1919 to 1945
• You will be given two sheets. As you go
through the slides, take down key points for
you to further investigate and add books /
page numbers on the sheets.
• You will be given a copy of the slides from
which to take notes so pick your points
carefully!
The end of war
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=L8uWgb
Rd8So
Treaty of Versailles
• Germany thought they were fighting a defensive
war
• Germany were fed propaganda by Ludendorf
and Hindenburg that they were winning
• They thought the ‘armistice’ meant that it would
be a balanced settlement
• In reality, Germany werent invited and were
threatened with incvasion….
Research task
• Take notes on the impact of the treaty,
particularly focusing on how it created
increased nationalism
• Find one outstanding quote that thinks best sum
up this impact to feed back to the class
The Weimar constitution
President
Every 7 Years
President
appoints
The Chancellor
Appointed by President from the Reichstag, subject to Reichstag
approval by majority vote
President
The Chancellor
Reichstag
German Parliament voted in by Proportional Representation
– same percentage of seats as votes in election
Members elected every 4 years
President
The Chancellor
Reichstag
Men and
women over
the age of 20
German people
President
The Chancellor
Reichsrat
Reichstag
Local elected assemblies
German people
President
The Chancellor
Article 48
Emergency powers, could
Make laws without Reichstag
Reichstag
German people
How democratic was this new
constitution?
Democratic
• All Germans had equal rights, including the
right to vote
• Proportional representation made sure
parties had the same percentage of seats in
parliament as they did in the election
• Provided a strong leader to keep control
over the country in an emergency
• Each state had its own elected assembly to
represent local interests
Issues…
• It was too radical an experiment given the
volatile nature of German society after the
war
• PR encouraged lots of small parties so no
one party ever had enough seats to form a
majority government
• The president could use Article 48 to
become a dictator
• Local states could resist the authority of
central government
Your class will be separated into groups to research
and present on the following with a focus on what they
tell us about the nature of German government
• The Revolution from above and below
• The Spartacists rising and use of the Freikorps
• The Kapp Putsch and its collapse
• The Munich Putsch and the trial
Munich Putsch
• Watch the clip. What does it tell us about:
(a)Hitler’s methods and support
(b)The strength of German democracy
(c)The role of the elites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBmsXc9yuY
Did hyperinflation undermine
democracy?
• In 1919 there were 8.9 marks to the $.
• In November 1923 there were 200 000
million
• Allies blamed, through reparations and
occupation of Ruhr in 1923
• Actually more to do with printing and
borrowing money to pay budget deficit
Who gained? Who lost?
•
•
•
•
•
•
No major unemployment
Debtors benefited (mortgages)
Entrepreneurs often benefited
Anyone with savings lost (pensioners)
Landlords and welfare recipients lost
Middle classes often hit
Solved by calling in currency and starting again!
Role of Stresemann
• Experienced politician Chancellor, Foreign
Minister
• Gifted orator
• Popular leader
Do Stresemann’s skills
remind you of other
leaders we have
studied?
Aims
• Restore German power & prosperity
• Rejected military expansion endorsed by
Gen Seekt and others
• Solve reparations problem
• End occupation of Ruhr & passive
resistance
• Revise Germany’s eastern borders
Different interpretations of his motives
Either:
• European diplomat (in the model of Bismarck)
Or:
• Put German interests above other nations
• Similarities with Hitler’s foreign policy
• Stresemann diaries stress importance of rels. with
USSR
Strategies
Rapprochment & fulfillment
• Conciliation & pragmatism
• Mild pressure
• Exploited Western reliance on a healthy German economy
and used as lever
• Compliance with Versailles Treaty to improve relations
with GB & Fr.
