Vincent Coon
 The Kaiser, William II abdicated and a republic was
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proclaimed with the SPD leader Frederich Ebert as
Chancellor
The new government signed the armistice with the
Allies.
German people saw this as an act of treason
The Treaty Of Versailles worsened the situation
Germany was convinced that the principle of selfdetermination had been ignored and strongly believed
that the War Guilt Clause and the reparations
payments were unjust
 He had a completely new approach to the issues facing
Germany
 He introduced a new currency (Rentenmark), which
was stable and ended hyperinflation
 With Stresemann as foreign minister Germany saw a
period of prosperity
 The treaty of Locarno underlined this development
 His death came to the worst possible time
 Germany was about to experience another great crisis
caused by the wall street crash
 It was in this political chaos that the Nazis and
Communists thrived
 Attacks from the Left  The Spartacist Rising, The
Bavarian Republic ( Independent Socialists had much
support in Bavaria but very little nationally. They set
up a republic of their own in November 1918)
 Attacks from the Right
 The Kapp putsch
 The Munich putsch
 Right-wing extremists were nationalists. They wanted to
see Germany great and powerful. Germany’s defeat and the
peace treaty left them feeling angry and humiliated.
 Right-wing extremists felt themselves to be Germany’s best
defence against the menace of socialism and communism.
 Right-wing extremists had no time for democracy. They
felt that battles for power between political parties divided
the nation and weakened it.
 He cut the government spending in order to keep
inflation under control and keep German exports
competitive.
 He increased taxes, reduced salaries and reduced
unemployment assistance  only worsened situation
 Electoral system too democratic
 There were twenty separate coalition governments in
the period and this gave the impression of instability
 It was a republic born out of defeat.
 The severe economic problems that were faced
reduced support especially the hyper-inflation of 1923
and the Great Depression of the 1930’s.