Weimar period

Weimar period

Problems they faced
1. Uprisings
  1. Spartacist uprising 1919
    1. Why?
      1. Spartacists wanted a stronger, russian-style revolution
      2. They didn't like the SD's weak policies
    2. What?
      1. A few armed people went and took control of newspaper offices
        They took control over government beureu
      2. Crushed easily by Freikorps
        Leaders - Luxembourg and Liebknecht killed
    3. Effects
      1. Freikorps seen as cruel
        Some disliked them
      2. Freikorps going against orders show unpredictability
        Can't get rid of them - start a Putsch
  2. Kapp Putsch 1920
    1. Why?
      1. Treaty of Versailles humiliation
      2. Freikorps wanted more militaristic leader
    2. What?
      1. Right-wing Kapp led Freikorps and took over Berlin
      2. Ebert fled
      3. Had to call on strike to stop him
    3. Effects
      1. Shows Weimar's vulnerability
      2. Enemies on both sides of politics
      3. Shows people support them
  3. Munich Putsch 1923
    1. Why?
      1. Hitler thought he had support from Bavaria
      2. Triggered by passive resistance against Ruhr occupation being called off
      3. Hitler thought this to be the best way to gain control
    2. What?
      1. At meeting in beer hall, Hitler and 600 SA come in
      2. Silenced crowd with gun and took Kahr and the others into a side room
        Promised them good jobs if they helped
        They said no
        oof
        Regardless, Hiter told everyone that Kahr had agreed
        Crowd happy about this
        Now they had no choice but to agree, so they did
        Then Hitler let them go home
        Kahr obviously told the government
      3. The next day, Hitler, Ludendorff and the Nazis went into Munich
        They asked the police not to shoot
        The police shot
        Commence gunfight
        Hitler escaped with dislocated shoulder to car
        They found him and put him in Landsberg Prison for nine months
    3. Effects
      1. Hitler got famous - televised trial and writing Mein Kampf
      2. Worse for SDs than Nazis
      3. Hitler decided only to use democratic means to get into power from then on
2. Hyperinflation -1923
  1. What/Why?
    1. Because of debt pressures, the Weimar government started printing more money
      1. They kept on printing more at an increasing rate
  2. Effects
    1. People's savings were destroyed
    2. Money became pretty much worthless
    3. There was a huge economic crisis
      1. People were angry and blamed the government
3. Invasion of the Ruhr
  1. What/Why?
    1. Germany wasn't keeping up with its reparations payments
      1. The French came into the most industrial area - the Ruhr - and took the materials for themselves
  2. Effects
    1. Germans got very A N G E R Y
      1. They did some passive resistance
        Basically they refused to work
        But this made them even poorer
        So they started to print more money...
        Eventually the French did leave
4. Treaty of Versailles
  1. What?
    1. The Germans had no say in this
    2. They had to accept it in order to stop the war
    3. Several clauses to it, none of which the Germans were happy about
      1. Reparations
        Had to pay £6.6 bn
      2. Military
        Army limited to 100 000
        No air force
        15 000 sailors, only 6 battleships
      3. Territory
        Demilitarised Rhineland
        Lost all colonies
        Lots of industrial land was taken
      4. War guilt clause
        Germany had to accept all guilt for the war
  2. Effects
    1. People felt let down by the Weimar Government
      1. November Criminals
    2. People felt humiliated about war guilt
    3. Military restrictions made them feel more vulnerable to attack
    4. Important land loss made it hard for economy to recover
    5. People were ready to look elsewhere in politics
    6. Reparations caused economy to go bad
Solutions to these problems
1. Pacts / Deals
  1. Dawes Plan 1924
    1. What?
      1. US gave Germany loans
      2. They could invest back into the economy
        They would then find it easier to pay reparations
  2. Locarno Pact 1925
    1. What?
      1. Germany agreed to the borders in the ToV
        France would therefore feel less threatened and be less likely to attack
        Tensions died down - Germany was showing goodwill
  3. Young Plan 1929
    1. What?
      1. France agrees to remove troops from Rhineland and give them money & time
  4. Joined League of Nations 1926
    1. Now had more of an influence over other countries' policies towards them
2. New currency 1923
  1. New chancellor Stresemann
    1. Awesome dude - did all those deals
    2. Introduced Rentenmark
      1. Stopped hyperinflation
3. By 1929, their economy had reached post WW1 levels
  1. But then the Wall street crash happened
    1. And the great depression begun...
Culture
1. Censorship lifted
  1. Artists became more daring
    1. Depicted everyday life
    2. Depicted people's struggles
    3. Depicted Berlin's shocking night life
      1. Became famous for being sleazy
        Some really didn't like this
        Felt it undermined German values
2. Architecture became less ornate

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	Created by Frank Shrimpton about 5 years ago