Post-World War One Germany
The problems mount
What was Pre-WW1 Germany like?
What was Pre-WW1
Germany like?
How did the First World War End?
Think of at least 10 problems facing
Germany at the start of 1919?
Problems Facing
Germany in 1918/9
Problems facing Germany
• Casualties
– Wounded
– Dead
• Collapse in Morale
• Threat of Communism
– Revolutions in Bavaria
– Spartacist Revolt
• Occupation
– Allied soldiers on
German soil
• Unease at future
– Armistice only – no
terms of surrender
finalised
• Pariah State
– No friends
• Political Chaos
– Kaiser into Exile
– Two new governments
declared
• Exhausted nation
– Country Broke
– Blockade
• Law and Order!
– No military or police
• Inflation
– Prices rising
• Unemployment
– Returning soldiers
– Armaments factories no
longer required
The Weimar Republic
Is it surprising that the Weimar
Republic had problems?
• Why was the new government called the
Weimar Government.
• It had many problems already and there were
many new problems on the way!
• What is surprising is that the Weimar
Government lasted longer than the Nazi
Regime did.
– Compare their lengths in charge.
• Look at page 6 and write down at least 5
features of the new Weimar Constitution.
Identify Problems?
Fundamental Weaknesses of the
Weimar Republic
Advantages to
State
Coalition
Government
Pure Proportional
Representation
Freedom of
Speech
Article 48
Disadvantages to
State
Feature of
Weimar
Constitution
Advantages
Problems
Treaty of Versailles
(The Dictated Peace)
General Clauses
• There were a total of 440 clauses in the final treaty. The first 26
clauses dealt with the establishment of the League of Nations.
The remaining 414 clauses spelled out Germany's punishment.
– War Guilt clause - Germany to accept blame for starting the war.
– Financial Clauses
• Reparations - Germany was to pay for the damage caused by the war.
The figure of £6,600 million was set some time after the signing of the
treaty.
– Military Clauses
• Army - was to be reduced to 100,000 men and no tanks were allowed
Navy - Germany was only allowed 6 ships and no submarines
Airforce - Germany was not allowed an airforce
Rhineland - The Rhineland area was to be kept free of German military
personnel and weapons
– Territorial Clauses
– Anschluss - Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.
– Land - Germany lost land to a number of other countries. AlsaceLorraine was returned to France, Eupen and Malmedy were given to
Belgium, North Schleswig was given to Denmark. Land was also
taken from Germany and given to Czechoslovakia and Poland. The
League of Nations took control of Germany's colonies
Impact of Versailles
• What is the difference between an armistice
and an unconditional surrender?
• What kind of conditions were the Germans
expecting from the Allies?
• Who was going to get the blame for signing
the Treaty of Versailles?
• Who should have got the blame for starting, or
at least losing, the war?
• How worried should the Germans have been
about the not yet calculated reparations bill?
The Bill Arrives in 1921:
£6,600,000,000 in Gold Reichsmarks!
Hyperinflation
Germany can’t pay and so
prints money! This allows it to
pay civil servants and workers
in the short term but it also
devalues the currency. The
currency becomes worthless!
Losers from Winners from
Hyperinflation Hyperinflation
Free Fall
Losers from
Hyperinflation
Lenders
Middle Classes
State Workers
Pensioners – those on
fixed benefits
Mittelstand
Weimar Republic
Jews (incorrectly blamed)
German Government
Politically
Winners from
Hyperinflation
Borrowers
Speculators
Landowners
Areas close to borders
Foreigners
German Government
Financially
1919 – 1923 The era of chaos
• Exhaustion from WW1 + Harsh Treaty of
Versailles + Economic collapse = Chaos
• The Weak Weimar Government found it
very difficult to deal with challenges to its
authority.
– See map.
Shade the different revolutions,
putsches and strikes on your map
Red for Left Wing
risings or communist
take overs.
Blue for Right Wing
Green for Separatist
movements
The most serious challenge:
The Kapp Putsch, 1920
– What was the Kapp Putsch?
• Who was trying to seize control and why?
• Page 12/13
• Why did they use this flag?
The Kapp Putsch
• The Plan
– March on Berlin
– Expel Socialist government
– Place Pliant Kapp as civilian figurehead of a new
military government
• An Open Secret?
– Plotters asked Seeckt, Ludendorff and other
generals for their support
• No support received
• But no hostility either
– Nobody reported the plotters
– Plotters assumed that German soldiers would not
fire on German soldiers!
The Trigger
• February 1920
– Forced Demobilisation of army
• A requirement of the Treaty of Versailles
• 12,000 Freikorps ordered to disband
– Commander Luttwitz refuses
Who will defend the Republic?
• Chancellor Bauer asks General Seeckt to
restore order
– General refuses
• “Troops do not fire on troops; when Reichswehr fires
on Reichswehr all comradeship within the officer corps
has vanished!”
• Wait and See policy
– (See who wins?)
• Most Soldiers remain neutral
– But government forced to flee Berlin
• To Dresden and then to Stuttgart
– Nationalist Von Kahr takes advantage to regain
control of Bavaria from Communists
• Would become a centre of right wing tolerance
Who will defend the Republic?
