The Rise and Fall of The Weimar Republic
Timeline Project
Activity:
1. Four Teams. Each team will elect a Team Leader.
2. Create a PowerPoint slideshow that contains two (2) photographs from each event listed in
your Team’s Timeline. First slide will have the Team #, Title, and the names of all students who
produced a work product. Do not list anyone who did not contribute to the project.
3. Each slide should contain no less than twenty words that describe the image. Use the “Date
and Description” of the Timeline for the slide’s title.
4. Each image should be footnoted. Each jpeg must not be smaller than 300 x 300.
5. Last slide should contain a list of the Endnotes.
Go here if you need help with Endnotes. http://www.aresearchguide.com/7footnot.html
6. Each Team will turn in a PowerPoint File and a typed Works Cited page.
7. Create a Folder within the “Mr. Gallagher” Folder on the Temp drive with the name of your
Team, i.e. “Perriod 2 Team I”. Place your PowerPoint file and the Works Cited page in your
folder.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Team I
1914 - The Beginning of World War One
1914 - US and German Trade
1915 - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
1917 - The Russian Revolution
1918 - Abdication of the Kaiser
1918 - The End of World War One / November Criminals
1919 - Germany Signs the Treaty of Versailles
1919 - Sparticist Revolution
1919 - Weimar Established
1920 - Berlin Kapp Putsch
1920 - Founding of the Nazi Party
Team II
1920 - Otto Braun, Prussian Prime Minister
1920 - Paul Whitman Band Brings American Jazz to Germany
1921 - Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1922 - Founding of Hitler Youth
1922 - Leo Baeck elected president of Rabbi Association
1922 - Walter Rathenau Assassinated
1923 - Berlin Riots on Hyperinflation
1923 - Dawes Plan
1923 - Hyper-Inflation at its Highest
1923 - Kurt Tucholsky Attacks Judges Verdicts in Terrorism Cases
1923 - Munich Beer Hall Putsch
Team III
1924 - Bauhaus School is Moved to Dessau
1925 - Friedrich Ebert Dies Before Re-election
1925 - Hindenburg becomes President
1926 - Germany Joins the League of Nations
1926 - "Black Reichswehr" Investigation
1926 - "Metropolis" Opens in Germany
1927 - Founding of Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
1928 – Kellogg-Briand Pact
1928 - The Young Plan
1929 - George Grosz On Trial For Blasphemy
1929 - Joachim Hossenfelder Joins the Nazi Party
Team IV
1929 - Nazis Protest Opening of "All's Quiet on the Western Front"
1929 - Ruth Fisher Loses Leadership Position in German Communist Party
1929 - U.S.: Wall Street Crash
1929 - "Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood (published in 1940)
1930 - Max Schmeling Wins Heavyweight Title
1931 - The collapse of the Austrian Credit-Anstalt
1932 - 5 million unemployed
1932 – Elections in Germany
1932 - Martin Albertz Attacks the German Christian Movement
1933 - Hitler named the last Weimar Chancellor
1933 - Weimar Republic Destroyed
__________________________________________________________________________
This is an example of the kind of slide that best exemplifies image and description.
2
The Weimar Republic and the Third Reich
1918 Oct. 28
Nov. 9
Nov. 10 Feb. 6
Nov. 11
Mutinies by sailors and soldiers begin in the home garrisons in
Germany, followed by the formation of workers' and soldiers'
councils.
Revolution in Germany: The Empire collapses, the Kaiser
abdicates, and a republic is proclaimed.
A provisional government of socialists is established, nominally
responsible to the workers’ and soldiers' councils; until Dec. 29 it
includes the radical USPD as well as the moderate SPD.
Armistice: The end of the war.
1919 Feb. 6
The National Assembly (elected on Jan. 19) meets in Weimar
because Berlin is too violent. A government of the "Weimar
Coalition" (SPD, DDP, Center) is formed with Philipp
Scheidemann as Chancellor.
Feb. 11
The National Assembly elects Friedrich Ebert (SPD) as first
President of the Republic.
April 4 - May A Soviet Republic in Bavaria is the most dramatic of a series of
1
revolts and military conflicts during the spring between
government troops and radical workers.
June 23
Versailles Treaty: The Treaty, drafted by Britain, France, and
the United States, is imposed on the protesting German
government. Germany is forced to yield up territory to France
(Alsace-Lorraine), Poland (the Polish Corridor, Silesia), Denmark,
and Belgium, and is forbidden to unite with Austria. Germany is
also forced to limit its army to 100,000 men; forbidden to keep
troops in its Western provinces (the "demilitarized" Rhineland);
required to make heavy reparations payments for damage
caused in the war; and barred from the League of Nations.
July 31
Weimar Constitution: The National Assembly, sitting in
Weimar, adopts a constitution for the Republic.
Sept.
Adolf Hitler joins the tiny German Workers Party (later renamed
the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or Nazi
Party) in Munich.
1920 March 13 - The Kapp Putsch, an unsuccessful military revolt against the
17
Republican government. It is followed over the next two weeks
by armed radical revolts in the Ruhr and elsewhere, also
unsuccessful.
June 6
The parties of the "Weimar Coalition" lose their Reichstag
majority in national elections; they never again have enough
seats to form a majority coalition.
