could produce food and barter (avoid using money)

Question 13

Who were the losers of hyperinflation ?

Answer 13

• pensioners: (living off a fixed income) lost out bcs their incomes bought less
• workers: wages did not keep pace with prices + hyperinflation meant businesses cut back on workers ❗️by end of 1923 only 30% of workforce employed
• those with wages and salaries saw their incomes erode
• middle classes (Mittlestand): were badly hit as their hard earned savings became worthless = their faith in the new democracy was badly shaken (if not lost!)
• increased cases of malnutrition and dietary diseases like rickets reported in children

Question 14

Did hyperinflation pave the way for the collapse of the WR ?

Answer 14

• inflation of 1923 was not the occasion of Weimar’s demise, but it did leave a deep and lasting psychological scar, particularly among the middle classes
• when another economic crisis hit Germany in the early 1930’s many could not forgive the WR for a second failure (just 7 years after 1923)

Question 15

What were the problems of a coalition government ?

Answer 15

1) Germany had a wide array of political parties = a problem for the new WR as govts needed to command a majority in the Reichstag, with the PR voting system and so many parties it was virtually impossible for one party to gain a majority of seats and coalition govts were inevitable
2) coalitions of different parties were likely to be unstable particularly with the challenges facing the WR. If govt parties disagreed then the coalition would fail = short lived coalItions (often perceived as weak)
3) forming a STABLE coalition was increasingly difficult as more hostility to the WR and political extremism grew (more parties anti-democratic/ anti-republic) so refused to take part in the coalition which meant centre parties found it increasingly difficult to reach an agreement with various parties to create a govt

❗️Feb 1919-Nov 1923 = 10 coalitions govts: continuity difficult + confidence in democracy undermined

Question 16

What was support for democracy like in the Jan 1919 election ?

Answer 16

• notable support for centre parties (KPD and NSDAP non-existent)
• ❗️led to 3 centrist coalition governments all led by SPD (❗️largest party but only 38% of the vote), all coalitions had majority support

Question 17

What was support for democracy like in the June 1920 election ?

Answer 17

🔔Election on 6th June, just before TofV signed
- ❗️SPD still largest party (but reduced vote 38% to 21.7%)
- all other centre parties (DDP/Z/BVP) see their vote decline
- ❗️parties on extreme left see rise in vote (KPD 0% to 2.1%/ USPD 7.6% to 17.9%)
- ❗️parties on extreme right see rise in vote (DNVP 10.3% to 15.1%) - NSDAP not yet participating
- ❗️June 1920-May 1924 (next election): 5 different coalition govts (all ix of centre parties) only ONE has majority support

Question 18

What was support for democracy like in the May 1924 election ?

Answer 18

🔔 effects of hyperinflation crisis + Munich Putsch can be seen
- decline in support for democratic parties
- Nazis become noticeable ❗️(6.5%)
- extremist vote rises (KPD,DNVP,NSDAP) to over 40% of the vote

🔔 early years of the WR were marred by considerable political unrest that threatened to destabilise the new republic

Question 19

What threats from the left did the WR face ?

Answer 19

• Jan 1919 the Spartacists (led by Liebknecht and Luxemburg) attempted a revolt in Berlin, the SPD govt frightened by the threat of communism and so moved quickly to crush the threat using the REICHSWEHR (army) and the Freikorps + leaders murdered
• LW uprisings were crushed by the army in Berlin and Munich in spring 1919
• more serious challenge came when soviet republic was established in Bavaria in April 1919, again Ebert used army + Freikorps to remove the threat

Question 20

Who were the LW parties ?

Answer 20

• SPD (Social Democrats)- committed to democracy
• KPD (Communists)- anti-democratic + wanted a communist revolt
• USPD (Independent Social Democrats)- wanted a more socialist society than the SPD but within a democratic frame work
• collapse of USPD in 1920 led to members joining either the SPD or KPD, which removed any middle ground so the

Question 21

How serious was the threat from the left ?