• The Left comes to the rescue
– General Strike ordered by Trade Unionists with
support of most working classes and even
Communists
• 80,000 communists take control of Ruhr
– Refuses to cooperate with the new Kapp
Government
• Kapp Ineffectiveness
– 4 days of rule were pretty ineffective
• Could not announce victory to newspapers as they
could not even find a working typewriter
• Banks refused to issue loans or currency on behalf of
the unrecognised government
• Strike paralysed business and industry
Who will defend the Republic?
• Dilemma for Government
– What to do with the German Army?
• It had demonstrated that it could not be relied
on in times of crisis to defend the Republic
from attacks from the Right
• However, it was still needed to defend the
Republic from threats from the left!
– Eg 80,000 Communists in the Ruhr
» They would not lay down arms after the fall of
the Kapp Government
» Army more than happy to shoot left wing
rebels!
The most serious challenge:
The Kapp Putsch, 1920
• page 12/13
• Who was Dr Wolfgang Kapp
– Who did he lead?
• What did he want to do on seizing power
– Why did he fly the Second Reich Flag?
• Why, in your opinion, did the Kapp Putsch
fail?
• The Nazis were not involved in this putsch
but they were very interested in it. Why?
Homework
• Task 1
– Complete table from left to right of the political
spectrum
• Use a double page spread to fit them all in.
– There are 8 parties
Name of
Party
What it
stood
for
• Task 2
– How many Chancellors did Germany have
between 1919 and 1933
Dear Editor…
• You are a patriotic German who is dismayed at
the state of Germany in the early 1920s. Write
an impassioned letter to the local newspaper
mentioning:
– The harshness of the Treaty of Versailles conditions
• Reparations in particular
–
–
–
–
–
General Strikes / Putsches
Shortages of food and winter fuel
Hyperinflation
The French invasion of the Ruhr
The inability of the Weimar Government to respond
to the problems.
– Your solution for the mess that Germany is in!
The Unstable Weimar Republic
• Task 1
– Complete table from left to right of the political
spectrum
• Use a double page spread to fit them all in.
– There are 8 parties
• Task 2
– How many Chancellors did Germany have
between 1919 and 1933
Name of
Party
What it
stood
for
National-Socialist Ideology
What did the Nazis believe?
National-Socialism
• Anton Drexler formed the Deutsche Arbeiter
Partei (DAP) in Munich in 1919.
– Why is the Munich connection so interesting?
• Adolf Hitler was sent as a spy to ‘monitor’ this
new nationalist group.
– What did he think of it?
• Hitler was put in charge of DAP Propaganda in
1920.
– He started a new party newspaper called the
Munchener Beobachter
– He renamed the party NS-DAP
• What was he trying to achieve by re-branding the party?
• What do Socialists believe in?
• What do Nationalists believe in?
Struggle
Socialism
(Define)
Nationalism
(Define)
• Source C Page 28 Use a double page
– Write the extracts from the 25 point programme into the
appropriate column
– Are there any other Nazi ideas you could add to this list?
• Explain why Hitler likes to use the world ‘Struggle’
• Questions 1 – 5 page 29
The Munich Putsch,
1923
• Explain why Hitler likes to use
the world ‘Struggle’
• Draw a timeline of Hitler’s
career from 1914 – 1923
• Why did Hitler think that 1923
was a good time for a Putsch?
Homework
• Questions 1 to 5 page 26
– Write in full GCSE paragraph style
answers.
Why did the Munich Putsch fail?
Use the following the events to write a radio news report for
broadcast:
8 Nov 1923
Hitler interrupted the Beer Hall meeting, and forced Kahr and
Lossow at gunpoint to agree to support him.
The SA took over the Army HQ (but NOT the telegraph office).
Jews were beaten up, and the offices of the anti-Nazi Munich Post
newspaper offices trashed.
Kahr and Lossow were released by Ludendorff. Kahr called the
police and army.
9 Nov 1923
The Nazis marched on Munich. The army had been given orders to
open fire by Kahr and Lossow.
The Nazis linked arms and marched toward the army barracks on
Residenzstrasse.
The army opened fire and 16 Nazis were killed. Ludendorff was
arrested.
Hitler hid, then fled (he was arrested 2 days later).
The other Nazis disappeared or were rounded up by the authorities.
Turning Defeat into
Success
• The Nazis were defeated
and their leaders were
arrested.
• Hitler was arrested and put
on trial for treason.
• The Munich Putsch should
have finished off Hitler and
the Nazi Party.
– Why didn’t it?
Political Bias in the Courts
1919 - 1923
Murders by
Extreme Left
Murders by
Extreme Right
Number of Murders
22
354
Number of Murderers
sentenced by the
Courts
38
24
Average length of
prison sentence
15 Years
4 Months
Number of Murderers
executed
10
0
• What conclusions can be drawn about the political
attitudes of German Policemen and Judges?
Turning Defeat into Success
1. Trial
Hitler turned his trial into a publicity opportunity, giving
long speeches. Before the Munich Putsch, Hitler
was an unknown Bavarian politician. After his trial
he was a national right-wing hero.
Even the judge said he agreed with Hitler, and gave
him only a short prison sentence.
2. Mein Kampf
While he was in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, in
which he set out his life-story and beliefs. The book
sold in millions, and made Hitler the leader of the
right-wing opponents of Weimar.
3. Strategy
Hitler realised that he would not gain power by
rebellion. He began a new strategy – to gain
power by being elected.