A fact to ponder:
Adolf Hitler came to
power legally and
democratically
The End of the
First World War

Review: World War I

 1914-1918
 Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Ottoman Empire) defeated by Allied Powers (France,
United Kingdom, Russia, US)
 Effects on Germany
 About 2.5 million dead; many more wounded
 Political turmoil
 Psychological shock – Germans didn’t expect to lose
the war
Dissent in Germany

 By 1917, tide was turning
against Germany
 Protests and political changes
 Workers launched walkouts
and strikes
 Leftist political parties began
to oppose the war
 Mutinies in the armed forces
 Challenges to monarchy and
Kaiser Wilhelm II
The End of the War

 July 1918: US troops arrive in
France
 Allied counterattacks push
Germany back
 October 1918: Germany requests
an armistice based on Woodrow
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
 November 10: Kaiser Wilhelm
abdicates
 Armistice signed November 11
The Treaty of Versailles

 Signed June 28, 1919
 Treaty ending World War I with Germany
 Germany was not allowed to negotiate – a diktat
 Major provisions




Blame – the War Guilt Clause
Reparations – Germany owed money to the Allies
Army – severe limits on Germany’s military
Territory – Germany lost 13% of territory + all
colonies
German Territorial Losses after WWI
The War Guilt Clause

“The Allied and Associated Governments
affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility
of Germany and her allies for causing all the
loss and damage to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals
have been subjected as a consequence of the
war imposed upon them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies.”
The War Guilt Clause

 June 28, 1919 (included in Treaty of Versailles)
 Blamed Germany for WWI
 Germans resented this provision
You’re halfway through. Here’s a
cat!

The Weimar Republic

Germany’s Democratic Experiment

 November 10, 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates 
debate over future government
 January 1919: Germans vote for democratic parties
 February 1919: new constitution drafted at Weimar
 Reichstag – a parliament elected by the people
 President – elected by the people; commander-in-chief
of military and able to exercise emergency powers
 Chancellor – appointed by the President, approved by
the Reichstag; relatively weak
Three Problems

 Bitterness and resentment about WWI
 Political instability
 Economic problems and hyperinflation
Bitterness and Resentment

 “Stab in the back” theory
 Limits on Germany’s army put
many soldiers out of work
 Freikorps – literally “Free
Corps” – formed to crack
down on left-wing parties
 Many extreme nationalist
parties formed, including the
National Socialist German
Workers’ Party
Political Instability

 1920 elections: extremist parties take over 35% of
vote
 Communists (20%) – support a workers’ revolution
 German National People’s Party (15%) – support a
monarchy
 Proportional representation gives extremist parties a
chance to join the Reichstag (more on this later)
 Several coups (illegal attempts to take power)
 Terrorism by ultra-nationalists against democrats
and leftists
Economic Problems

 January 1920: reparations
fixed at $33 billion
 Germany paid in goods as
well as cash
 January 1923: French and
Belgian troops occupy the
Ruhr and seize assets
 German workers strike,
refusing to cooperate
Hyperinflation

Date: 1921-1924
German government begins
printing money to help pay
reparations
Led to hyperinflation – rapid
decrease in the value of
money
The Impact of Hyperinflation

 Middle-class people lost the value of their savings
 Pensions for the elderly became worthless
 Allies started demanding payment in goods rather
than currency
 Money had to be spent immediately after being
earned