The Weimar Republic.

What problems did the Weimar Republic face?

November Criminals- After signing the treaty of Versailles in 1919, Weimar were seen as traitors by the German people. They were known as the 'November Criminals' and that the signing of the Treaty of Versailles was like a 'stab in the back'.

Revolt- Many groups of people opposed the Weimar government  and caused many problems for them. e.g. Sparticists, Freikorps.

Extremism- Due to the lack of support given to Weimar, people started to turn to far wing political parties. The most common of these were the Communists and the Nazis.

Key Events

The Kapp Putsch- The Sparticists caused an uprising in 1919. This was stopped with the help of the Freikorps. The TofV limited the German army to 100,000 men, which included the volunteering Freikorps. This lead to a march on Berlin by the Freikorps, proclaiming that Dr Wolfgang Kapp was the true leader of Germany. The government fled as people refused to fire at the Freikorps.

The Munich Putsch- In 1923, the German economy was in tatters. Adolf Hitler saw the government as weak and so tried to seize power with the Nazi party. On the 8th of November, Hitler broke up a meeting in the Munich beer-hall. He forced the Bavarian state speakers to take part in the putsch. However, they were allowed to leave the meeting and then changed their minds, notifying the government. 3000 Nazis lead by Hitler and General Ludendorff marched on Munich. Hitler thought the police and army would join the march but instead, they opened fire on the marchers. 16 Nazis were killed. Hitler was sentenced to prison for five years where he decided the best way to seize power was politically, not through violence. In prison, he also wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) which presented many of his extreme ideas.

The economic crisis of 1923- In 1923, Germany failed to keep up with the war reparations they were made to pay in the Treaty of Versailles (£6600 million). This angered France who then invaded and occupied the Ruhr. The Ruhr was an area of land where most of Germany's main resource production came from. The Weimar Republic told the German workers working in the Ruhr to go on a General Strike. This lead to the government printing more and more banknotes in order to pay the striking workers. This led to hyperinflation.

What were the achievements of the Weimar period?

Stressemann- In 1923, Stressemann became chancellor of Germany. As hyperinflation was taking its tole on the country, he introduced a new currency known as the Rentenmark. Hea lso cut down government spending (700,000 government workers lost their jobs). He negotiated the Dawes Plan with the Allies in which the USA loaned 800 million gold marks to Germany. The Young plan allowed the time that Germany had to pay the reparations by to 1988.

Art and Culture- During the rain of the German Kaiser, there was much censorship. Now there were less rules on what was allowed. You could now mention sex in media and new architecture was built. Germany became a thriving place of art and culture.

Problems

Key Events

Achievements