Weimar Republic 1919-29

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  • Created by: Anna
  • Created on: 12-05-13 14:34

11 points

  • constitution
  • crisis 1: occupation of Ruhr
  • crisis 2: inflation
  • crisis 3: beer hall putsch
  • doomed from the start
  • extremist risings in Germany
  • strengths
  • Stresemann era
  • treaty of Versailles
  • weaknesses
  • world war 1
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Constitution

  • president (elected every 7 years)
  • the chancellor
  • the reichstag
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Crisis 1: occupation of the Ruhr

  • Germany not paying France money owed
  • Belgains and French marched into the Ruhr to seize raw materials
  • Germans responded with passive resistance, refused to work/help invaders
  • passive resistance meant Germany earned nothing from the region so became even poorer
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Crisis 2: beer hall putsch

  • Hitler attempted because of economic hardships, social unrest and people wanted change/revolution
  • tried to overthrow Reich government
  • marched Munich but no one joined them
  • trial was a national platform for Hitler to speak
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Doomed from the start

  • 1918 Germany was on its knees
  • people starving after 4 years of war
  • Ludendorff offensive failed
  • German army collapsed in August and September
  • opposition to the treaty if Versailles
  • bitterness about war
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Extremist risings in Germany

  • Spartacist rising:
    Overthrow the government and introduce communism
    Badly prepared, crushed by Freikorps
    Looked weak
  • Kapp putsch:
    Overthrow and create military dictatorship
    Led by Kapp forced to flee to Dresden
    Collapsed within days but never punished

Managed to defeat two extremist uprisings

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Strengths

  • Germans had equal rights
  • proportional representation was fair
  • gave individual states control over own affairs
  • Chancellor was strong position, had to have majority backing
  • strong president needed to keep intros over government and protect country in crisis
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Stresemann era

  • 1923 Gustav Stresemann was Chancellor
  • offered to restart reparations if French and Belgians withdrew
  • called off passive resistance
  • issued new currency (retenmark)
  • persuaded allies to go with Dawes Plan
  • government removed left wing state governments
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Treaty of Versailles

  • guilt clause (Germany accepted blame)
  • army limited
  • Rhineland de-militarised
  • reparations of £6,600,000 in instalments
  • lost land
  • colonies became 'mandates' of the League of Nations
  • Anschluss was forbidden
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Weaknesses

  • republic had many enemies
  • weak
  • replaced about once a year (chancellor)
  • present had too much power
  • strong state would weaken government
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World war 1

  • anarchy
  • unstable Germany
  • farming disrupted
  • weak conditions
  • looked for someone to blame
  • Anger and bitterness
  • middle and working classes had no sat in running of country
  • weak reichstag
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