Key points
- After World War One, Germany was severely punished by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
- The newly formed Weimar Republic faced much opposition from both right- and left-wing groups.
- From 1918 to 1933, reparations payments, hyperinflation and the A period from 1929 when, starting in America, countries around the world suffered huge unemployment and economic damage. caused much economic hardship for the German people.
What caused the problems in Germany from 1918 - 1923?
Germany was now a democracy and a republic. This meant that it was led by democratically elected leaders, rather than by a monarch such as the Kaiser. It also had a document called a constitution that set out how the country would be run. There were many groups on both the right and the left who didn鈥檛 support the new republic.
The five years after World War One were a period of turmoil and instability for Germany:
- Germany had lost World War One and was severely punished by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
- The newly formed Weimar Republic struggled to deal with threats from the political right and left while it was still trying to establish itself.
- The poverty in Germany at the end of the war made many people believe that communism would make Germany a fairer country, leading to some support for the Spartacists and the Spartacist Uprising.
- Right-wing groups, such as the Freikorps and the newly formed Nazi party, opposed the new Weimar Government. They believed they shouldn鈥檛 have surrendered and that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. They aimed to make Germany a powerful country again and tried to overthrow the Weimar Government with the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Putsch.
- The Weimar Government鈥檚 response to the Ruhr invasion also led to hyperinflation, which caused financial disaster for many people.
How did the Treaty of Versailles punish Germany?
World War One ended at 11am on 11 November 1918. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace agreement that marked the end of World War One and set out to punish Germany for their involvement in the war. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919.
The punishments from the Treaty of Versailles can be remembered with the acronym 鈥楤RAT鈥: Blame, Reparations, Armed forces and Territory.
Blame
War Guilt Clause 231 stated that 鈥Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage (in the War).鈥 This caused anger in Germany as they felt it was unfair to hold them solely responsible for causing the war.
Reparations
The War Guilt Clause meant Germany had to pay for all of the damage caused in the war. This figure was decided to be 拢6.6 billion in 1921, and was finally paid off in 2010. These reparations caused economic hardship in Germany.
Armed forces
The loss of armed forces left Germany feeling vulnerable. American president Woodrow Wilson, had suggested all nations should disarm, but the result of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany would be largely disarmed whilst France and the UK maintained their armed forces.
- it was allowed a maximum of 100,000 troops in the army
- conscription was banned
- no tanks were allowed
- its navy was reduced to 15,000
- it was allowed only 6 battleships, and no submarines
Territory
Germany lost a significant amount of territory: 13% if its land and 10% of their population, including industrial coal and iron producing areas. This contributed to their post-war economic problems.
What was the Weimar Republic?
The Weimar Republic was Germany's government from 1919 to 1933, from the end of World War One to the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. They were a new and inexperienced government who had to deal with a lot of complicated economic problems after World War One.
The Weimar Republic was a truly democratic government for Germany, with a A set of laws by which a country is governed. that set out how the country should be run. The republic held elections every four years and all adults over the age of 20 were able to vote.
The Weimar Republic was set up as a representative democracy, which is a political system in which members of parliament are elected to represent the interests of the public. It tried to give genuine power to all German adults by allowing their voices to be heard. However, this caused problems because the German public were so divided.
Historians have argued that there were two main weaknesses of the Weimar Republic.
Proportional Representation
Each political party got the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it received in an election. While it allowed for better representation of minorities, it also meant there were lots of small parties in parliament, making it difficult to pass laws, and contributed to weak and often short-lived governments. Some people argue that this contributed to political instability in Germany.Article 48 powers
This gave the president the power to act without parliament鈥檚 approval in an emergency. However, it did not clearly define what an 'emergency' was, so the power was overused, which weakened Germans鈥 confidence in democracy.
Watch the video to find out about the weaknesses of the Weimar Government
Narrator: At the end of World War One, Germany was defeated. The leader, Kaiser Wilhelm, abdicated, allowing the old royal system of government to be replaced with a new democratic system, the Weimar Republic.
For the first time, all German people got the vote. They voted for their area鈥檚 representative in the Reichstag Parliament. Elections used what was seen as the fairest system: proportional representation. They also elected a president every seven years, and the president then appointed a chief minister from the Reichstag, the chancellor.
It seemed like a perfect system.
President: Well done, everyone, this system is perfect.
Narrator: And it might have been, if the population hadn鈥檛 been so divided and angry, because the government had accepted the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. They called its signatories in the government the November Criminals.
Woman at front of crowd: Death to the November Criminals!
Narrator: At the Paris conference, where the treaty was signed, Germany had expected to have a say in writing the agreement. But the treaty, written solely by the allies, was seen as a diktat, a dictated piece. Article 231 of the treaty stated that Germany was totally to blame for causing the war. This clause was used to justify the allies claiming reparations from Germany. A huge compensation bill of 拢6.6 billion, to be paid to the allies by Germany in crippling annual instalments.
Germany lost all its colonies overseas, and had its armed forces drastically reduced. They were limited to 100,000 soldiers. The people鈥檚 resentment was made even worse, because many Germans refused to accept that they had lost the war, believing a growing myth that Germany鈥檚 brave army hadn鈥檛 lost, but had been stabbed in the back by weak politicians.
The government had to cope with those on the political right, who wanted them removed because they were angry at Versailles, and the loss of the monarchy. On the left, they had to cope with communists, who wanted a socialist revolution. And now, thanks to proportional representation, all of these extremists had a right to vote, and so were represented in the Reichstag. This led to a Parliament full of lots of small parties, representing all of the different, often extreme views, none of whom could form a majority in the Reichstag.
