History

• Germans started to protest

•By 1916 there were anti-war demonstrations

 •In the winter of 1916-17 it was bitterly cold, so potato crops were destroyed.

•Most people lived on turnips instead

•There was little in the war they were fighting

 •Trench warfare meant living in muddy dugouts for weeks on end, worrying about being blown to bits by shell-fire or being suffocated by poisonous gas.

•Morale was low and Germans were thoroughly sick of the war.

•People bean to listen to anti-war speeches made by communists and socialists

• Germans were in general fed up of war

•Before WW1 Germany had been a proud nation.

•Wilhelm II had been Kaiser since 1888 and was determined to build up the strength of the German Empire.

•He hoped a swift victory in 1914 would help this, however after 4 years of fighting Germany was exhausted, morale was low and the Kaiser was unpopular.

• Following defeat in WW1, and the abdication of the Kaiser just two days before the end of the war, Germany had to create a new government, which became known as the Weimar Republic

•The spark of the revolution was lit on the 28th October when Germany’s navy were ordered to be put to sea for the battle with the British.

• Sailor on two ships refused to put out fires in the boiler rooms.

• 600 sailors were arrested

•Their comrades held a meeting to protect against the arrest, at the meeting eight were shot dead.

•Workers and soldiers joined sailors and took over the town of Kiel, the same thing happened in ports nearby.

•Nothing Kaiser Wilhelm could do to control his country.

•All he could do was to abdicate and on the 10th of November he secretly left Germany by train to Holland.

•Friedrich Ebert head of socialist party took place as head of Germany.

•Ebert's first action was to sign an armistice with allies to end the Great War.

•Posen – to Poland

•Upper Silesia – to Poland •Memel – to Lithuania •Alsace-Lorraine – to France •Rhineland – demilitarised •North Schleswig – to Denmark •Eupen and Malmédy – to Belgium

Head of State

The Chancellor

The Reichstag

The German People

Left wing: the left wing is the political groups in favour of change.

Right wing: The right wing is the political groups that don’t want change

Socialism – left wing:

-Aim is to bring about much greater social equality -Socialism covers a wide range of positions, from communism at one extreme to social democracy at the other

Communism

- A political system where all property is owned by the government; people are equal and they paid by the government of Reichstag in times of crisis.