• Ending Germany’s diplomatic isolation
• Encouraging US aid and investment
• Building links with USSR
• Satisfying French demands for security
Successes
• Renegotiated reparations through Dawes Plan
(1924) & Young Plan (1929)
• Locarno Pact (1925): Germ. Accepted western
borders & renounced use of force except in selfdefence
• Germ admitted to League of Nations, with power
to veto
• Tr. of Berlin (1926): similar to Rapallo Pact,
1922; improve relations with USSR
• Ending of allied occupation of Ruhr & Rhineland
• Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) renouncing use of
force with 70 other nations, whilst secretly
rearming
• Nobel Peace Prize (1926)
FOREIGN POLICY GAINED
•Entry into LON
•Renewed status
•French withdrawal from the Ruhr in 1925 & all troops in ‘29
•Some Middle Class support
FOREIGN POLICY LOST
•Concessions given were too limited to gain real support
•Angered Right for ‘accepting’ terms
•Campaign against the Young Plan by Hitler gained him real
support
•Left distrusted him as a conservative
Successes - political stability
• Stable govt. – Social Democrats formed a coalition
supporting Weimar Republic
• Decline in support for extremists (NAZIs won 12
seats in 1928 Reichstag elections)
Why do you
think there was
less support for
extremist parties
at this time
(1923-9)?
Economy- Golden goose or golden duck?
• Traditional View - unlucky depression
• Modern view - mixed recovery with Fundamental
Weaknesses
• Was it industry v agriculture?
• Greedy workers? Constricting Cartels or lack of
cooperation?
• Welfare improvements cost too much & angered
elites
Conservative View - “Sick economy”
Socialist View - “Controlling Elites”
•State living beyond means
•Lack of Elite Investment
•Recovery based on loans
•Cartels reduced entrepreneurial attitude
•Wages increase, productivity decreases
•Welfare reforms trying to encourage growth
•Low investment (low profits / high tax)
•High unemployment
•Depression before 1929
Synthesis
•Employers & workers at fault - no compromise
•Wages rose due to shortages of skilled labour
•Low investment is partly due to lack of confidence
•Government fails to invest
•Unrealistic welfare expectations
•Alienates elites through tax & wages
Did cultural experimentation undermine
democratic government?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Modernisation, Innovation & democratisation
Art - expressionism & utilitarian
Literature - political & reactionary
Music - expressive, political - jazz, cabaret
Theatre - Brecht
Architecture - modernism & utilitarian
New Media - popular culture & consumerism
PROBLEM
•Sign of failing morality - “tides of filth”
•Americanisation, homosexuality, birth contol,
feminism….Right criticises as unpatriotic and degenerate
•Left saw as uninspiring & limited
•Towns more affected than agricultural regions
•Weimar runs scared - in 1926 Reichstag passes
“protect against pulp fiction and pornography”
1924 to 1929 - The “Golden Years”?
Arguments For
•
•
•
•
•
No political assassinations
Support for Pro Weimar parties increases
Economic Recovery
Foreign Policy Successes
Cultural Freedom
Arguments Against
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Still fighting on streets (50 killed)
Center moves to right and so do middle classes
6 governments in 5 years (discredited democracy)
No political characters built support
1925 Hindenburg voted in (left disunited)
Losing Elite's support - welfare state etc.
Economic recovery was a sham
Foreign Policy alienated right & left
Cultural experimentation alienated right
Stresemann interpretation
• Using the books, you need to find 2
differing interpretations of Stresemann
• Be prepared to argue which you think is
right and why
What is National Socialism?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Militarism
Volksgemeinschaft
Superiority of German Race - Social Darwinism
World Destiny - Sonderweg
Lebensraum
Anti-Democracy
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Socialism
Where did it come from?
•
•
•
•
WWI
Russian Revolution
1880s & Bismark
Pan-German Philosophy
Is it new?