1921 May 11
The German government (under duress) accepts the Allies claims
for reparations, the amount of which was left open in the peace
treaty.
Oct. 12
After a plebiscite, the League of Nations partitions Upper Silesia
and awards a large part to Poland.
1922 April 16
The Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and Soviet Russia
opens a diplomatic back door for Germany.
June 24
Foreign minister Walter Rathenau is assassinated by right-wing
anti-Semites. In reaction to this outrage, Republican institutions
are consolidated for a time.
3
June 16
Occupation of the Ruhr and Great Inflation: Germany’s main
heavy industrial area is occupied by French and Belgian troops in
an attempt to force payment of reparations. The local population
practices passive resistance, subsidized by the German
government; these expenditures lead to rapid escalation of the
already steep inflation in Germany.
A "Great Coalition" government (SPD, DDP, Center, DVP) led by
Gustav Stresemann (DVP) ends the passive resistance and the
inflation. Stresemann remains as foreign minister in every
succeeding government until 1929.
"Beer Hall Putsch": Hitler’s failed coup d'état takes place in
Munich. Afterwards Hitler flees, is arrested and spends about a
year in prison during 1924-25.
The currency is stabilized on terms that bankrupt many savers:
each new Mark is worth one trillion of the old ones.
The Dawes Plan eases Germany's reparations obligations and
leads to an influx of American loans.
Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg is elected as President of the
Republic, following the death of Ebert.
Germany signs the Locarno Treaties are signed, voluntarily
guaranteeing her Western borders. This restores normal
relations with the Western powers.
Germany is admitted to the League of Nations.
A "Great Coalition" government (the first since 1923) is formed
under Hermann Müller (SPD), after national elections that seems
to confirm the stabilization of the Republic. This cabinet survives
until March 1930.
The German government accepts the Young Plan, which further
eases German reparations obligations. In the ensuing nationalist
campaign to force rejection of the Young Plan (unsuccessfully)
Hitler gains his first national prominence.
The Wall Street crash, symbolic start of the Great Depression,
finds the German economy already in decline, and leads to the
withdrawal of American short-term loans.
Brüning cabinet: After the collapse of the Great Coalition
government, a minority government of the center and right-wing
parties is formed under Heinrich Brüning (Center). When the
Reichstag fails to cooperate with his program, Brüning resolves to
rely on President von Hindenburg's powers of emergency
decree. He remains Chancellor until May 1932.
National elections, called by Brüning to strengthen his position in
the Reichstag, result in a big surge in the Nazi and Communist
vote. The "Great Coalition" loses its ability to form a majority
coalition, and Brüning now has no way to legislate except by
Presidential decree.
The collapse of the Austrian Credit-Anstalt starts a banking crisis
in Germany that accelerates the slow decline of the German
economy and makes it clear that the depth and duration of the
depression will be extraordinary.
Hindenburg is reelected President by a small margin over Hitler.
Franz von Papen becomes Chancellor after Brüning loses
Hindenburg's confidence and resigns.
An international conference effectively ends German reparations
obligations.
The Papen government lifts a ban on the SA.
July 20
The Papen government takes over the government of Prussia,
1923 Jan. 11
Aug. 12 Nov. 23
Nov. 8 - 11
Nov. 15
1924 April 9
1925 April 26
Oct. 16
1926 Sept. 8
1928 June 13
1929 June 7
Oct.
1930 March 27
Sept. 14
1931 May 11
1932 April 10
May 31
June
4
Germany's largest federal state, dismissing the Weimar Coalition
government that had ruled there until this point.
July 31
Aug. 13
Nov. 6
Dec. 2
1933 Jan. 30
Feb. 27
March 5
March 23
April 1
April 7
May - July
June
Oct. 14
National elections, called by Papen to strengthen his position in
the Reichstag, result in doubled Nazi representation. Now no
coalition government of any kind is possible without either the
Nazis or the Communists.
Hitler declares that he will not serve in the government in any
office other than as Chancellor.
National elections fail to resolve the deadlock; the Nazis lose
some seats, but the Communists gain.
General Kurt von Schleicher becomes Chancellor.
Nazi "seizure of power": Hitler becomes Chancellor with a
cabinet numerically dominated by conservatives.
Fire partly destroys the Reichstag building. The government
takes the occasion to step up persecution of the opposition
parties.
In national elections the NSDAP wins 44%, the Nationalists 8%,
for a majority between them; after the Communist deputies are
arrested or forced underground the Nazis themselves have a
majority.
Enabling Act: This bill, which receives the necessary two-thirds
majority with the aid of the Center Party, grants full legislative
powers to the cabinet without requiring the assent of the
Reichstag. It is the formal basis of Hitler’s power for the
remainder of the Third Reich.
An official national boycott of Jewish businesses, which lasts only
a few days because of public resistance.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
provides for the dismissal of all Jews and opponents of the
regime from the civil service.
All political parties other than the Nazis are disbanded and all
trade unions are absorbed into the Labor Front.
Inauguration of the Reinhardt Plan of expanded public works
expenditure, including construction of superhighways
(Autobahns).
Germany withdraws from the Disarmament Conference and the
League of Nations. In a referendum 93% of the voters approve of
these actions.
“The Weimar Republic and The Third Reich” http://dmorgan.web.wesleyan.edu/materials/weimar.htm.
5