Germany A-Level
Key people Key dates Key stats/facts
Weimar Republic up to 1929
Impact of WW1 on Germany by 1918
● War left 600,000 widows and 2 million children without fathers
● National income was ⅓ what it had been in 1913
● Industrial production was ⅔ what it had been in 1913
● Deepened societal divisions, huge gaps in living standards between the rich and the poor and many
people saw the fact that women had been called up to work in factories damaging to family values and
society
● War stresses had lead to a revolution in October-November 1918
● Trade export had been ruined and consumer industries were devastated by the shift of production to
war material
● National debt had reached 250 billion marks and inflation had reached 250%
Spartacist Revolt
● At the end of 1918, left wing threat formulated from revolutionaries Karl Liebkneckt and Rosa
Luxemburg
● They hoped for a revolution similar to 1917 Russian one and hoped to form an alliance with Lenin's
Soviet Russia
● On 1 January 1919, the members of the Spartacists Union held their first congress in Berlin and with
support from other extremist left wing groups formed the KPD
● This was followed by a revolt in Berlin on the 5th January 1919, newspaper offices were taken over and
a revolutionary committee was formed
● This uprising was poorly organised and crushed by the Government who used the Friekorps troops lead
by General Walther von Luttwitz
● The Friekorps were anti Communist volunteer groups formed by ex-servicemen
● The use of Friekorps made democracy look weak and increased the influence of conservative elements
of Germany
● 15 January 1919 Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were executed
● The left wing threat deflected attention from right wing nationalism which was a more serious threat to
democracy
● The threat encouraged many to share right wing extremist views that Weimar was based on weak
Government and should be replaced
Formation of the Weimar Republic
● January 1919 elections took place for a National Assembly that was to draw up a new constitution for
the new republic
● It was decided that the National assembly should meet in Weimar (Berlin was too close to the Spartacist
uprising)
● The constitution was drawn up by a legal expect, scholar and liberal Hugo Preuss
● The constitution created the Reich as a parliamentary democracy with the Chancellor and cabinet
needed majority support in the Reichstag
● The Reich was a federation of 19 states (Lander)
● The constitution provided for a strong executive in the form of a President, elected every seven years,
the President was able to dissolve the Reichstag and block new laws by calling a referendum
● Article 48 meant the President could suspend the Reichstag and rule by decree in the case of ‘national
emergencies’
● The Chancellor lead the Government and were accountable to the Reichstag
● The Reichstag held elections every four years and proportional representation was introduced
● All men and women over 20 could vote
● Bill of Rights guaranteed individual rights such as freedom of speech and the right to belong to a union
● Proportional representation made it difficult for one party to gain the necessary overall majority to
implement its programme and lead to 21 coalition governments from 1919-1933, leading to political
instability
, ● There were 6 governments between 1919-1923 and most were very short lived, making achieving
things within the Government very difficult
Treaty of Versailles
● Germany were forced to accept the blame for the war
● Germany had to pay reparations to the allies for war damage, this was £6600 million
● Germany's overseas empire was removed, and controlled by France and Britain
● Germany had lost 10% of its territory, 16% of its coalfields and half of its iron and steel industry
● Germany were forbidden from joining together with their former ally Austria
● German army was limited to 100,000 men, with conscription, armed vehicles, aircrafts and submarines
being banned
● Rhineland was a demilitarised zone
● Germany was not allowed to join the League of Nations
● Germany were horrified and outraged, Versailles felt like a blow to German pride, the nation felt
humiliated
Kapp Putsch
● Right wingers opposed weak parliamentary democracy and felt this betrayed German values
● Communist revolt broke out amongst very influential right wingers, who were well represented in the
Reichstag due to proportional representation. Many ran state governments, and the army, judiciary and
civil service were all right wing
● In January 1919 into the spring of 1919, anti democratic forces such as the Friekorps began to restore
‘order’ to Berlin
● This unrest continued into 1920 and resulted into open rebellion: Kapp Putsch named after Wolfgang
Kapp who opposed all that Ebert stood for
● The Friekorps were furious that Ebert disbanded them following Versailles military cuts
● 13th March 1920, Luttwitz seized Berlin and proclaimed a new centralist Government was being
established with Wolfgang Kapp as the Chancellor
● The army refused to intervene with the rebellion, and ordinary people directly opposed a freikorp
dictatorship so the people of Berlin and Trade Unions go on strike within Berlin, defeating the putsch by
ensuring those who supported Kapp were unable to move around, dooming the revolt to failure
● Eberts lack of response to the Kapp Putsch undermines his status and emphasises the weakness of
Weimar and democracy
