The Republic of Weimar (IGCSE)

Samuel Perrino Martínez. ISU. Republic of Weimar (1919 - 1929)

The Republic of Weimar

There is some basic information you should know about this period What kind of system? Periods

1st period: Problems Why was the RoW so unpopular? Attempts to overthrow the RoW Who was against Weimar? 1923: The turning point: Ruhr crisis and hyperinflation

What kind of system?

Parliamentary democracy: The most democratic system in the world ! Right to vote over the age of 20 Proportional system President + Parliament + Chancellor (Division of powers)

Constitution. Main points: Art. 2: Proportional sytem Art. 48: Emergency cases

Problems

You have to understand why the Weimar Republic was so unpopular in Germany in the 1920s

Try to distinguish between the general problems (i.e bad economic situation) and the facts in order to have a clear idea.

What kind of problems?

Reparations Stab-in the back idea

What kind of problems?

Economic crisis Distribution of wealth

Why was Germany in such a bad situation? Treaty of Versailles terms:

Germany lost 10% of land 12 % of population 48 % of the iron industry (in favor of …) African colonies (Togoland and Cameroon)

Germany had to accept the blame for the war The army was reduced to 100,000 men (no possibility of defense)

Why was the Treaty considered negative for Germany?

Treaty of Versailles. German reaction

Diktat: Germany had no option to negotiate the conditions. They even did not participate in the discussions.

How did Germans feel about this?--- We are not obliged to follow these rules if we have the chance

Can you argue something against this argument?

Diktat

Treaty of Versailles.

Loss of territory: Germany lost 10% of the territory It,s important because many

German population was living in this territories. They had two options:

Stay as a minorities Move to Germany

It,s not just a question of prestige, it,s also a “personal” question.

Treaty of Versailles.

Disarmament Germany Army was reduced to

100,000 men. Why was this decision a problem for Germany?

G could not start a new war G had problems to maintain the

order in the country (extremely weak country)

How would be the disarmament fair?

Treaty of Versailles

War guilt (Art. 234 Treaty of Versailles)The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed on them by the aggression of Germany and her allies

Germans felt this was very unfair.Also, blame meaned in real terms ….

Were the Germans right?

Partially YES It is true the conditions of the

Treaty were hard for Germany

Partially NO France wanted to divide

Germany into small states, even higher reparations and the complete elimination of the German Army (It could be worse)

So… many people were conspiring against the democracy

At that moment, there were different opinions in Germany:

Those in favor of democracy (Majority of population)

Those against the democracy (Extremists: Ultranationalist and Communist, they hated each other)

-- Common features: -- They believed in violence as the best way to obtain the power-- They were against democracy (they preferred authoritarian regimes)

In favor of democracy

The main party was the Social-Democrat Party (left-wing party), ruled by Ebert There were also right-wing parties (DDP) and central parties (Zentrum, Catholic Party)

They had different ideas, but they accepted democracy as the best system of government They represented 80% of German population

Those against democracy

Left-wing extremist:

They tried to establish a communist rule in Germany

1917: Russian revolution… so why not Germany?

Who --- Working class (they had bad conditions of life, so they did not care about liberties, they just want an equal share of the wealth)

Against democracy

Spartacist Revolution (1919)

The Communist tried to seize the power and launch a revolution in Germany

They were able to declare the Independent Socialist Republic of Bavaria

The Government used the Freikorps and the Army to counteract the rebellion

Result --- The rebellion failed and the communist leaders (R.Luxemburg and Liebknecht) were assassinated

Those against democracy

Right-wing Nationalist:

They thought the Treaty was a complete humiliation for Germany

They wanted an authoritarian and strong regime (similar to the previous situation before the war)

Who --- Mainly composed by ex-soldiers who did not accept the end of the war. They were organized in the Freikorps.

