The Weimar Republic - 1918-29

Question 1

what were the impacts of ww1 on Germany?

Answer 1

2 million german troops died;
by 1918 Germany was 150 billion marks in debt;
there were food shortages due to the British Navy blockading German ports - 750,000 people died of starvation

Question 2

In 1918 what were conditions in Germany like?

Answer 2

starvation (1000 calories a day);
fuel shortages = power cuts, factories closing - job loss & transport problems;
influenza (Spanish flu) was spreading causing thousands of deaths a week;

Question 3

How did Germany become a democracy after the armistice?

Answer 3

Allies made peace only if Germany became more democratic.
On 2nd Oct, Kaiser Wilhelm allowed the Reichstag to form a government - who took away many of Wilhelm’s powers
But a lot of the public hated the Kaiser and wanted to overthrow him

Question 4

what happened during the Nov 1918 revolution?

Answer 4

in Stuggart, at the Daimler plant, workers went on strike and protested in the streets;
In Hanover, soldiers refused to control rioters in the street. In many places local people (socialists) set up workers’ and soldiers’ councils to take over their cities;
In Munich, on Nov 7th, workers declared a general strike and protested - led by Kurt Eisner (jewish communist) - announced Bavaria a republic/separate from Germany;
In Kiel and Hamburg, Oct 1918, German Navy crews mutinied and refused to follow orders in the ports. As the were asked to go and fight the British even though peace talks were going on and it would have been suicide.

Question 5

By November 1918 what was the political state of Germany like?
What did the socialists do?

Answer 5

verging on civil war.

On the 9th Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and 2 socialist parties declared a republic.

Question 6

when was ceasefire?

Answer 6

11th November 1918

Question 7

Who became the temporary Chancellor?

Answer 7

Ebert - SPD leader

Question 8

what was Germany like by 1919?

Answer 8

No Kaiser,
socialist government,
upcoming elections (Jan 1919),
WW1 over,
peace treaty undecided

Question 9

Who won the presidency in Jan 1919?

Answer 9

Friedrich Ebert, leader of SDP (moderate socialists)

in Feb members of the Reichstag met at Weimar to create a new constitution

Question 10

Who was responsible for creating the constitution?when were they elected?
who was most popular?

Answer 10

The National Assembly was responsible,
elections were on the 19th Jan 1919,
the SDP were most popular - moderates won most seats

Question 11

when was the weimar constitution agreed on?

Answer 11

31st July 1919

Question 12

In the new constituion what was the role of the President?

Answer 12

elected every 7 yrs
chose the Chancellor
head of the army
can dissolve the Reichstag, call new elections and suspend the constitution
no role in day-to-day politics

Question 13

what did the Chancellor do?

Answer 13

head of government
chose all government ministers
ran day-to-day politics

Question 14

what did the cabinet do?

Answer 14

most important ministers
they worked closely with Chancellor to come up with decisions
main decision-making body of the gov.

Question 15

structure of the parliament?

Answer 15

made up of 2 houses (Reichstag & Reichsrat)

normally all laws were passed through both houses

Question 16

Reichstag

Answer 16

most powerful house
controlled taxation
directly elected by people every 4 yrs
elected using proportional representation (30% of votes = 30% of seats)

Question 17

Reichsrat

Answer 17

elected every 4 yrs
represented each region (members from each region)
can delay measures put in by Reichstag

Question 18

who could vote?

Answer 18

everyone over 21

Question 19

strengths of the constitution?

Answer 19

Democracy - fairer, thing in the public interest more likely to happen (all over 21 could vote, for every 60,000 votes there was one representative);

Limits on power - so no one person could hold too much power (president chose Chancellor, president could do the large stuff but not the day-today stuff);

Question 20

weaknesses of the constitution?

Answer 20

Article 22: proportional representation - meant there were many small parties, so the winner was unclear, coalitions were common (led to compromise and they fell apart frequently). 29 parties in the 1920s, form 1919-23 there were 9 coalition governments;

Limits on power - president had a lot of control over the Chancellor and Reichstag, dangerous to corruption. President chose chancellor, president could dismiss Reichstag, call new elections and assume control of the army

Coalition governments - common because of article 22, led to compromise on policy - governments were weak and not clear, they often fell apart so that nothing could be passed

Article 48: in the case of a crisis the President takes control assisted by the Chancellor - Chancellor often used this to pass laws that couldn’t get through parliament (as def. of ‘crisis’ was weak). This bypasses democratic law. So constitution seemed weak and people thought a dictator was better (got more done) than a democratic gov.

Opposition to the republic - gov. had used force/army to subdue riots and to start the democracy. Some parties in the Reichstag openly hated democracy (NSDAP and communists). The lack of public support and open internal hostility made it weak.

Question 21

Where was the treaty of versailles decided - who was there?

Answer 21

At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference

Allies were there but Germany weren’t invited

Question 22

when was the treaty of versailles signed?

Answer 22

28th June 1919

Question 23

3 reasons the Germans didn’t like the ToV?

