Weimar Republic

1918 Allies won war Germany in state of chaos.
Germany offered peace treaty but refused so Sailors in Northern Germany took over Kiel.
1. This triggered revolts by socialists.
1918 Kaiser abdicated his throne from Germany to the Netherlands.
Socialist, Friedrich Ebert became leader of the Rebublic of Germany. He signed an Armistice meaning the war was over.
1. Ebert said armistice would give the German people freedom of speech, freedom of worship and better living conditions.
People said that Ebert had "stabbed Germany in the back" and caused the defeat in the war.
Communists believed that Germany needed a Communist revolution like Russia's in 1917.
January 1919 free elections for the first time in German history and Ebert became President of the Weimar Republic.
1. It was called the 'Weimar Republic because the new government met in the small town of Weimar.
Left wing group Communist party- Spartacists, Karl Liebknect and Rosa Luxenburg.
1. Against Ebert's democratic Germany, wanted a Germany ruled by workers' councils or soviets.
2. 1919 launched bid for power. Freikorps and army made. Ebert made agreement with Freikorps to put down rebellion.
  1. Bitter fight between Spartacists and Freikorps. Casaulties, Freikorps won. Both leaders killed.
February 1919 Kurt Eisner (Ebert's ally) was murdered by political opponents.
1. Bavarian communists declared a Soviet republic in Bavaria.
  1. May 1919, Freikorps killed 600 communists under Ebert's orders.
1920, more communist agitation in the Ruhr industrial are.
1. Freikorps clashed with Communists, 2,000 casualties.
2. Ebert's actions caused bitterness between Communists and Socialists. But he gained approval from Germany.
  1. Ebert and many Germans feared going the same way as Russia.
    1. Despite this Communism went strong throughout the 1920's.
May 1919- Terms of Treaty of Versailles anounnced.
1. Germany lost: -10% of its land - all of its overseas colonies - 12.5% of its population - 16% of its coal and 48% of its iron industry.
2. In addition: -its army was reduced to 100,000; it was not allowed to have an air force; its navy was reduced - Germany had to accept blame for starting the war and was forced to pay reperations.
Germans were appalled at the Treaty of Versailles terms. Why were they punished for their Kaisers aggression?
1. Anger turned on Ebert and he was blamed for the Treaty.
2. Ebert was reluctant on signing the Treaty but knew that Germany could not go back to war.
Ebert faced violent opposition from the Right, these people in the successful Kaiser Germany.
March 1920, Dr Wolfgang Kapp led 5,000 Freikorps into Berlin in a rebellion- Kapp Putsch.
1. Army refused to fire on Freikorps, Ebert was doomed but the German people declared a strike which meant no transport, power or water.
  1. Kapp left the country and was hunted down and died awaiting trial. The rest of the rebels went unpunished.
1922 Ebert's foreign minister Walther Rathenau was murdered by extremists.
1. November 1923 Hitler led an attempted rebellion in Munich- Munich Putsch. Hitler and murderers were arrested but Hitler got off lightly because it was the same judge that tried him two years earlier for disorder.
2. Weimar's right wing opponents had friends in high places.
The Treaty of Versailles destabilised Germany politically but was blamed for economic chaos.
April 1921 reparations bill for the treaty was announced. 6,600 million pounds had to be paid in annual instalments.
1. 2% of Germany's annual output. Germans protested it was a strain on the economy which was struggling to rebuild after the war, this was ignored.
1921 50 million pounds was paid but nothing in 1922.
January 1923 French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr (under the Treaty of Versailles) and began to help themselves to what was owed to them.
1. Government ordered German workers to carry out passive resistance (go on strike)- there would be nothing for France to take.
  1. France reacted harshly, killing over 100 workers and expelling over 100,000 protesters from the region.
  2. The halt in industrial production in Germany's most important region caused the collapse of the German currency.

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