•
•
•
•
•
Militarism - Prussia & Bismark
Anti Semitism - protocols of Zion
Social Darwinism - 1880s
Volk - various parties
Belief in superiority - various philosophers
Nazi beliefs about, and
policies towards, Weimar politics
and society (up to 1929)
Weimar Democracy
• Democracy essentially un-German
• Nazis despised:
– The chaotic party system (30+ parties)
– Lack of strong leadership
• Nazis saw opportunities
– Article 48 – Emergency Powers
– Proportional representation
• Survival in the balance
– Political extremism
– Economic problems
Section 2: Versailles Settlement
• ‘Stab in the Back’ – ‘November
Criminals’
• Loss of territory anti - nationalist
• Disarmament shame
• ‘War guilt’ unfairness – Article 231
• Reparations keeping Germany down
• Military occupation (Rhineland and Ruhr)
Section 3: Economic Crisis to 1924
• Hyperinflation causes? Nazis thought rich (Jewish) capitalists
gained and working classes lost
• Which socio-economic groups turned to extremist parties (only
modestly at this stage)
– Middle classes – look to Right
– Rural Germany (esp. NW) – as above
– Workers turned to the political Left
– Some ‘poorer’ Germans did ‘well’ out of hyperinflation
Section 5: Economic Recovery to 1929?
• How secure was the German boom?
• Problems:–
–
–
–
–
–
Agriculture
Unemployment
Loans
Balance of trade deficit
Cost of wages and welfare
Industrial production after 1927 (recession)
• Consequences for Nazi socio-economic support?
Section 6: Cultural Experimentation
• Nazis – traditional values
• Popular opinion tended to agree
• Nazis campaigned against pornography; female
emancipation; birth control; homosexuality etc.
• Cultural changes:– Literature
– Music, dance and cabaret
– Art, theatre and opera
– Radio
– Americanisation
• For many Germans, symbolised what was wrong
Research task
• Now go back to your sheets and research
the various key areas you have highlighted,
completing books and page numbers.
Hitler and German Politics, 192933
https://www.yo
utube.com/wat
ch?v=rXkSCZd
q0Sg
Changes in Political Fortunes
• Grave economic consequences of WSC
(25% unemployment)
• 1930 and 1932 Elections
• 1932 Presidential election – H. gains 37%
• Large increases in Party Membership and
SA
• But – after July 1932, Nazis in decline
(membership; local elections; finance etc.)
• November 1932, Nazi vote goes down
Political Manoeuvrings
•
•
•
•
•
Decline of Parliamentary Government
Use of Emergency Powers (Article 48)
Many, short-lived governments
Self interest of politicians
Willingness to work with the Nazis
Conservative Elites
•
•
•
•
Bruning
Von Papen
Von Schleicher
Von Hindenburg
Consolidation of Power
• Reichstag Fire
‘crack-down’ on Communists
• March elections
a set back
• Enabling Act
the end of Weimar democracy?
Why did the Weimar
Republic fail and Hitler
become Chancellor in
1933?
 Your task
The historian William Carr said, “It is
inconceivable that Hitler could ever have
come to power had not the Weimar
Republic been subjected to the
unprecedented strain of a world economic
crisis. How far was Germany affected by
the slump. Identify from the list of
possibilities in the activity box on p.101
(Hite & Hinton) what you think would
happen in a country hit by an economic
depression.
Comparative impact of the World Slump
• Germany & US suffered largest drop in
national income in 1932 compared to 1929
(Germany 29%, Britain 15%)
• Germany had highest ration of unemployed
(1 in 3, compared with GB 1 in 5 and Fr 1
in 7)
• Farmers hit by higher interest rates
• Industry, 50,000 businesses bankrupt
between 1930-2
• By 1932, 6m unemployed
Reasons for slow reaction
• Germany had recovered from previous slumps
• Inefficiencies of coalition governments, e.g.
March 1930 Müller-SPD govt. collapsed
• Fear of hyperinflation
• Legal restrictions imposed under Dawes & Young
Plans
• Reluctance by savers to lend govt. money
• Deliberate policy – Brüning wanted to allowed
crisis to develop to gain support for ending
reparations
How did German voters
react to the slump?
‘Our Last Hope’,
• Unemployment rose dramatically as a result
of the depression.
• By 1932 about 1/3 of the total German
workforce was out of work.
• People became dependent of the
government for welfare support.
• Between 1930 and 1932 there were 5 major
elections.
How important an issue was unemployment
during these elections?