The Weimar government was beset with problems. But it was a clause in the republic鈥檚 new constitution that would cause the biggest problem for Germany, and for the rest of the world. Article 48 allowed the president special powers to make laws without the say of the Reichstag, in the event of an emergency. Hitler would later use Article 48 to turn his democratic election into a ruthless dictatorship.
Uprisings
There were a series of Rebelling against authority or control. and revolutions from both the left and the right in Germany in the years following World War One and The Treaty of Versailles.
The Spartacist Uprising
- In January 1919, left-wing Someone who believes in the political ideology of communism, a system of running a country in which all means of production such as tools, factories and raw materials, are owned by the community as a whole. Private property does not exist and each individual contributes according to their ability and receives according to their needs. This means there is no hierarchy of social class. led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht took over newspaper offices and police headquarters, and forced the new Weimar Government to flee Berlin.
- The This means 鈥榝ree soldiers.鈥 They were a group of ex-army soldiers who formed a far-right group, angry about the surrender in November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles. were called in by the government. They successfully stopped the uprising and Luxemburg and Liebknecht were both murdered.
- This showed the weakness of the new government because they couldn鈥檛 deal with the uprising without relying on the Freikorps.
The Kapp Putsch
- The Freikorps tried an uprising of their own in 1920, led by Wolfgang Kapp. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles meant the German army had to be reduced and the Freikorps had to be disbanded.
- In reaction to this, Wolfgang Kapp, a right-wing nationalist, led a Freikorps takeover in Berlin. He wanted to overthrow the new Weimar Government and start his own.
- The Weimar Government fled and Friedrich Ebert was the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in 1925. called for a When workers from lots of different industries all refuse to work to try and make a change., which was widely supported. Within days there were power shortages and shelves in shops were emptying. This meant it was very difficult for the new government to do anything and Kapp realised he did not have enough popular support.
- The Kapp Putsch lasted only a few days and the Weimar Government was restored.
The Ruhr and hyperinflation
In 1923, Germany missed a Compensation payments paid to cover the cost of damages incurred by war. payment. France and Belgium then invaded the Ruhr region to claim what they felt they were owed. The Ruhr was an industrial area, producing large amounts of coal and steel. This occupation of the Ruhr worsened Germany鈥檚 economic crisis as they lost a lucrative region.
The German government told the workers in the Ruhr to go on general strike and encouraged To peacefully oppose something.. They printed extra money so the workers could be paid while they were striking, since they were doing so at request of their government.
This caused When prices rise slightly, this is known as inflation. Hyperinflation is when prices are rising out of control, so money becomes worthless.. Prices skyrocketed and money rapidly decreased in value. The value of people鈥檚 savings became worthless and people on fixed incomes were put in a difficult position, as their wages were not increased in line with hyperinflation. To solve the problem of hyperinflation, a new currency, the Rentenmark, was introduced to replace the now worthless Papiermark. The government also called off passive resistance and the economy started to recover.
What is happening in this picture?
The kite is made of banknotes. The children in the picture have been given bundles of money to play with. Prices had risen by so much that money had become worthless. It was more effective for people to burn money to keep warm than to use it to buy firewood.
People who had savings saw the value of their money disappear. Pensioners and people on fixed incomes also suffered.
The Munich Putsch
In 1919, Adolf Hitler joined a new political party: the National Socialist German Workers Party, or the Nazis. They were a far-right group who strongly opposed the Treaty of Versailles. By 1921, he was the leader. In 1923, Hitler attempted to take advantage of the hyperinflation crisis facing the Weimar Government by trying to launch a revolution. He believed the Nazis had enough popular support for an uprising to succeed.
Starting in a beer hall in Munich, he gained the support of local leaders and marched towards the centre of the city. The police had been notified and they blocked their route. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. He was granted early release, however, and only served nine months of the sentence.
Whilst in prison, Hitler realised the best way to win power would be through being elected. He wrote a book called Mein Kampf, in which he set out his A set of beliefs about how a country, or system, should work..
Activity - Put the events into the correct order
Gustav Stresemann's recovery
From 1923, Germany started to show signs of recovery. This was largely under the leadership of Gustav Stresemann.
- In 1923, Stresemann introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, to stabilise the value of German money.
- In 1924, the Dawes Plan was agreed. This was an agreement that Germany would pay their reparations over a longer period of time and would receive some loans from America.
- In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations, showing they were being accepted by other countries again and that they were committed to the league鈥檚 aim of collective security.
- In 1930, the Young Plan was agreed. Germany continued to receive loans from America and reparations payments were reduced by 20%. Germany seemed to be on the brink of economic recovery.
Did Stresemann lead Germany to a true recovery?
Some historians argue that Stresemann was leading Germany to a true recovery. The new currency ended the hyperinflation crisis. Germany had improved international relations through the Dawes Plan, joining the League of Nations, and the Young Plan. There were developments in art, music and culture. Berlin was seen as an advanced and modern capital city. Loans from America were helping economic growth.
However, there is an argument that this recovery fixed some problems by causing new ones. A lot of the economic recovery was based on loans from America. This meant that when America wanted these loans to be repaid after the Wall Street Crash. The German economy was unable to cope and suffered far worse economic impact than other leading European countries, such as France and the UK.
The Great Depression
- The German recovery was thwarted following the Share prices in America plunged in October 1929. Millions of people lost their savings and the world fell into an economic depression. in October 1929. This led to a global economic depression.
- Germany had borrowed large amounts of money from America through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan. This meant the German economy took a huge hit when America needed their loans repaid.
- 6 million German people were out of work by 1933 and the recovery that appeared to be taking place was destroyed.
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