Weimar Germany 1918 – 1924
Why did Germany need a new government in 1918?
Why did Germany need a new government in 1919?
Task 1: How do you think Germany was feeling at the end of WW1? Draw a picture in the box below to illustrate how you think Germans would have felt in 1919.
What problems did the Weimar Republic face?
Problem 1: The ‘stab in the back’ theory
Soon after the new government took over, they had to sign an armistice that ended the fighting of WW1. The leaders of the Weimar Republic didn’t have much choice but
to sign this, the German army were weak and the people faced starvation. Not all Germans however saw it this way. Just a few months earlier, the war was going well. Also,
during the war the Kaiser had not told the German people any bad news – so the armistice had come as a huge shock.
People were very bitter and were looking for someone to blame, and a simple explanation for the German defeat in the war quickly emerged, that the German army had
been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the new government. The fact is that Germany did not lose the war because of the new government, but many people believed that it was
their fault. They blamed the leaders of the Weimar Republic, not the army generals for the defeat in the war. People who supported the Kaiser and who were opposed to
the Weimar government used this theory as a way to weaken support for them
Problem 2: The Treaty of Versailles
In 1919, the allies agreed on a peace treaty. The new German government was not invited to the discussions. The German people hoped for a fair treaty, this is what the
treaty said however:
Land:
Money:
-
Germany lost 13% of its land (and
-
This also meant that they lost raw
-
about 6 million people)
materials such as coal
-
Germany was split in two – this was
so that Poland could have access to the sea
German troops were not allowed in
the Rhineland. This was so the French could feel safe from a German attack
All of Germany’s overseas colonies
were taken away
Army:
Germany had to pay reparations.
Most of the money was to go to France and Belgium
At Versailles no sum was fixed, but
in 1921, the allies fixed the total amount that Germany had to pay at
£6,600 million
Blame:
-
The German army was to be
-
reduced to just 100,000
-
The navy was cut to 15,000 sailors
and six battleships
-
Germany
submarines, tanks, or an air force
In the ‘war guilt’ clause, Germany
was blamed for the war
was
not
allowed
-
This allowed the allies to demand
compensation from Germany for all the damage that had been caused
The German people felt humiliated by the treaty. The Weimar government didn’t like it either but they had no choice but to accept it. Opponents of the Weimar Republic
blamed them for signing the Treaty – the people thought it showed how weak the government was and it reinforced the view that they had stabbed Germany in the back.
Problem 3: Political violence
The Weimar government was democratic – people had the right to choose their government, some groups however did not think that this was the best way to run
Germany. These extremist parties wanted to tear the Weimar Republic apart. Here are 4 of the political uprisings:
The Spartacist uprising – 1919 (Left wing)
-
The Kapp Putsch – 1920 (Right wing)
Who? – A Communist group led by
-
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
-
Why? – They did not trust the new
government, they thought that the lives of working people would not
improve and wanted a Communist revolution
What? In Jan 1919, workers
protested throughout Germany, in Berlin they tried to take over the
government’s newspaper and telegraph headquarters. The army was
ordered to help stop the uprising – the soldiers were anti communist.
Success? The Spartacists failed to
get support, both leaders were killed and the Spartacists struggled without
them.
The Red Rising in the Ruhr – 1920 (Left wing)
-
Who? – Groups of workers led by
-
-
-
-
Why? – Many workers were angry
about bad working conditions and pay.
-
-
What? - In 1920, a communist ‘Red
army’ of 50,000 workers occupied the Ruhr and took control of its raw
materials. This was Germany’s main industrial area. The German army
crushed the rising, over 1000 workers were killed.
Success? – The Communists had
weak leadership. Protests were not supported, the Weimar government
were never seriously threatened by them.
Why? – In 1920, the government
ordered that the Freikorps brigades should be broken up it had little need
for them not that left wing groups had been crushed.
What? – Around 12,000 Freikorps
marched to Berlin. The Freikorps put Kapp forward as the new leader of
Germany.
Success? Kapp and the Freikorps
failed to win support. In Berlin, workers went on strike against Kapp. This
made it impossible for Kapp to rule.
The Munich Putsch – 1923 (Right wing)
the communists
-
Who? – Freikorps unit led by
Wolfgang Kapp
-
-
-
Who? – The Nazis led by Adolf
Hitler and General Ludendorff. The Nazis had 55,000 members and their
own private army called the SA.
Why? – Hitler and the Nazis
believed that democracy only led to a weak government. They thought
there should be one political party, with one leader.
What? – The Nazis planned to take
over the government and set up Ludendorff as leader of Germany. They
started in Munich. Hitler and 600 of his SA burst into a meeting where the
leader of Bavaria (Kahr) was speaking. They forced Kahr to promise to
support their plan.
Success? - The putsch had not been
planned properly. Kahr withdrew his support and the German government
ordered the army to crush the revolt. The leaders of the putsch were
arrested and Hitler was sent to prison for five years. Here he was able to
write his book, Mein Kampf.
Problem 4: The invasion of the Ruhr
Germany struggled to keep with the reparations repayments to the allies. In 1922, Germany said that it could not pay reparations for the next three years. France did not
believe this and they were determined to make Germany pay. In 1923, 60,000 French and Belgian troops marched into the Ruhr, and seized control of all mines, factories
and railways.
