Problems faced by the Weimar Republic in the 1920s

Treaty of Versailles
1. Land
  1. All Germany's colonies were taken away
  2. 13% of land was given away or formed new countries.
    1. This land had important raw materials
    2. 6m people lived here
    3. Poland now had access to the sea
  3. German troops were not allowed in the Rhineland
2. Army
  1. Was reduced to 100,000
  2. Navy was 15,000 sailors and 6 battleships
  3. No submarines, tanks or airforce
3. Money
  1. Germany had to pay reparations of £6600m
4. Blame
  1. Germany had to sign a document, accepting all blame for WW1
  2. War guilt 'clause'
Defeat in WW1
1. defeat
  1. stab in the back
    1. people felt that the new government had betrayed them
  2. no one was told of the truth throughout the war so the surrender came as a shock
Hyper-Inflation
1. Germany had been struggling to pay back reparations - they however were not believed.
2. In 1923 the French invaded the Ruhr, Germany's main industrial area. They took control of everything.
  1. The government told workers not to cooperate, they went on strike (passive resistance)
    1. even so 140 Germans were killed
  2. The government lost a lot of money through paying German workers whilst they were on strike and not gaining income from the Ruhrgebiet
    1. To repay their debts they printed more money causing hyperinflation
      1. thus the german mark lost value
        In 19191 $1 was 9 marks, in 1923 $1 was 200 billion marks
3. This meant peoples savings and pensions were worthless.
4. Wages did not keep up with rising prices.
  1. Only people with debts gained anything
Political Violence
1. left wing
  1. Spartacus rising
    1. Spartacist League - Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht
      1. Did not trust government - wanted communism
    2. tried to turn Jan 1919's workers protest into revolution. Took over government newspaper and telegraph headquarters.
      1. army and freikorps stopped this
        100 workers and leaders killed
  2. Red rising in the Ruhr
    1. workers lead by communist party members
      1. angry about bad pay and conditions
      2. 50,000 occupied Ruhr area and took control
        1000+ killed
        bad planning and weak leadership
2. right wing
  1. The Kapp Putsch
    1. Freikorps unit, lead by Wolfgang kapp
      1. angry when in 1920 they were ordered to be disbanded
      2. 12,000 marched to Berlin, took over government
    2. Kapp was Germany's new leader however the Freikorps gained little support. After four days he fled Berlin.
  2. The Munich Putsch
    1. Nazi party - Hitler & General Ludendorff
      1. 55,000 and their own army - SA
      2. believed democracy was for the weak
        Started in Munich in meeting where lead of Bavaria (Kahr) was speaking. Forced him to support.
        it was not properly planned. German government responded quickly. Army stopped them.
        14 killed and Hitler imprisoned for 5 years
        released after 9 months though
3. Weimar Republic was democratic however extremist parties wanted to tear itapart

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Problems faced by the Weimar Republic in the 1920s

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