This document discusses the Weimar Republic and provides a chronological list of events. In addition, the document is divided into various sub-items; Treaty of Versaille, November Revolution, Weimar Republic, hyperinflation.
1. Treaty of Versaille
- consequences of the Weimar Republic
- reaction of the Germans
2. November Revolution
- threat from the left and right
- constitution
- council republic
3. Weimar Republic
- strengths and weaknesses
4. Hyperinflation
Treaty of Versailler
- signed on 28 June 1919 → ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers
- Central Powers on the German side signed different treaties → armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the
actual fight → it took 6 month of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference
→ formal meeting in 18 January 1919 of victorious Allies after the end of World War I
→ setting terms for peace for the defeated Central Powers
→ leaders: Britain, France, US and Italy → result: five treaties which rearranged the maps of Europe and parts
of Asia , Africa and Pacific Island + imposing financial penalties
→ losing nations had no voice in the Conference’s deliberations
→ creation of League of Nations → intergovernmental organisation
→ main mission: maintaining peace
→ founded on 10 January 1920 - 20 April 1946
→ new United Nations
→ five peace treaties : awarding of german and Ottoman Empire overseas possession to France and Britain (as
“mandates”), imposition of reparations upon Germany, drawing new national boundaries
→ sometimes involving plebiscites (Volksabstimmung)
- Article 231 : placing the whole guilt of the war an “the aggression of Germany and her Allies” → humiliating
for Germany
- controlling the Conference were the 5 main powers and the “Big Four” → French Prime Minister Georges
Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Llyod Geroge, US President Woodrow Wilson and Italian Prime
Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
- formal peace process only ended when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in July 1923
→ settled conflict between Ottoman Empire and the
Allied
French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy,
Empire of
Japan, Kingdom of Greece and Kingdom of Romania
→ Declaration of Amnesty granted immunity for
crimes
committed between 1914 and 1922 : Armenian
genocide
- only the first treaty was actually signed at Versaille, the negotiations occurred at Quai d’Orsay in Paris
- on of the most controversial provision was Article 231 → War Guilt Clause
, - treaty required Germany to disarm, make plenty territorial concessions (Zugeständnisse) and pay reparations
to certain countries → formed the Entente Powers
- 1921 total cost of the reparationsassesed at 132 billion gold marks
- many critiques for the treaty, some saying it was too lenient with Germany and some saying it was too harsh
- problem: Germany was neither permanently weakened nor pacified → leading to Locarno Treaties,
improving relations between Germany and other European powers
- re-negotiation of the reparations system resulted in the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan and the indefinite
postponement of reparations at the Lausanne Conference 1932 (cause of World War II?)
- German citizens felt humiliated to accept the blame for the war and territorial loss
- postwar recovery was slowed due to economic provisions (Regelung)
- growing volume of complaint was hard to manage
- 1923 default on payments (Zahlungsverzug)Belgium and France lost and occupied the Ruhr mining region
→ response: more currency was printed to pay the French, sending Germans into hyperinflation
- by 1920s the German economy recovered → US helped to negotiate the reparations payments (Dawes Plan)
- 1922 April 16 treaties of Rapallo → resumption of diplomatic relations between the RSFSR and
Germany
- Locarno Treaties 1925: October Germany, France and Belgium agreed to respect their post-war borders,
Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to settle any border disputes peacefully
- Germany complaint about their loss of territory
- Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928: 62 countries (including Germany) signed the treaty to solve any disputes peacefully
Weimar Republic
- August 11, 1919 the Weimar Republic was signed into law by President Ebert
- constitution faces venomous opposition from the military and the left → 181 articles, everything was covered
(structure of German state, rights of the German people, religious freedom, how laws should be enacted)
- Article 48 allowed the president to suspend civil rights and operate independently in an emergency
- German government was unable to pay the reparation costs → generating revenue from coal and iron
decreased
- France and Belgium occupy Ruhrgebiet (main industrial region) keen to get their payments → Weimarer
government told the workers to strike and passively resist the occupation → economy quickly tanked
- the government printed more money in response → changing money’s value (devaluing)
- Gustav Stresemann as new chancellor 1923 → ordered workers back to work and changed the currency Mark
to American Retenmark
- late 1923 League of Nations asked US banker Charles Dawes to help tackle Germany’s reparations and
hyperinflation issues → “Dawes Plan”
- Dawes Plan and Stresemann leadership helped stabilize the Weimar Republic
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