The German government told workers not to cooperate with the French. All workers went on strike. This was known as passive resistance. The workers who went on strike
received money from the German government to support their families – this cost the government a lot of money. To make this worse, no money was coming in from the
Ruhr, which was one of Germany’s main industrial areas. The government was becoming very poor.
Problem 5: Hyperinflation
The German government tried to deal with their money problems after the invasion of the Ruhr – this is what happened:
Life for German people became very difficult. People with savings found that they were worthless. The value of what they had saved fell drastically. Workers did have pay
increases but they did not keep up with the rising prices of goods. There were major food shortages because farmers did not want to sell their food for worthless money.
People starved and some people turned to crime because life was so hard.
People found it very hard to trust the government. Some of the other problems were out of the government’s control, but they had made the decision to print more
banknotes. This made lots of moderate people turn against the Weimar Republic.
Task 2: Complete the table below. You need to describe what each problem was and then explain how it made the Weimar government unpopular. You will then need to
rank the problems from 1-5. 1 being the problem which you think damaged the Weimar Republic the most and 5 being the one that damaged the Weimar Republic the
least.
Problem
What was the problem?
How did it make the Weimar government unpopular?
How far did
this problem
damage the
Weimar
Republic?
The stab in
the back
theory
The Treaty of
Versailles
Political
uprisings
Invasion of
the Ruhr
Hyperinflation
Which of the five problems link together? Draw lines between the ones that do.
Excellent – To or more consequences are explained in depth.
Good – You identify several consequences (but don’t explain them in detail) or you explain one consequence in depth
(3-4 marks)
(5-6 marks)
How did Germany Recover Under
Stresemann?
1924 – 1929
Stresemann’s solutions
Policy 1 – Introduce a new currency
Policy 2 – Persuade the French to Leave the Ruhr.
Stresemann replaced the old money with a new currency called the
Rentenmark. One rentenmark replaced 1000 billion marks. Old notes
Stresemann called off passive resistance because it had not forced the
French to withdraw from the Ruhr and it had created serious economic
problems. He promised to keep up reparation payments to France.
Policy 3 – Improve Germany’s relationship with other countries
Stresemann decided to co-operate with other countries in Europe.
Result: In 1925 Stresemann signed the Locarno Pact with Britain, France, Belgium and Italy. They promised to accept the
boundaries agreed at the Treaty of Versailles. For Germany, it meant that France could not invade the Ruhr again.
In 1926 Germany joined the League of Nations. It was given ‘Great Power’ status which meant that it had a say in any
major decisions made.
In 1928 he signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Over 60 countries agreed not to use war against each other in the future.
(nothing was said in the pact about what would happen if a country did not keep to the terms of the agreement)
However: Some Germans thought that Stresemann was weak. By saying that Germany would not try to regain the land it
had lost he had once again ‘given in’ to France.
Some army generals believed that Stresemann should have built up the army instead and tried to regain by force the
land lost in the Treaty of Versailles.
Policy 4 – Continue to pay reparations
Policy 5 – Get help to rebuild the economy
Stresemann promised to pay reparations. He hoped that the Allies
would lower the payments in the future.
Stresemann organised big loans from the USA as part of the Dawes Plan 1924
Result...
Result: The German government improved housing, hospitals, schools and roads.
Loans were given to private German firms. Many US firms set up factories in
Germany. Pensions and wages rose.
And one more thing....
After 1923 Germany became more peaceful. There was less political violence. Between 1924 and 1928 there were no attempts to overthrow the Weimar
Republic.
Using the information on Stresemann, complete the table below with details of each solution. (include both positive and negative points)
How Stresemann improved the economy
How Stresemann improved International Relations
New Currency
Locarno Treaties
Dawes Plan
League of Nations
Young Plan
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Why did these groups support the Nazi Party between 1924 – 1928?
Group
Possible Reasons to support Nazis
Young People
Farmers
Merchants
Source A:
An assessment of the achievements of Gustav Stresemann
Taken from an obituary in the British newspaper, The Times, 4 October 1929.
With the death of Stresemann, Germany has lost her ablest statesman. He worked hard to
rebuild his shattered country and for peace and cooperation abroad. In 1923 the French were in
the Ruhr, the currency had collapsed, the reparations issue was unsolved. Germany seemed to
be in ruins. Then he took over and under his leadership Germany is now orderly and prospering
at home; in the affairs of Europe she has an important place.
How useful is Source A for studying the achievements of Gustav Stresemann? Use Source B and your own knowledge to explain your answer.
Level 1
1-2 marks
Level 2
3-5 marks
Level 3
6-8 marks
Level 4
9-10 marks
You either accept the source at face value, or you give a general comment about Stresemann which could apply to any source
You either give simple comments on the usefulness or the limitations of the source based on information from the source and / or own
knowledge
Or
You give simple comments on the usefulness or the limitations of the source in terms of provenance or reliability or bias.
You either give a developed explanation about how useful or limited the source is using the source and your own knowledge
Or
You give a developed explanation about how useful / limited the source is, focussing on the provenance of the source in relation to the
content and/or own knowledge
Both parts of Level 3
Source A is relatively useful because
However, it is not fully useful because
The source is useful as it shows (make sure you analyse the content of the source. Give evidence)
This is useful because I know from my own knowledge that
However, the source is limited because
(Analyse the provenance. Who made it? Why? What do you know from your own knowledge about the achievements of Stresemann?)
Overall, I think that Source A is (extremely? Relatively? Incredibly? Partly?) useful because