German political problems 1918-23.

The cards are about the constitution, the left and right wing parties and kapp putsh.

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The constitution.

  • Proportional representation (10% of votes= 10% of the seats)
  • Reichstag the most important house of parliament elected every 4 years
  • Reichsrat the less important house of parliament members were from the different   German regions the bigger the region the more members   
  • Chancellor (prime minster) chose the minsters
  • President elected every 7 years chose the chancellor
  • Check and balance
  • Article 48 or decrees
  • The reichsrat could delay or request changes to any laws the Reichstag passed they could only overrule it if it had 2/3 majority
  •  Coalition governments no one ever got 50% of the votes
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Left wing.

  • Communism
  • Get rid of the aristocracy
  • Give ownership of the businesses to the workers
  • Supported by the workers and poorer people
  • Spartacists (Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht) they lead a rebellion and controlled buildings in Berlin but where crushed by the Freikorps and Rosa and Karl where murdered in prison by the Freikorps 
  • KPD - communist party 
  • Red front fighters
  • Spartacists risings in Berlin were crushed by the army and the Freikorp
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Right wing

  •  Wanted a strong government and a powerful leader
  • Felt they had been betrayed by the politicians who signed the armistice and the treaty of Versailles
  • Wanted the Kaiser back
  •  Wanted to get rid of the treaty and destroy the communists
  • Supported by the rich
  •  NSDAP (Nazis) were to become the most important
  • Freikorps
  • Stahlhelm
  • The leaders of the Spartacist uprising were killed by the freikorps
  • Killed the Weimar politicians
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Kapp Putsh.

  • 5,000 right-wingers tried to seize power over Berlin
  • Wolfgang Kapp leader
  • Supported by the Freikorps
  • Wanted the Kaiser back
  • The Weimar government left Berlin and told the workers to not support them
  • Workers went on strike bringing Berlin to a stop as there was no electricity, gas, water or public transport.
  • They realised they had no support  and that they had failed
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Ruhr Crisis.

  • French and Belgian troops
  • Invaded the Ruhr an industrial part of Germany
  • Took goods in payment for the reparations Germany failed to pay because they couldn't afford to pay
  • The German government told the workers to go on strike this then led to hyperinflation as they still had to pay reparations and the workers but German industry was badly effected so they printed more money
  • The Ruhr crisis ended with the Dawes plan which reduced the reparation payments
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Munich Putsch. Card 1.

Reasons:

  • The effects of the Ruhr crisis and Hyperinflation
  • The Nazi's had been gaining more support in Munich and Hitler thought he could exploit this
  • Hitler realised that Stresemann the new chancellor would be an effective leader so he wanted to take advantage before things got better
  • Also Stresemann's government had an effective policy of crushing extremist groups so Hitler felt he had to take action quickly

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Munich Putsch. Card 2.

What happened:

  • The Bavarian state government meet in a Munich beer hall
  • The heads of the Bavarian government, police and army where there to make speeches 
  • Hitler burst in with 600 SA Stromtroopers and fired a shot saying he was taking control of the government in Munich then he would march on Berlin to take control of Germany
  • He was supported by the famous army general Von Ludendorff
  • The 3 main leaders agreed to support Hitler
  • They changed there minds 
  • Hitler lacked weapons
  • His supporters marched to the city centre but the police opened fire and killed 14 Nazis 
  • The Putsch was a disaster and the leaders were arrested including Hitler
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Munich Putsch. Card 3.

Effects:

  • Hitler realised that he would only gain power though votes
  • When Hitler was in prison he wrote a book called "Mein kampf" which in English means "My struggle" or "My battle"
  • The Nazi party was banned
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