Answer 21

✅ create a revolutionary threat in the aftermath of the war, which warranted action
✅ Soviet style republic declared in Bavaria and the uprising in the Ruhr in 1923 were evidence of the danger of the ‘Red Threat’
❌ only 10-15% of the electorate supported such extreme LW views
❌ the KPD had neither strong leadership or a clear strategy and their level of electoral support was extremely low (2% before 1924)
❌ threat exaggerated by RW propaganda
❌ left was ideologically and tactically divided
❌ the ablest leaders (Luxemburg & Liebknecht) were removed by Freikorps
❌ by summer 1919 the best chance of establishing communism in Germany had gone and LW unrest never seriously challenged govt control

🔔 By itself it was never enough to collapse the Weimar government but its very existence took away 1/3rd of working class support from Weimar democracy

Question 22

Why can the use of the Freikorps to crush the Left be seen as a political mistake ?

Answer 22

• some historians have argued that Ebert had to use the old elite (army/Freikorps) to crush the Left in order to save democracy
• others suggested he overestimated the threat of the Left and underestimated the threat of the right and so made a mistake
  🔔 some LW Germans never forgave Ebert for his actions (would have impact later as split the LW meaning govts had less power as had less majority/ left unwilling to work with each other)

Question 23

Who idea was the Kapp Putsch ?

Answer 23

• 1920
• General Ludendorf & Wolfgang Kapp formed ‘The National Association’ in 1919 to raise support for their views, wanted to restore the monarchy (Kapp in particular)
• backed by General von Luttwitz, leader of the Freikorps
• easy to gain support as military restrictions were being imposed and the ‘stab in the back’ theory circulated

Question 24

What was the Kapp Putsch ?

Answer 24

• March 1920 Luttwitz called on Ebert to resign, when he refused, the Freikorps marched into Berlin and proclaimed Kapp Chancellor
• some army generals refused to crush the revolt and so the govt fled to Stuttgart

Question 25

How was the Kapp uprising defeated ?

Answer 25

• when trade unions retaliated and organised a general strike
• ❗️only 48 of the 775 army officers involved were arrested and Kapp fled the country

🔔 relative leniency shown to the RW rebels in contrast to the brutality shown to the Spartacist revolt of March 1920 as Ebert needed the support of the army to keep control (even if they didn’t support democracy)

• however in Bavaria, Reichswehr commanders managed to seize control of local govt + installed a RW regime (Bavaria would go on to become a focus for RW groups)

Question 26

How was the Kapp Putsch significant ?

Answer 26

it showed that:
1. army could not be trusted
2. power of the workers- would save the Republic/rally for democracy
3. Weimar govt weak without army’s support
4. govt and the judiciary would deal with extreme LW revolts far more harshly than RW

Question 27

Who were the RW parties ?

Answer 27

• DVP (German’s People’s Party): moderate conservative party led by Stresemann, committed to democracy
• DNVP (German’s National People’s Party): the main conservative party, initially monarchist and hostile to WR but after 1925, supported democracy
• NSDAP (Nazis): anti-democracy preferring authoritarian regimes of the past
• Para-military groups (eg. Freikorps): a haven for brutal elements of German militarism and radical nationalism, anti-democratic + pro-authoritarian rule ❗️(Hitler would later develop the idea in his SA and SS)

Question 28

What did the extreme right (Nazis/paramilitaries) represent ?

Answer 28

• the destruction of the democratic constitution and the return of authoritarian rule
• believed in the ‘stab in the back’ myth- the army had not been defeated but had been betrayed by unpatriotic forces (socialists, democrats, Jews)
• the new Weimar govt were the ‘November Criminals’ who had overthrown the monarchy, signed the armistice and accepted the shameful TofV
• they absolved the Kaiser of all blame and responsibility for Germany’s problems and so undermined the regime

Question 29

Who/what were the RW institutions ?

Answer 29

🔔 many background institutions which supported the govt of the country were RW in nature
- judges & the judiciary: punished the left more harshly than the right eg. leniency for Hitler after the Munich Putsch
- civil service: often had RW sympathies and would for example delay legislation especially social reforms
- army: was humiliated by the loss of WW1, they disliked democracy and wanted to see a return to authoritarian and military rule (of the Kaiser era) + willing to crush LW revolts but reluctant to prevent RW violence

🔔 together the judiciary, army and civil service represented a powerful conservative and reactionary force, able to exert a powerful influence on the workings of the WR
🔔 alongside this was the constitution which included an extensive declaration of civil rights, so the spirit of the Constitution was democratic and progressive whilst the institutions that were to administer it remained weeded to the values of a previous era

Question 30

What was political violence like before 1923 ?

