Weimar Germany and Nazi Germany

Hitler was a very good, emotive public speaker. He made good policies that suited the masses, and he was a popular famous figure.

• He also organised rallies, which meant that people felt involved in the election process and it gave them something to enjoy and be proud of

• This made Hitler very popular

• Hitler played on the middle class's fear of communism 

• He told them what they wanted to hear and they voted for him

• This made up a large population of the country

• Too many parties - proportional representation meant that lots of different political parties all shared power in the Reichstag. This led to lots of arguments and no decisions being made

• Extreme ideas - parties like the nazis and communists has very strong views. They did not support Ebert and were prepared to use violence to replace the government

• Article 48 - article 48 gave the president power to choose the chancellor. He could also run the country on his own during an emergency. Hitler was able to abuse this power in the 1920s

The voting system used by the Weimar republic - proportional representation - meant that lots of political parties all had a share of power.

This made it difficult to pass new laws and led to arguments

Some of the parties (centre) supported the Weimar Republic whilst other wanted to destroy it.

The most extreme parties wanted to use violence to take over the government and get rid of elections completely

Date: Jan 1919 

Party: Communists

Events: occupied buildings in Berlin and organised a general strike

Success/Failure: President Ebert did a deal with a group of ex-soldiers (Freikorps). They killed lots of Spartacists including leader Luxemburg

Date: March 1920

Events: Kapp and the Freikorps marched into Berlin to seize power. Ebert's government fled from Berlin

Success/Failure: Ebert managed to persuade German workers to support him and go on strike within days Berlin had no water, no gas electricity or transport

Date: November 1923 

Party: Nazi Party

Events: Hitler and 600 stormtroopers burst into a meeting in Munich and forced the Bavarian leader to support the putsch

Success/Failure: Kahr betrayed Hitler and the Nazis were defeated after a fight in the city centre Hitler was sent to prison for 5 years, but only served for 8 months

• Re-arm Germany
• Abolish the treaty of Versailles
• Destroy the Weimar Republic
• Strong government
• Increase pensions
• Challenge violence with violence
• Remove all jews from positions of power/leadership
• Educate gifted children
• Nationalise important industries

• In 1922, Germany could not pay its reparations
• The french invaded the Ruhr and the economy went into crisis
• As a response, the German government started to print more money, leading to hyperinflation
• By 1923, there was another extremist party: Nazis
• In 1923, the Nazis staged their own revolution in Munich (the Munich Putsch)
• This ended in failure and Hitler's imprisonment

• In 1929 the US economy went into a crippling depression

• The US called in all loans from the UK, France, and Germany

• These economies also collapsed

• Unemployment spiraled in Germany

• Support for extreme parties (Nazis/communists) increased

• Germany lost a lot of land e.g. Aisace-Lorraine to France. This damaged german pride

• Germany's army was reduced to 100,000 soldiers, 6 battleships and its surface was scrapped. This left Germany weak and unable to defend itself

• Germany had to accept the war guilt clause and admit responsibility for starting the war. They paid £6.6bn in reparations

The Nazis used emotive slogans and propaganda that spoke to everyone so that everyone could be reminded of their message constantly

The Nazis used posters, radio, rallies, and marches 

Goebbels was the propaganda minister and he was very good at his job

• The SA cause riots and disrupted the meetings of other parties

• It showed that Germany was falling apart and it needed a strong leader

• People tend to choose extreme ideologies when circumstances are bad