Unemployment
Impact of unemployment
• Growth in popularity of extremists, e.g. KPD
increased in popularity from 3m votes (1928) to
6m (1932)
• Growth in popularity of NSDAP from 3m (1928)
to 13m (Jan. 1932) and 12m (Nov. 1932)
• Extremists keen to portray themselves as
guarantors of employment, e.g. ‘Hitler, our last
hope, 1932 poster)
• Other factors might have led to extremism,
e.g….?
Who voted Nazi?
Historiographical problems in finding
out about early support for the
NSDAP
How can we tell who voted Nazi?
•
•
•
•
Opinion polls
Voting statistics
Membership records
Campaigns in the media – e.g. TV, radio &
newspapers
• Individual interviews
NSDAP voters
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Low ranking civil servant
Retired professor
Army general
Shopkeeper in northern
Germany
Female industrial worker
Junker
Catholic priest
Protestant small retailer
•
•
•
•
•
Industrial worker
High-ranking civil servant
Protestant student
Small farmer
Catholic unemployed
worker
• Unemployed ex-soldier
• Unemployed artist
How can we tell who voted Nazi
• Problems- lack of opinion polls,
secret ballots
• Some states held separate ballots
for men & women (blue & pink
voting slips)
• Nazis did well in certain areas,
e.g. overwhelmingly Protestant, or
farming areas
• Membership records – SA & Nazi
Party
• Propaganda – who they appealed
to
• Autobiographies, e.g. Prof Abel,
Columbia Uni, 581 autobiogs.
What are some of the
problems with these
sources of evidence?
General groups?
• Over represented = white-collar workers & selfemployed artisans
• Under-represented = Peasants, workers
• Membership of workers increased from 26 to 32.5%,
possibly due to rising unemployment & economic crisis
• Membership of white-collar workers decreased,
possibly due to fear at the growth in popularity of
radical movement like NSDAP
Why have historians views changed?
The fall of the Berlin Wall
heralded the end of
Communism and the
opening of many state
archives on Nazi Germany
• Decline of Marxist theory of
history – class struggle,
oppression of working classes by
middle & elite classes
• More sophisticated analysis of
voting behaviour – e.g. greater
importance attached to religion &
culture
• More sophisticated data analysis –
use of computerised analysis,
local studies
• Collapse of Communism &
opening of state archives
Hitler in power
• Jan 1933 34% of vote. Hindenburg persuaded
to appoint as Chancellor.
• Feb 1933 Reichstag fire & emergency decrees
• March 1933 elections & Enabling Act
• Oct 1933 Reichstag dissolved
• June 1943 night of long knives
• August 1934 Hindenburg dies, Hitler = Fuhrer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01HCBM
Historian’s assessment – why did
Germans support the Nazis?
• Emotional appeal of
Nazis
• Petty bourgeoisie under
threat from big business
and radical working
class
• Popular amongst
Germans from weak,
unsupportive
communities
What qualities did the Fuhrer offer
that inspired such devoted support?
How could the
construction of autobahn
• Propaganda, mass
rallies (however,
Noakes argues NSDAP
were successful in
elections where there
was little use of
propaganda)
• Successful economic
policies (Brustein) –
alternative to Marxist
state planning & laissezfaire capitalism
• Anti-Communism
• Anti-Semitism, racialist & homophobic policies
appealed to extremists or those with scores to settle
(however, Goldstein, argues anti-Semitism not crucial
in electoral successes
What is the message
behind this anti-Semitic
Nazi propaganda?
The Hitler government demistified
• The Hitler myth (Kershaw)
• Decision making by survival of the fittest and
“Working towards the fuhrer”
• Polycratic government
• Examples – nuremburg laws, Kristallnacht,
Euthenasia
• Traditional view – strong dictator (Bracher)
• Revisionist view – weak dictator (Mommsen)
• Consensus – his detachment from day to day is part
of the Hitler myth
Reflection
Get into groups of 3. For each of the following
questions, take on one particular viewpoint and
prepare a case to argue in court!
• Did Hitler come to power because of
individuals, groups or economics?
• Did Hitler stay in power due to individuals,
groups or economics?