Depth Study “Germany 1918-45”

The Weimar Republic 1918-1933

How was the Weimar Republic set up?

CAUSES

★ In 1914 the Germans were a proud people....

BEFORE 1914: Optimism about the power and strength of Germany

✔ Their Kaiser (Wilhem II) was celebrated for his achivements

✔ Their army was probably the finest in the world

✔ Prospering businesses in Berlin

4 years later, the picture was very different

✖ The army was defeated

✖ German people were surviving on turnips and bread

✖ He had to abdicate

WAR AND REVOLUTION

Shortages

POWER CUTS

inflation

THOUSEND OF SOLDIERS

AND CIVILIANS DIED

Lethal virus: influezna

WAR AND REVOLUTION

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Weimar Republic, its…

BIRTH

- Germany should become more democratic and the Kaiser should abdicate.

In autumn 1918 the Allies had clearly won the war and offered Germany peace under strict contitions.

He abdicated on 9 November 1918

The following day, the Socialist leader F. Ebert became the new leader of the Republic of Germany and inmediately signed an armistice.

THE ARMISTICE WAS BASED UPON Wilson´s

« Fourteen points »

NEW GOVERNMENT: A REPUBLIC

FRIEDRICH EBERT: First elected President in the German History. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), moderate socialist.

What is a republic?

A republic is a form of government in which power resides in the people and the government is ruled by elected leaders according to law rather than inherited or appointe.

REMEMBER!! The II Reich was an autocracy, a system of government in which a supreme power is concentrated in the hands of ONE PERSON. A democracy, however, allows CITIZENS to participate equally in the laws by which their society is run.

Impact of the war on Germany by 1918

Have a look on the given page

1Political Challenges 2Social

Challenges 3Economic Challenges

Which were the challenges facing Ebert when he took over in Germany?

1 2After signing the Armistice, Ebert had 2 tasks:

To hold a democratic election.

To hammer out a new constitution detailing how the German people would be ruled.

Elections in Jan 1919: SDP gained the most seats but had to join with other parties.

Politicias decided to meet in a small town called Weimar in order to settle the details of the new constitution. In 6 months it was ready.

Weimar Republic, its…

CRISIS

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES (1919)

The biggest crisis for the new republic came in May 1919 when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced.

They blamed Ebert´s government for betraying Germany.

Ebert was very reluctant to sign the Treaty but he had no choice. Germany could not go back to war.

Ordinary Germans were persuaded to believe the muth of the “stab in the back”, the rumour that German soliders had not lost the war but could have fought on if the civilian government had not betrayed them by suing for peace.

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- The Allies demanded reparations from Germany.

- All Germany´s colonies in the Far East and Africa were taken from her and were place in the care of France and Britain (it was called the “mandate” system).

THE TREATY OF VERSAILES (1919)

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Germany lost

100% of her pre-war colonies48% of her iron production16% of her coal production13% of her territory12% of her population

In addition:- Its army was reduce to 100.000 men- It was not allowed to have an aire force- Its navy was reduced

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923

Was the new government a success?

The new republic was giving Germans freedom of speech, freedom of workship and better working conditions.

Did the Germans accept an instant change from the autocratic system

to this democratic system?

Ebert had opposition from both right and left

On the right wing: Kaiser´s former advisers who hoped for his return.

On the left wing: Revolucionary socialists, many of them Communists who believed that Germany needed a Communist revolution just like Russia´s in 1917.

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923 -- THE SPARTACIST

Who were the Spartacists?

One left-wing group led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Their party was like Lenin´s Bolsheviks. They wanted a Germany ruled by worker´s councils or soviets. They said that an election would mean that upper and middle –classe Germans would still run the country instead of the workers. They led an armed uprsing in Berlin to

snatch power from Ebert. Ebert thought that Germany needed law and order more than socialism and, as he could not relay on the army, he used the

FREIKORPS, bands of exservicemen who hated socialisim.

They crushed the Berlin revolt. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered. Ebert used force to crush the Spartacist becasue he was scared of Germany collaping into chaos.

Period of crisis: 1919-1923

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923 – KAPP PUTSCH

What´s a PUTSCH?

In Nov 1923, Hitler led an attempted rebellion in Munich, known as the Munich Putsch. He and the murderers of Ebert´s foreing minister, Walther Rathenau, received short prision sentences.

A REBELLIONIn March 1920, Dr. Wolfganga Kapp led 5.000 Freikorps into Berlin in a rebellion known as the KAPP PUTSCH.

The German army refused to fire on the Freikorps and it look as if Ebert´s government was doomed. However, it was saved by the German people, specially the industrial people. They declared a general strike (no transport, no power, no water) and after a few days, Kapp realised he could not succeed and left the country.

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923

Hyperinflation (1921-1924)

Because it had no goods to trade, the government simply printed money. With so much money in circulation but not enough goods to buy with it, prices and wages rocketed, but this money was worthless.

Workers needed wheelbarrows to carry home their wages.

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923 – THE RUHR

REPARATIONSThe reparation bill was announced in April 1921. It was set at £6.600 million to be paid in annual instalments of 2% of Germany´s annual output.

