Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Weimar Germany and the Rise of the Nazi Party
- END OF WW1/ FORMATION OF THE WEIMAR
- at the end of WW1...
- the government was weak, working class people had no say in how the
country was ran, people were facing starvation, farming was disrupted, many
Germans died from disease, there were lots of political conflicts, Germans
were bitter about losing the war and they wanted someone to blame
- why was there a revolution?
- the navy refused to fight the British navy and demanded the
abdication of the Kaiser, food couldn't be imported as their
coastline was blockaded, there was a flu epidemic, faming was
disrupted, serious food shortages, Germany went from being
extremely rich to extremely poor
- 'stab in the back' theory - Germans believed that
they were winning when politicians betrayed
them by signing the armistice
- THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
- main terms
- lost land
- Alsace-Lorraine to France, West Prussia to
Poland, Port of Danzig to the League of
Nations, the Rhineland was demilitarised
- resources
- Saar coalfields were lost, Port
of Danzig was lost,
£6,600,000,000 in reparations
- blame
- Article 231 said that Germany had
to take the blame for WW1
- power/ strength
- Austria and Germany
couldn't unite, lots of
Germans were left
living in Poland and
Czechoslovakia, no
military aircraft or
submarines, only 6
battleships, 15,000
sailors and 100,000
soldiers
- huge impact on Germany - had to rebuild the
country while paying off huge reparations, couldn't
defend themselves due to a much smaller military
- very negative reactions - German people felt angry and betrayed
- THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
- formed in 1918 after
the Kaiser abdicated
- strengths
- democracy due to President Wilson (USA)
saying that's what they needed
- all adults
could
vote and
had equal
rights
- proportional
representation -
every party had
a fair share of
seats
- weaknesses
- proportional representation meant that parties got the same
proportion of seats in the Reichstag as votes, allowed lots of
parties (including extremist parties) into the government so no one
could get a majority
- only option was a coalition, but parties couldn't
agree with each other so the government was weak
and the had to keep re-electing it
- article 48 - president could make a law
without consulting the Reichstag if
they declared an emergency
- states could keep their
own governments -
hostile states could try to
overthrow the Reichstag
- it was unpopular because lots of
people wanted a Kaiser back, it
signed the Armistice and the
Treaty of Versailles which made
German people think they'd
given up and admitted defeat
- OPPOSITION TO THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
- spartacists
- led by Red Rosa
(Rosa
Luxemburg) and
Karl Leibnecht
- communists (wanted everything to
be shared out equally)
- inspired by the
communists
takeover in Russia in
1917
- seized the HQ of
the national
newspaper and
tried to get people
to strike but it was
badly organised
so no one
supported them
- many members,
including the
leaders were kiled
- kapp putsch (freikorps)
- led by Wolfgang Kapp
- extreme nationalist
- didn't like the Treaty and
believed a new
government should be set
up, ran by him
- tried to set up a new
government in Berlin
and organise a strike,
tried to cut off Berlin's
food, gas and electricity
- got support from people in Berlin,
but not from the army
- Kapp had to leave the country
- beginning of the Nazis
- Hitler was a war hero who was in charge of
checking up on extremist groups
- visited the German Workers' Party and
agreed with their points, he spoke about
how he felt and was liked by the audience
- he attracted lots of people and was put in charge of propaganda, bought a
newspaper company and advertised a meeting, nearly 2,000 people turned up
- announced the new name - National Socialist
German Workers' Party (NSDAP) or Nazis
- by 1921 he gained enough support
to challenge Anton Drexler and
became the leader of the Nazis