the recovery of the republic 1919-1923 Flashcards
(16 cards)
who are the electorate
people allowed to vote over the age of 21
men and women
what does the president do
he plays no part in day to day polictics however he choose the chancellor, who is the head of the german gov and choose the government ministers
what do government ministers run
specific parts of running the country e.g. finances or foreign affairs
weimar constitution strengths (3)
- all germans had equal rights, including right of free speech
- voting age moved from 25 to 21
- men as well as women could vote for the first time
- each of the 18 regions of germany kept their own local powers by having its own parliament
define proportional representation
makes it easier for smaller parties to hold seats in the reichstag so (29 different parties hold seats in the reichstag at some stage in the 1920s)
causes weakness since often no majority governments (when 1 party holds more than half of the seats in the reichstag)
so coalitions are formed
what is article 48
what is the negative of it
allows the chancellor to bypass the reichstag in times of crisis and pass laws by himself through the president
which is very undemocratic and makes the consitution appear weak
weimar constitution weaknesses (3)
- proportional representation
- article 48, makes it seem like one all powerful leader is better than an elected parliament
- it relied on force by using the army to stay in power - particularly during riots in berlin
describe coalitions and why they are often bad (2)
when different parties team up to get more than half seats in reichstag
- many compromises between the two joined parties so lack of clear, strong policies
- coalitions often fall apart
- hard to come to a compromise so hard to give clear decisions quickly especially in times of crisis
who is the far left party
who are the moderate left parties
- who supports them (generally)
communist party (KPD)
social democrats (SPD)
democrats (DDP)
- working people
who is the centre party (more centre right though)
- who supports them (generally)
centre party (ZP)
middle class
who are the two far right wing extremist parties
who is the moderate right party
- who supports them (generally)
national party
nazi party formed later in 1920s ???
people’s party (DVP)
- upper classes
when was the spartacists revolt
jan 1919
who led the spartacists
rosa luxemburg and karl liebknecht
extreme socialists and communists
why does the spartacists revolt happen
chancellor ebert sacks eichhorn (chief of police in berlin)
and many workers do not like this so thousands of them protest this
spartacists see the oppotunity to undermine the gov and call for an uprising and strike in berlin
what do the worker do in the spartacists uprising
100 000 workers take to the streets in protest
taking control of the governments newspaper and telegraph offices
how did the goverment stop the spartacists
around 250 000 armed freikorps (former men released from the army who are right wing and don’t like communitsts) drive off the spartacists
the leaders, luxemburg and liebknecht, are killed by the freikorps