Right-wing extremist. The Kapp Putsch 1920 Kapp was a general and he

tried to take over the power with 5,000 Freikorps

The government asked for the aid of the workers and they reacted with a general strike

Kapp left the country and the rebellion failed

1923. A key year

The situation was quite unstable the first years of the Republic of Weimar, but 1923 will be a special year for several crisis:

The Ruhr Crisis The Munich Putsch Hyperinflation

The Munich Putsch (Beer Hall Putsch)

An unknown Adolf Hitler tried to take the control of the country in a rebellion in Munich

Nazi Party was not very popular at that moment (less than 3% of votes) so he failed (He was able to control a brewery)

He went to prison (11 months) when he wrote Mein Kampf with the main ideas of the Nazis

Ruhr crisis

Previous situation German solution Hyperinflation

Previous situation

The reparations commission had determined that Germany should pay 132 billion gold marks in 42 years to the Allied powers

Situation

The French were anxious to enforce the reparations for two reasons:

They hated Germans They needed the money to pay

the American loans

Ruhr crisis Germans had problems to pay the demanded

amount of money, so the French decided to take a hard line approach to Germany: the best way to make Germany pay was …

MAKING USE OF THE FORCE ---- French and Belgium troops invaded the Ruhr (the industrial area of Germany) to “receive” the payment

What would you do if you were a German worker?

Ruhr crisis

As Germany had almost no army (Treaty of Versailles) France took the outputs of the factories and mines of the Ruhr, and shipping them to its territory.

Ruhr crisis

What was the German reaction?

German workers refused to cooperate

Sabotage (Flooding of mines, burning factories, destruction of railroads, etc.)

French fought against that. They had the complete control of this area!

Ruhr crisis

What was the German reaction? The Government supported the workers in their strike and sabotage actions.

It printed money to pay them. PROBLEM --- The value of the money decreased because it was an artificial measure ---- HYPERINFLATION

Consequences of the Hyperinflation

The middle class lost its economic power (the money they saved) so they became:

Cynical to democracy More interested in extremist

ideologies (Nazis tried to seize the power in 1923)

So, the Weimar Republic was in a serious trouble

Hyperinflation and bad economic situation Challenged by the Left and Right extremist Without a clear answer to the problems of the country

So… in this difficult situation, a new president (Stresseman) took the power after the first years of Ebert.

Would he be able to change the situation? YES, the Golden Years (1923 – 1929)

The Golden Years (1923 – 1929)

After an initial crisis, the Weimar Republic was able to overcome most of the problems in the period from 1923 to 1929 (the Golden Years)

The key figure of this period was Gustave Stresseman (the Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Germany got important achievements in: The economy Culture Politics

Economy He found a solution to solve the problem of

Hyperinflation First, he created a new currency

If Germany was in bad situation, the world would be in a bad situation (because of the reparations) so …

Dawes Plan: Reparations payments were spread over a longer period The USA gave loans to Germany

Germany spent the money in infrastructure and modernization of old equipment (good investments) so the quality of life increased (better salaries) --- The economic situation improved so G. could pay the reparations.

Dawes Plan

… but

The German economy was completely dependent on American loans, so …

The unemployment began to raise at the end of the Golden Years (social unrest)

Peasants and small business were not especially benefited by Weimar policies

Culture

During the Kaiser´s time --- Dictatorship and censorship

Weimar Republic brought the freedom of speech --- Cultural Renaissance

George Grosz and Bauhaus design

The cinema industry was the most important in Europe (F.Lang and M.Dietrich)

George Grosz

Bauhaus movement

Fritz Lang. Metropolis

The first science fiction movie!!

But …

The rural Germany saw the new culture as a symbol of decadency

Wandervogel movement: Return to the countryside values (kind of Boy scouts)

Politics

The extremist (left and right wing) were weaker during this period (Nazis got 5% of the vote, and Communist did not go further than 15% of the vote)

A GrossKoalition was formed with all democratic parties, so the government was strong

… but

Extremist parties were not banned, even if they were against democracy ---- They could establish an organization for the future

People started to accept extremist parties as part of the system

Foreign policy

Stressman reached the Locarno Treaties (1925) where:

Germany recognized the Western borders after the war

The Eastern borders were not defined (Why was this a problem for the future?)

Germany was accepted in the League of Nations

Young Plan (1929): Less reparations for Germany and the foreign troops left Germany

Locarno Treaties

But…

Of course, these agreements were criticized by the right-wing and left-wing extremist:

For the right-wing extremist, the agreements were a recognition of the Versailles Treaties

For the left-wing extremist, the agreements were seen as an approach to the capitalist countries

Golden Years Period

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbW8mA_cdFg

The Republic of Weimar (IGCSE)

Education

Transcript of The Republic of Weimar (IGCSE)

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