WNG Topic 1 Flashcards
(25 cards)
When did the Kaiser abdicate?
9 November 1918
What is the Head of State?
Head of the Weimer Republic
Elected every 7 years
What were the two types of government?
Chancellor and the Cabinet
What was the Chancellor?
Head of government
What was the Cabinet?
Main decision making body
Strengths of the Weimar constitution
Equal rights for all
Stronger president
Proportional representation - all parties fairly represented
Weakness of the Weimar constitution
Proportional representation - no clear majority unstable government
Article 48 - could be used wrongly
Not popular
What were November Criminals?
Name given to the Weimar politicians who signed the Armistice by the right wing
What was ‘Dolchstoss’
Stab in the back theory - Germany wasn’t defeated in WW1 the army was betrayed by politicians
What was RAWDEAL?
Reparations - £6.6 billion
Army - reduced 100,000 soldiers, 0 planes or submarines and 6 ships
War guilt - Article 231 Germany taking blame for the war
Demilitarise the Rhineland
Entry to League of Nations - forbidden
Anschluss - forbidden
Land - lost 13% - Alsace - Loraine , Polish corridor, overseas territories and the Saar
Challenge from the left - Spartacists
January 1919 took over government newspapers and telegraphs trying to organise a strike. Weimer government sent the Freikorps to deal with it.
Challenge from the right - Kapp Putsch
March 1920 Freikorps marched to Berlin to take over. Weimer government organised the trade unions to go on strike
What was the Rentenmark?
November 1923 Stresemann set up up the Rentenmark which value was tied to gold
What was the Dawes Plan 1924?
Instalments were temporarily reduced to £50 million
US banks agreed to make loans to Germany
What was the Young Plan 1929?
Reduced total reparations debt from £6.6 billion to £2 billion
Payments could be made over a longer time
What was the Locarno Pact 1925?
Germany agreed to its new borders with France
Allies and Germany agreed to the permanent demilitarisation of the Rhineland
What was the Kellogg - Briand Pact 1928?
Agreement between 62 nations to avoid the use of war to achieve foreign policy objectives
How did wages and work change?
+ Working hours reduced
Wages rose
Working conditions improved
- Hyperinflation made employment insecure
How did housing change?
15% housing tax was introduced to fund building associations
Between 1925-29 101,000 homes were built
What was unemployment insurance?
3% of workers’ earnings were deducted to be put towards insurance
How were women at work?
Women gave up work after marriage from 75% working in 1918 to 36% in 1925
Few women were in high status jobs
Women were encouraged to go to university
How were women in politics?
Women earned the vote in 1918
90% voted in elections
Article 109 stated women had equal rights
What was The Parliament?
Made up of two houses: the Reichstag and the Reichsrat
All laws had to be passed through both houses
Proportional representation
What was the Reichstag?
More powerful of the two houses
Controlled taxation
Elected every 4 years