Answer 23

it was a ‘diktat’ (forced on them) - refused concessions
they hated the terms
Stab in the Back theory - Germans didn’t think they had been defeating as they had only been retreating in 1918. they blamed politicians for betraying the gov.

Question 24

what made the german people feel a loss of pride about the ToV?

Answer 24

Article 231 - had to admit guilt, but many Germans didn’t agree with this
The allies could punish them as they admitted guilt

Question 25

what were the territorial terms of the ToV?

Answer 25

Lost all its colonies - given to the voctorious nations as madates

Lost land: Alsace, Lorraine, West Prussia… (lost 13% of European territory) = germans living on this land now were ruled by another country (1 million germans under polish rule & lost 10% of its population)

Question 26

Military terms of ToV

Answer 26

Army limited to 100,000 men - only in Germany
No heavy artillery
Navy limited to: 6 battleships; 6 cruisers; 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. Everything else destroyed
No air force
Rhineland demilitarised, allied troops there till 1930

Question 27

Financial terms of ToV

Answer 27

Had to pay 136,000 million marks
All overseas investments lost
Almost 50% of its iron and 15% of coal reserves lost - loss of economy from that (when they lost Saas coalfields to France fr 15yrs)

Question 28

what were the 2 uprisings?
when?
who?

Answer 28

Sparticist Uprising, Jan 1919 - socialists (communists), led by Luxemburg and Leibknecht

Kapp Putsch, March 1920 - Wolfgang Kapp and the Freikorps

Question 29

why did the spartacist uprising happen?

Answer 29

as on the 4th of Jan Ebert sacked the Berlin chief of police (Eichhorn) - popular with workers.
The next day thousands went to protest on the streets.
The spartacists saw their opportunity and called for an uprising and general strike. On the 6th over 100,000 workers revolted - seized gov’s newspaper and the telegraph offices

Question 30

how did Ebert have to subdue the revolters?

Answer 30

after ww1 the german armed forces weren’t capable of helping so he had to turn to the Freikorps (retired ww1 soldiers who had kept their weapons). Numbered about 250,000.
Ebert ordered them to put the rioters down and by the 13th the rebels were out of Berlin. on the 16th the two leaders were caught and killed by Freikorps officers.
over the next 4 months the Freikorps were used to subdue other left-wing revolts - thousands of communists were killed.

Question 31

why and how did the Kapp Putsch start?

Answer 31

by 1920 Ebert was struggling to control the Freikorps.
In March 1920 Freikorp units near Berlin were due to be disbanded and fearing unemployment they marched Berlin (armed).
On March 13th 1920, Luttwitz (Freikorp leader) took Berlin and proclaimed a new right of centre nationalist government was being set up with Kapp as Chancellor.

Question 32

How did Ebert respond?

Answer 32

left capital, fled to Weimar the Stuggart.
had no other choice, could only call for a general strike to paralyse the movement of the revolters supporters.
Kapp, although supported by General Luderndorff, did not get support of army, but they didn’t stop him or help Ebert.
The strike meant the putsch failed and Kapp and Luttwitz fled on March 17th.

Question 33

when did Germany fail to pay its reperations?

Answer 33

1923, so France took resources instead and took the Ruhr (industrial area)

Question 34

who did ebert appoint chancellor and foreign secretary? when?

Answer 34

Stresemann in August 1923

Gave up chancellor in November

Question 35

what was done to help the economy recover?

Answer 35

Introduction of Rentenmark in 1923
The Dawes Plan, 1924

The young Plan, 1929: put forward by committee headed by Owen Young, reduced reperations to £2 billion, Germany given 50 yrs to pay; meant gov could lower taxes so industry improved, also reduce foreign control on German economy

Question 36

what was done to improve foreign relations

Answer 36

The Locarno Pact, 1925

Joined League of Nations, 1926

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

Question 37

What was the Locarno Pact

Answer 37

The Locarno Pact, 1925: signed on 1st December; between Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Belgium. Agreed by Germans, who accepted 1919 borders with France, France promised peace. Rhineland was permanently demilitarised

Question 38

In the Kellogg-Briand Pact what did countries agree

Answer 38

not to use war in foreign policy

Question 39

how did the retenmark help?

Answer 39

new currency with real value reducing inflation: limited supply of notes, value linked to value of gold, backed by industry and agriculture.

Question 40

what did the Dawes Plan do?

Answer 40

US banker Dawes was asked by allies to get Germany able to pay reperations, in April 1924 he agreed to temporarily reduce to £50 mill per year, and that US banks would loan to German industry - good as easier to pay reperations but German economy now reliant on US markets.

Question 41

what did the Young Plan do

Answer 41

put forward by committee headed by Owen Young, reduced reperations to £2 billion, Germany given 50 yrs to pay; meant gov could lower taxes so industry improved, also reduce foreign control on German economy

Question 42

between 1925-29 how much did exports increase by?

Answer 42

40%

Question 43

in 1928 how many people voted pro-democratic parties in election?

Answer 43

76%

Question 44

what shows that Germany is still weak?

Answer 44

unemployment didn’t fall below 1.3 million

german industry was dependant on loans form the US