Weimar Germany and the Treaty of Versailles, 1918-1923

1
Weimar Germany and the Treaty of Versailles,
1918-1923
2
Treaty of Brest Litovsk, March 1918
Germany defeats Russia on the Eastern front and
imposes a harsh treaty on Lenin and the new
Bolshevik government
3
War in the West, March 1918The Ludendorff
Offensive March 21st
Germany launches her biggest attack since 1914 on
the Western front in an effort to win the war
before the US can bring pressure to bear. The
gamble fails..
4
War in the West, autumn1918The collapse of the
Central Powers

• September 29
• Bulgaria concludes armistice negotiations
• October 3-4
• Germany and Austria send peace notes to US
  President Woodrow Wilson requesting an armistice
• October 30th
• Turkey concludes an armistice with the Allies
• November 3
• Trieste falls to the Allies Austria-Hungary
  concludes an armistice
• November 7-11
• Germany negotiates an armistice with the Allies
  in Ferdinand Foch's railway carriage headquarters
  at Compiegne

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The Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates

• On 9th November 1918, Germanys wartime leader,
  Kaiser William II, abdicated and fled to Holland.
  Germany was declared a republic

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Germanys New President

• Following World War I, the republic emerged from
  the German Revolution in November 1918.
• Fredrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democrat
  Party (SPD) becomes the first president of
  Germany on 9 November 1918

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The Armistice was signed on November 11th 1918
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Territory lost by Imperial Germany after
Versailles 1918
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The left wing Spartacist Uprising in December 1918

• Spartacists (Communists) seized control of
  Berlin in December 1918
• The Spartacists under Rosa Luxembourg and Karl
  Liebknecht controlled Berlin for a month

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Spartacist Leaders Murdered

• Spartacist leaders Rosa Luxembourg and Karl
  Liebknecht were murdered on 15 January 1919 by
  Freikorps (ex-soldiers) and the Spartacist
  Uprising collapsed.

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Weimar National Assembly

• On 19 January 1919 elections were held for a
  National Assembly (parliament)
• The National Assembly met in Weimar on 6 February
  1919. Their job was to write a new constitution
  for the new republic

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Versailles Treaty Signed28th June 1919
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The Weimar Constitution

• The National Assembly in Weimar presented their
  new constitution on 11 August 1919
• The new German republic was now known as the
  Weimar Republic

14
The Reparations Commission

• In 1921, the Allies decided that Germany would
  have to pay
• 6,600 million
• as war reparations to the defeated allies.
• This was the notorious War Guilt Clause, Article
  231

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Problems facing the new Weimar government also
included

• Attacks from the Left wing and the Right.

The Right wing supporters of Wolfgang Kapp in
March 1920. The putsch failed
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French and Belgian Invasion of the Ruhr in
Jan.1923

• Germany paid the first installment of 50 million
  in reparations in 1921 but in 1922 nothing was
  paid
• In January 1923 French and Belgian soldiers
  entered the Ruhr and began to take what was owed
  to them in raw materials and goods
• German workers went on strike

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Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany in 1923

• The German currency the mark, collapsed in
  November 1923
• In an attempt to solve the problem the govt.
  printed more money but the money was worthless.

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Hitlers Munich Putsch Nov 1923

• In November 1923 Hitlers National Socialists
  attempted to seize the government in Bavaria
• Hitler was arrested and sentenced to nine months
  in Landsberg prison where he wrote Mein Kampf