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Summary Unit 2O: Democracy and Nazism A Level History
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Chapters 1-12 for the AQA A level History Unit 2O Democracy and Nazism Textbook. These are Summary Notes.
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AQA A Level A* History Democracy and Nazism essay plan (Weimar constitution)
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Nazi Germany: 1918-1945Chapter 1: The Establishment of the Weimar Constitution
The Abdication of the Kaiser The October Reforms
At 1:30pm on the 9th November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II had been brought the news that his
abdication had been announced in Berlin. By the end of September 1918 it had been clear to In October, the Kaiser began a series of reforms that
General Ludendorff that Germany was on the brink of defeat. Ludendorff concluded that effectively ended his autocratic rule:
Germany’s only hope of avoiding a humiliating surrender was to ask the allies for an armistice.
The armistice had been finalised on the 11th November 1918. ●He appointed Prince Max of Baden as his new
Chancellor
●Armistice – an agreement to suspend fighting in order to allow a peace treaty to be negotiated. ●The Chancellor established a new government based
on the majority parties in the Reichstag, which
The news that Prince Max’s government was asking for an armistice was a shattering blow to the included the German Social Democratic Party (SPD).
morale of German people and to their armed forces. ●The armed forces were put under control of the civil
government.
This was the first occasion on which the German people had learned the truth about their
country’s hopeless military position which undermined their respect for the Kaiser and his The November Revolution of 1918
military and political leaders.
On the 3rd November 1918, sailors mutinied against
The November Revolution of 1918 their officers at the main German naval base at Kiel
On the 9th November 1918, the SPD called on workers in Berlin to join a general strike to force and took over the base. Despite attempts by the
the Kaiser to abdicate. They also threatened to withdraw support from Prince Max’s government government to meet the mutineers’ demands, the
unless the Kaiser abdicated within 24 hours. revolt spread to many other German ports and cities.
On the same day the Kaiser abdicated and Prince Max resigned as Chancellor and handed over It had become apparent that Prince Max had lost
the position to Freidrich Ebert, the leader of the SPD. control of the situation.
The Struggle for Power
He was conscious of the fact that his government lacked legitimacy. His
Ebert believed in evolutionary change through winning a majority in priority, after agreeing the armistice with the Allies on the 11th November,
parliamentary elections and then introducing reforms. was to organise elections for a Constituent Assembly.
●Constituent Assembly – an elected body with the specific task of drawing
up a new constitution, usually in the aftermath of revolution.
Ebert urged Germans to keep essential services running and to maintain law His problem was that his authority did not extend much beyond Berlin
and order. where disorder and violence were becoming the norm. Street demonstrations
and armed clashes became regular occurrences.
Pressure from the Left
Whilst Ebert and his cabinet made preparations for elections to a Constituent
The USPD believed that the autocratic system of government would not Assembly, to be held in January 1919, the struggle for power continued:
finally be abolished unless the aristocratic estates were broken up, the army,
civil service and judiciary were democratised, and the key industries were ●On the 6th December a Spartacist demonstration in Berlin was fired on by
nationalised under workers’ control. soldiers, killing sixteen.
Pressure from the Army and the Ebert-Groener Pact ●On the 23-24 December, a sailors’ revolt against the government in Berlin
was put down by the army. Three USPD ministers in the government
Most of the army officers were opposed to democracy as they came from resigned in response.
aristocratic backgrounds and had been loyal to the Kaiser.
On the 10th November, General Groener telephoned Ebert to assure him ●On the 6th January, the Spartacists launched an armed revolt known as the
that the army would support the government. Ebert assured Groener that the Spartacist Uprising and the revolt was crushed after a week of fighting in
government was determined to resist further revolution. This agreement Berlin.
became known as the Ebert-Groener Pact.
,Elections to the Constituent Assembly
The main socialist parties in the new republic were:
The elections for the Constituent Assembly were held on the 19th January
1919. Women were allowed to vote for the first time. The SPD secured the The USPD – Wanted a republic with the Reichstag working with workers
largest share of the vote and the largest and soldiers councils, welfare improvements, nationalisation of industry,
number of seats in the Assembly but they did not have an overall majority breaking up of large estates, reform of the army, and creation of a new
and would have to compromise with other parties in order to establish a new militia. Opposed to the First World War.
constitution and govern the country.
●The SPD – Wanted moderate socialist republic with democratic elections
Ebert was elected by the Assembly as the first President of the Republic and and basic personal freedoms, welfare improvements and gradual
a new government, led by Phillip Scheidemann, was formed by the SPD in nationalisation of industry. Wanted continuity and order. Supported
coalition with the Centre and German Democratic parties. The constitution Germany’s entry into the First World War,
was designed to enshrine and guarantee the rights and powers of the people.
The main non-socialist political parties in the new republic were:
Strengths of the Constitution
●The Centre Party – Formed in 1870 to protect the Catholic interests in the
●Women were now allowed to vote on the same terms as men and they mainly protestant German Reich. Had strong support in the main Catholic
were allowed to become deputies in the Reichstag and state parliaments. areas of Bavaria and the Rhineland.
Supported a democratic constitution.
●The system of proportional representation enabled smaller parties to win
seats in the Reichstag and influence government decisions. ●The German Democratic Party (DDP) – A left leaning liberal party, based
on the old Progressive Party. Most support came from intellectuals and
●There was full democracy in local and central government. Unlike in the middle class.
Second Empire, Prussia was not in a position to dominate the rest of Supported a democratic constitution.
Germany.
●The German National People’s Party (DNVP) – A nationalist party, based
Weaknesses of the Constitution on the old Conservative party. Most support came from landowners and
small business owners.
●The proliferation of smaller parties – Smaller parties could gain Rejected a democratic constitution.
representation in the Reichstag.
This enabled smaller parties, many of which were anti republican, to exploit ●German People’s Party (DVP) – A right-leaning liberal party, based on
the parliamentary system to gain publicity. the old National Liberal Party. Most support came from upper-middle class
and business interests.
●Coalition governments – Due to proliferation of small parties, none of the Rejected a democratic constitution but willing to participate in its
larger parties could get an overall majority in the Reichstag. governments.
All governments in the Weimar Republic were coalitions, many of which
were short lived.
, Rule by Presidential Decree The Survival of Undemocratic Institutions
Article 48 of the constitution gave the President the power to rule ●Autocracy – a system of government in which power is concentrated in the hands
by decree in exceptional circumstances. of one person.
Ebert used Article 48 on 136 occasions and while some of these ●The Army – General Hans von Seeckt, who was appointed Commander in Chief of
occasions could be deemed to be genuine emergencies, Ebert used the army in 1920, believed that the army owed loyalty not to the Republic, which he
his power in non-emergency situations simply to override regarded as merely temporary, but to a timeless Reich that was the true expression of
opposition in the Reichstag. The overuse of Article 48 undermined German nationhood. He thought that the army didn’t need to meddle in politics but
democracy. felt that under his command could intervene in politics whenever he saw fit.
The Survival of Undemocratic Institutions ●The Civil Service – Under the Weimar Constitution, civil servants were given a
guarantee of their ‘well-earned rights’ and of their freedom of political opinion as
Army officers, senior civil servants and judges were recruited from long as this did not conflict with their duty of loyalty to the state.
the aristocracy, supported the autocracy and looked with disdain on
democratic politicians. ●The Judiciary – Article 54 of the constitution guaranteed the independence of the
They would not, therefore, fit easily into the new democratic judges. This would be a basic requirement in any democratic constitution but in
politicians. Weimar Germany the judges who served the Second Empire remained in their posts.
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