● The existence of the result demonstrated weakness in Weimar and showed that the Government were
unable to uphold authority in their own capital
● Despite the Friekorps being disbanded, many turned into murder squads and there were 354
assassinations by right-wingers up to 1922
● In the June 1920 elections, there was a loss of a majority for the Weimar Coalition, and a new coalition
was formed with Centre, DDP and DVP lead by Konstantin Fehrenbach
Ruhr crisis and hyperinflation
● In 1923, Germany failed to make its reparation payments, resulting in France and Belgian invading the
Ruhr district of Germany and seizing its assets and expelling civil servants and Government officials
● The government order passive resistance, which meant no production resulting in Germany becoming
even poorer
● To finance the striking workers, the government just print more money which makes hyperinflation come
progressively worse
● Prices spiralled out of control by the hour and savings became worthless
● Those who suffered the most were the middle class, who had savings, ex soldiers and the elderly on
fixed incomes such as pensions, and working classes whose wages stagnated
● There was a build up of anger at foreigners and rich profiteers who made their fortune from
hyperinflation
● Bartering became very common
● The price of an egg rose from 0.08 marks in 1913- 80,000,000,000 marks in November 1923
● Weimar inherited hyperinflation, this was a pre existing issue prior democracy, meaning reparations
were only an aggravating factor in the culminating situation
Munich Putsch
, ● Amongst the economic turmoil in 1923, Hitler decided to make an attempt to seize power
● On 8th November 1923, SA men interrupted a meeting in the Bavarian Government in a beer hall in
Munich
● Hitler fired a pistol into the ceiling, and ordered a ‘national revolution’ had begun
● The leaders (Von Kahr and Von Lossow) were taken into a side room and forced at gunpoint into
supporting the march on Berlin that intended to overthrow the government
● Once they left the building the repudiated their support
● Hitler, supported by Ludendorff, went ahead with the planned march on 9th November 1923, with 3,000
Nazis marching on Munich
● The support they had expected from the Bavarian army never materialised
● The success of the Putsch depended on the seizure of Bavarian government buildings and
communications centres, however the Nazis failed to secure many key centres
● Ludendorff released the captured politicians who abandoned the putsch and ordered police and military
units to crush it
● The marchers were blocked by an armed police, and the following gun battle resulted in the death of 16
Nazis and 3 policemen
● In February 1924 the leaders were put on trial, Ludendorff was acquitted and Hitler was sentenced to a
minimum of five years in imprisonment, although he only served nine months due to sympathetic and
bias judges
● This showed Hitler that Nazis could not come to power by violence alone
Stresemann and recovery: initial policies
● The ruhr crisis lead to the formation of a new Coalition government lead by Gustav Stresemann,
supported by the SPD, Centre and DDP
● Stresemann introduced the Dawes Plan in April 1924 which included an 800 million mark loan from USA
and reduced the reparations payments into smaller, feasible amounts
● The Dawes Plan decreased the threat from other governments, and meant Germany had less revenue,
customs and taxes to pay
● The Dawes Plan loan enabled the German economy to kickstart, alleviating poverty and helping firms
recover
● Stresemann called off passive resistance which was bankrupting Germany, meaning people were able
to get jobs and income and reduced tensions between France, Belgium and Germany, eventually
allowing trade between the nations
● Stresemann scrapped the old, worthless currency and introduced the Rentenmark (temporary currency)
which was then replaced with the Reichsmark
● The currency reform eradicated hyperinflation, providing more hope and optimism and making the
country less angry at the government
● The currency reform also stopped starvation and reduced unemployment
● Stresemann gave orders that left wing state governments in Saxony and Thuringia should be deposed,
making it easier for the army to act against right wing nationalist in Bavaria
● This ensured the Government had reestablished control over the army
Economic Recovery 1924-1929
● 1924-1929 there was a significant monetary stability, which was particularly important to the
subpopulations who had suffered from the hyperinflation crisis of 1923
● Wages became bitter and there was a compulsory state arbitration for strikes which many employers felt
was biased towards workers refusing to sign agreements
● Massive redundancies were carried out, especially in mining where 25% of miners lost their jobs
● Agriculture was hit by a depression in 1928 and more than 50% of farms were making a loss
● There were massive peasant protests in 1928 which were exploited by Nazis
● The state offered a comprehensive programme of welfare benefits and pensions, which were
undermined by the costs of war and growing unemployment
● By 1928 Germany achieved the same level as production as before the war
● The economy favoured big businesses and landowners
Cultural Revival 1924-1929
● Massive developments in the arts and sciences
● Einstein flourished in Germany, and had apparently explained the universe through relativity
