Post-World War One Germany The problems mount

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Post-World War One GermanyThe problems mount
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What was Pre-WW1 Germany like?
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How did the First World War End?
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Think of at least 10 problems facing Germany at
the start of 1919?
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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

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The Weimar Republic
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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?

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Fundamental Weaknesses of the Weimar Republic
Advantages to State Disadvantages to State
Coalition Government
Pure Proportional Representation
Freedom of Speech
Article 48
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Feature of Weimar Constitution Advantages Problems





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Treaty of Versailles(The Dictated Peace)
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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. Alsace-Lorraine 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

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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?

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The Bill Arrives in 19216,600,000,000 in Gold
Reichsmarks!
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Hyperinflation
Germany cant 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 Hyperinflation Winners from Hyperinflation

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Free Fall
Losers from Hyperinflation Winners from Hyperinflation
Lenders Middle Classes State Workers Pensioners those on fixed benefits Mittelstand Weimar Republic Jews (incorrectly blamed) German Government Politically Borrowers Speculators Landowners Areas close to borders Foreigners German Government Financially
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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.

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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
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The most serious challengeThe 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?

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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!

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The Trigger

• February 1920
• Forced Demobilisation of army
• A requirement of the Treaty of Versailles
• 12,000 Freikorps ordered to disband
• Commander Luttwitz refuses

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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

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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

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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!

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The most serious challengeThe 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?

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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
• Task 2
• How many Chancellors did Germany have between
  1919 and 1933

Name of Party
What it stood for
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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!

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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
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National-Socialist Ideology

• What did the Nazis believe?

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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?

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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

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The Munich Putsch, 1923

• Explain why Hitler likes to use the world
  Struggle
• Draw a timeline of Hitlers career from 1914
  1923
• Why did Hitler think that 1923 was a good time
  for a Putsch?

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8 Nov 1923
   Hitler interrupted the Beer Hall meeting, and forced Kahr, Lossow and Seisser 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, released by Hitler, called in the police and army reinforcements.
9 Nov 1923
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Homework

• Questions 1 to 5 page 26
• Write in full GCSE paragraph style answers.

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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.

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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 didnt it?

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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?

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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.