The Germans protested that this was intolerable for their economy but they were ignored.

The first instalment was paid in 1921 but nothing was paid in 1922. France did not have patience (they also had to pay its loan) and in January 1923 French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr and took whas was owed to them in the form of materials and goods.

PERIOD OF CRISIS: 1919-1923 – THE RUHR

REPARATIONS

The occupation of the Ruhr wre disastrours for Germany. The governement ordered the workers to go on strike. The French reacted harshly, illing over 100 workers and expelling over 100.000 protesters from the region. This halt in Germany´s industrial production caused the collapse of the German currency.

Weimar Republic, its…

Opposition1) German political parties2) The case of the Nazi Party

GER

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191

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28 KPD(Communist Party)

SPD(Social Democratic Party)

DDP(German Democratic Party)

CENTRE PARTY

DVP(German People´s Party)

DNVP(German Nationalist Party)

NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers´s Party, Nazi)

Left-wing Right-wing

F. Ebert G. Stresemann

A. Hitler

THE

NAZ

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TY He was born in Braunau in Austria (1889) Success in sencondary school but he was rejected twice in Vienna

when he applied to attend art school. Between 1909 and 1914 he was virtually on the streets of Vienna.

When war broke out in 1914 his life took on a new purpose He went to Germany to join up and to contribute to a grlorious victory (he thought)

By 1918 Hitler had been twice rewarded for bravery with the Iron Cross (he was corporal). He had lived and breathed the team spirit of the trenches, seen Germans unite against a common enemy and sacrifice their lives for the Fatherland.

In Munich he became a surveillance officer for the army

OPPOSITION TO WEIMAR GERMANY --

The GERMAN WORKER´S PARTY

Many nationalist and racist groups had formed immediately after the war and Hitler was employed to spy on one of them: The German Workers´ Party.

Its founder, Anton Drexler, was so impressed by Hitler that in September 1919 he invited him to join the group as its 55 member and become responsible for recruitment and propaganda.

RECRUIMENT refers to the overall process of attracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs withing an organisation.

PROPAGANDA is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of a population toward some cause or position. Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.

THE

NAZ

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TY He was such a good speaker at meetings that he was chosen to launch the German Workers´s Party programme on 24 February 1920. He told his audience that this programme was “unchangeable” and announced the new party name:

The Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeitepartei

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Nazi Party

MEMBERSHIP & THE NAZI PROGRAMME (1920)

Extracts from the Nazi Programme

Let´s read pag. 21

- Most members were were lower middle-class, male-dominated, authoritarian, anti-semitic, anti-intellectual, craftworkers..

- Some of the elite of German society also swelled Hiter´s movement: managers, academics and university students.

Membership

Weimar Republic, its…

STABILIZATION & RECOVERY

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What brought stability and recovery to Germany was a £40 million loan from USA, called the Dawes Plan.

+A new currency (the Rentenmark) to replace the one so devalued by inflation.

These actions –as much as he called off the passive resistance in the Ruhr- were planned by Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor in 1923 and the German Foreing Minister from 1923-1929, when he died.

= Much of this short-term loan was used on housing and public works. Germans were finally enjoying good times

1924

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The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno (Switzerland, 1925) in which Germany, France and Belgium agreed to maintain their western frontiers and to refrain from using force to alter them. Britain and Italy guaranteed the treaty.

This treaty, signed by Stresemann, helped restore Germany´s pride.

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To what extend did the Weimar Republic recover after 1923?

Part of this debate depends upon how you interpret the word “recovery”.

Did Germany “recover” its place in Europe as a respeceted nation and equal partner? Or did the economy “recover” from its wartime dislocation, hyper-inflation and the burden of reparations?

During the Weimar Republic

The Nazi Party in the 1920s

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Why did the Nazi Party have little real success before 1930?

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Tactics used by the Nazis to gain power

Let´s look at two issues:

Why did they fail

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dsfTactics used by the Nazis to gain power

Using violence: Putsch

In 1921 Hitler created his own private army so that he established

the STURMABTEILUNG (SA) or Stormtrooper (exsoldiers and young men who felt they had missed out on the war).

In November 1923 the timing seemed right to seize control in Munich.

★ Inflation was out of control.

★ The French were occupying the industrial Ruhr area to collect unpaid reparations and Stresemann had called off passive resistance by German workers

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dsfTactics used by the Nazis to gain power

Using violenceHitler´s plan depended upon elements of the army betraying the governement and coming over to his side. Only with military support could his strategy of force be successful.

BAVARIA had been a hotbed of reactionary opposition since the beginning of the Wemar Republic. Many right-wing gropus were hostile to democracy.

On the night of 8 November 1923, Gustav von Kahr, a member of the

Bavarian Governemnt, went to a political meeting at a beer hall in Munich. He was to be the main speaker. Also attending were:

General von Lossowwho was in command of the army in Bavaria.

Colonel von SeisserHead of the state police force.

+ some of Hitler´s SA, with concealed weapons

Hitler wanted to persuade them to join the Nazis: a national uprising against Berlin government FAIL

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dsfTactics used by the Nazis to gain power

Using violence

General von Lossowwho was in command of the army in Bavaria.

