What problems faced the Wiemar Republic in the early years, between 1918-23?

The Treaty of Versailles
1. LAMB
  1. Land -13% taken away. No overseas colonies. Rhineland occupied by France.
    1. Damaged Germany Economically - No longer had access to raw materials (coal). Taken away by the enemies. Lost their main source of income.
    2. Damaged Germany's Pride - Land is equivalent to power. So when land is taken away they felt humiliated and less of a power.
  2. Army - Reduced to 100,000 men. Navy cut to 15,000 sailors. No tanks, planes or submarines. Only 6 battleship.
    1. Damaged Germany Militarily - Lacked air and little sea protection. They had weak defence and wouldn't be able to protect themselves.
    2. Damaged Germany's Pride - They felt as if their power was being stripped away from them and they were being mocked.
  3. Money - Had to pay 6600 million Marks in war reparations. Most money went to Belgium and "old enemies" France.
    1. Damaged Germany Economically - Their economy was already not doing very well. They need to rebuild their own country, and help their people who were starving, instead of paying for others.
  4. Blame - Germany were blamed for the war. Allies demanded compensation. This caused humiliation and worldwide embarrasment.
    1. Damaged Germany's Pride - They felt humiliated because the whole world was hating them. They felt as if their dead soldiers were not as important because they started the war. Soldiers not honoured.
2. Germany were not consulted and had no imput in the treaty. Forced to sign it.
Political Violence
1. Spartacist Rising - Left Wing
  1. Led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Lieknecht. They distrusted the government and wanted a full scale communist revolution.
  2. Somewhat successful. Led protests in Berlin and took over Gov. newspaper and telephone headquarters.
  3. Defecated by Army with the help of Friekorp's. They were Ex-Soldiers who were Anti-Communist. Badly organised and lacked support. after the main leaders were killed the Spartacist's struggled.
2. Red Rising in the Ruhr - Left Wing
  1. Led by members of the Communist party. They were protesting about bad pay and working conditions.
  2. They were successful as they managed to occupy the Ruhr and took control over the raw materials. This was Germany's main industrial area.
  3. They were defeated by the Freikorps. They had weak leadership and had no clear plan. Often, protests lacked comittment.
3. Kapp Putsch - Right Wing
  1. Led by Wolfgang Kapp and members of the Freikorps. After the left wing parties had been crushed, the Gov. had no use for them, so they tried to disband the brigades
  2. They were successful and were briefly in power. In protest they marched into Berlin and forced the Government to flee! Kapp was the new leader of Germany.
  3. However, they lacked support and many workers went on strike. This made it difficult for him to rule. Kapp fled Berlin after 4 days in power and the old Gov. were reinstated.
4. Munich Putsch - Right Wing
  1. Led by Hitler (Nazi Party) and General Ludendorff (WW1 Hero). Nazis already had 55,000 members and private army (SA, brown shirts). They believed democracy was weak and there should be one strong leader.
  2. Hitler plotted with two nationalist politicians, Kahr and Lossow, to take over Munich in a revolution. But then Kahr and Lossow called off the rebellion. Hitler and the SA disrupted one of their meetings and forced them to take part by holding them at gunpoint. Hitler and his Nazis went into Munich on what they thought would be a triumphant. But Kahr had called in police and army reinforcements. Hitler fled and was arrested 2 days later. 14 Nazis killed.
  3. Revolution was poorly planned and Kahr withdrew his support and Gov. responded quickly. Hitler was sent to prison for nine months. In that time, Nazi party, fell apart without a leader.
Invasion of the Ruhr
1. The invasion of the Ruhr was when the French took over the industrial area of Germany. This is were Germany made most of their money.
2. Some of the long term consequences were that the German people never trusted the Gov. again. Germans were treated brutally by the French. Gov. cannot even defend its own people. Further humiliation. Led to Hyperinflation.
3. Hyperinflation
  1. This was caused by the Gov. telling workers to passive resistance against the French by working extremely slowly. Some even went on strike. Despite being short on money already, the Gov. said they would pay everyone's wages. To help pay wages they decided to print more money.
    1. Negative effect on most people. The money was now worthless so people with savings suffered a lot. Workers found that their wages did not keep up with prices, which would change during the day. The money they earnt could not afford food.Farmers did not want to sell food for worthless money so there was mass shortages of food.
    2. Minority of people benefited. People in debt could easily pay of loans.
    3. Germans hated Gov. even more. People never trusted them with the economy again. Germans hated allies which sparked future revenge. When future economic problems happen in the future they looked to extremist parties to solve problems like Nazis. Hitler used this to gain support.

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What problems faced the Wiemar Republic in the early years, between 1918-23?

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