Answer 30

• before 1923 there was serious civil unrest (at times it bordered on civil war), street battles were not uncommon
  -❗️1918-1922 there were 376 politically motivated murders (mostly carried out by RW), most notable were the assassinations of Matthias Erzberger (leader of the Catholic Centre party and one of the signatories of the TofV

Question 30

What was political violence like before 1923 ?

Answer 30

🔔 before 1923 there was serious civil unrest (at times it bordered on civil war), street battles were not uncommon
-❗️1918-1922 there were 376 politically motivated murders (mostly carried out by RW), most notable were the assassinations of Matthias Erzberger (leader of the Catholic Centre party and one of the signatories of the TofV) and Walter Rathenau, Foreign Minister for the central DDP (had signed the armistice & had negotiated with Allies to improve the TofV)
- many communist leaders also killed
- strong reactions against the murders but they also fostered disillusionment with the new regime (new govt could not bring law and order)
- Freikorps and other paramilitary groups were involved in the murders but also provided protection from violence for RW parties

Question 31

Background the to Munich Putsch ?

Answer 31

• since the Kapp Putsch, Bavaria had been ruled by RW regime which called itself a ‘focus of oder’ in a nation threatened by Communism
• the Nazi party emerged in the traditional and nationalistic fervour of Bavaria in the early 1920’s

Question 32

What was the Munich Putsch ?

Answer 32

• in Sept 1923, the Nazis joined an association of RW groups who were planning a putsch in Munich which was a preliminary to establishing a dictatorship in Berlin (likely leader General Ludendorff)
• the Nazis took the chance to launch a coup as the backdrop of hyperinflation caused chaos in Germany
• the plan required the support of key figures in Bavarian hierarchy, but when support wavered, Hitler embarked on a high risk strategy of seizing Kahr (the Bavarian State Commissioner) at a beer hall, who seemed to pledge his support and was allowed to leave
• Kahr reneged on his pledge of support and ordered the police to break up a march planned by the Nazis and other RW groups ❗️16 Naiz & 3 policemen killed
• Hitler arrested and in Feb 1924 was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment
• the trail gave Hitler unprecedented publicity and he served only 9 months of his sentence (having taken the chance to write his book ‘Mein Kampf’

Question 33

Why was the Munich Putsch not a complete failure ?

Answer 33

• propaganda victory: huge publicity for Hitler and the NSAPD
• 🔔it forced the Nazis to change policy and pursue legal victory via elections
• Nazis gained 6.5% in general election in May 1924 (first time they were on the national political map)

Question 34

How serious was the threat from the right ?

Answer 34

✅🔔 historians accuse Ebert of underestimating the threat from the right, to protect democracy he allowed the reactionary elite to remain in power and so allowed forces hostile to democracy key positions in government/govt bureaucracy
✅ supression of the left and relatively lenient punishment of the right would encourage the growth of RW resentment
✅ RW propaganda successfully over exaggerated the threat of the left and radical RW support
✅ electoral statistics show growing support for the more extreme RW parties between 1919 and June 1920- ❗️28% by June 1920 (more substantial than the extreme left), votes for moderate parties were declining
❌ the defeat of the Kapp Putsch and Munich Putsch show that there was resistance and strength in the democratic forces of the Republic
❌ political assassinations were met with widespread revulsion
❌ ❗️before 1924 no RW party played any part in a government coalition (could argue that they were marginalised and w/o power)

Question 35

How did the Weimar government survive the multiple cruses of 1919-1923 ?

Answer 35

• extreme forces were both relatively disorganised and divided, neither attracted enough support to pose a threat
• although the army and the political elite were not committed to democracy, they were not yet prepared to overthrow it (as they feared it would lead to greater chaos) or capable of doing so
• so whilst the threats against the WR were numerous, they were relatively weak in nature
• Ebert used Article 48 (as it was intended) and the strength of the army and Freikorps to take strong action against threats
• Stresemann tackled hyperinflation quickly and with some success before the end of 1923
• there continued to be popular support for the new Republic (although it was notably dented by events) and at times the people acted decisively to support the Republic eg. Kapp Putsch
• so the WR demonstrated some strengths in dealing with the threats