Colonel von SeisserHead of the state police force.

Gustav von KahrMember of the Bavarian governemnt

Hitler entered the beer hall and tried to persuade them of his plans. At first they rejected it.

Then, when Hitler told them that General Ludendorff was supporting the Nazis they changed their minds.

Ludendorff arrived at the scene to lend his support.

After the I world war, Ludendorff became a prominent nationalist leader, and a promoter of the “stab-in-the-back” legend, convinced that the German army had been betrayed in the Treaty of Versailles.

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dsfTactics used by the Nazis to gain power

Using violence

Gustav von KahrMember of the Bavarian governemnt

General von Lossowwho was in command of the army in Bavaria.

Kahr and Lossow were in their support for Hitler. They left the beer hall and raised the alarm: the state police and army were put on alert. If Hitler was to succed, he needed military support.

A march throught the streets of Munich by Hitler and his supporters the following morning attracted much public support but a police cordon brought the Nazis to a halt. A shot was fired and a police officer killed. Soon, 16 Nazis lay dead. Hitler was arrested shortly afterwards.

Hitler was found guilty of treason and he was sentenced to 5 years. While in prison he wrote his autobiography calle MEIN KAMPF (My Struggle)

Germany 1914 1st World War started

1918 11/11/18 The Armistice was signed = End of the 1st World War

09/11/18 The Kaiser adicated.

10/11/18 F. Ebert became Chancellor in Germany (provisional government) Germany became a democracyAutocracy

Democracy:

The Weimar Republic

1919 Jan-June PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE The Big Three.

Jan: First German democratic elections F.Ebert became the President (SPD, Social Democratic Party) and P. Scheidenmann the Chancellor He did not agree with the Treaty of Versailles and dismissed on June 1919.

28/06/19 The Treaty of Versailles was signed terms of the treaty

Aug: the republic adopted the Weimar Constitution: Universal Suffrage was stablished (min. voting age 20), fundamental rights.

Jan, Berlin: The Spartacists Revolt (revoltionary socialists led by R.Luxemburg and K. Liebknacht; aim: to seize power in order to stablish a country ruled by communists ; killed by the Freikorps -- Failed

March 1920 Kapp Putsch: coup attempt in order to stablish a right-wing autocratic government. -- Failed 1920

1923

1918 – 1923Weimar Republic in CRISIS:

1924Nov, Munich: Beer Hall Putsch or Munich Putsch: Hitler tried to seize power but was arrested and put on a trial for treson 9 months in prision (instead of 5 years)

1) Opposition from right wing and left wing parties

2) Germany had to pay reparations and had no money -> France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr

3) Hyperinflation

Dawes Plan: £40 million loan from USA Housing, public work, uemployemnt fell Stability

New currency: the Rentenmark

Aug: Occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops Germany was not paying reparations. Stresmann (the Chancellor) called off pasive resistance in the Ruhr Government prints more money to pay the wages of workers on strike in the Ruhr.

1926

Young Plan: war reparations restructuring arrangement.

The Locarno Treaty restored Germany´s pride. France & Britain began treating Germany as an equal .

1921 Reparations total decided: £6.600 million Government prints money to pay for the reparations (inflation)

1925

Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations reintegration into the European powers.

1929

10 years of democracy had weathered many storms and Germany was more respected abroad. It seemed nothing could spoil Stresemann´s success and Germany´s revival.

1924 – 1929Weimar Republic RECOVERY

Aug: The Wall Street Crash: loans to Germany had been short term and were called in quickly. “If Amerci sneezes Europe catches a cold”.

1929 – 1934From democracy to dictatorship

To take power by any democratic method. He wanted to be the Chancellor to make decisions that could affect the whole Germany.

1.- What were Hitler´s intentions?

Hitler comes to power

2.- What were Hindenburg´s intentions in appointing Hitler?3.- How did Hindenburg´s beliefs and

ideas shape his intentions and actions?

He disliked democracy & considered that it led to weak governements.His aim was rewrite the Weimar Constitutiton German government more authoritarian and less democratic.

Hindenburg doubted about it for several months. In Jan 1933, pressure made him think that his government contained a minority of Nazis so he appointed Hitler as Chancellor.

- Electoral success of the Nazi Party between 1930 and 1933.

4.- What were the circumstances which made Hitler a suitable candidate for Chancellor?

Hitler comes to power

5.- How can the timing of Hitler´s appointment be explained?

However, 63% of Germans voted for parties other than the Nazis

Nazi Party popularity was due to their propaganda: speeches at impressive Nazi rallies, posters and leaflets on themes such as nationalism and criticism of the Versailles Treaty and poured scorn (to hate) on elements of left-wing politics: unions, labour law and welfare legislation

In Nov 1932, President Hindenberg appointed Schlecher as his Chancellor but during the next weeks he made some blunders which worried big business. Under preassure, in January 1933 the President finally agreed to appoint Hitler on the understanding that the government would be a conservative and not a Nazi one.

Depth Study “Germany 1918-45”

The Weimar Republic