Why did Germany Lose WWI?
·
Bad location, not easily accessed by supply rout
·
Schlieffen Plan: They were going to beat France
quickly, then loop around and beat Russia. Not so easy to beat France- stuck in
two front war
·
Lack of supplies and people got tired of
two-front war
Origins of Weimar Republic
·
Growing discontent among German people
(revolutionary situation in Germany)
·
Keisar Willian fled
Problems facing new republic
·
Economic problems, huge reparations they had to
pay
·
Biased court system
·
Military did not back the Weimar Republic
·
Civilians death (Spanish flu)
·
“Stab in the back”
·
25 million war deaths and over 4 million dead
·
Food and fuel shortages
Treaty of Versailles -Problems
·
War Guilt Clause (Article 231)
·
Full responsibility
·
Disarmament
·
Territorial adjustments
·
$ War Reparations
Why was the treaty so controversial?
·
Germans expected Wilsons 14 points (much less
harsh)
·
Defeat hadn’t been
·
Germans viewed the treaty as Diktat (dictated
peace)
Treaty doom the Weimar to failure?
·
To extreme of a change- Germany had never had
any democracy
·
Treaty killed morale
The Wiemar Republic
·
Years of
crisis 1919-1923
·
Years of stability
Years of Crisis
·
New constitution- adopted 1919 & ratified by
President Ebert in August
·
Key Terms:
o
Germany declared a democratic state compromised of
17 states, still called a reich
o
Proportional
Representation of parliament (Reichtag)
Tons of factions constantly fighting, lots of gridlock
o
Article 48:
in times of crisis the president could take full control of the government
o
Bill of rights, supreme Court
·
Vestiges of imperial Germany, Germans didn’t really
like the Weimar Republic & they saw it as a temporary thing
·
First time that many Germans can vote
·
Threats from the Left
o
Leftist groups:
§
SBD- moderate socialists (wanted a parliamentary
democracy)
§
KPD-Communist Party
o
Not enough of them to make an actual difference
o
No good “leftist” leaders
o
10-15% of the electorate
·
Treats from the Right
o
Nationalism
o
Authoritarian government
o
Anti-Marxism
o
Stab in the back theory (their own government
o
Gov. officials & courts often right leaning
o
Wanted to overthrow the government
o
More organized, more collected, & better
leaders on the right
o
University sometimes very right leaning
o
28/354 right-wing were found guilty, 10/22
leftists who were executed
o
DNVP (German National People’s Party) containing
many old imperial conservatives
o
Freikorps , collection of 200-ish parliamentary units
that were stand-alone
·
Kapp Putsch 1920, coup almost worked
§
Military did not really put the rebellion down
§
Because of a general strike, the economy was
§
12,000 angry troops marched on berlin
§
Only one of 705 arrested people found guilty
·
Munich Beer Hall Putsch, 1923
o
Hitler tries to lead a group of people in a
revolution (nazi party members)
o
They march to Munich
o
14 Nazis killed
o
Hitler Arrested
o
Very lenient prison sentence
·
Occupation of the Ruhr and the Great Inflation
o
Weimar government tries to help the economy by
starting to print money
o
Money becomes essentially worthless
o
Anyone relying on savings, savings automatically
worthless
o
Peasants were often self-sufficient
Years of Stability
·
Gustav
·
Economics
o
Production levels are high
o
Social welfare
o
High unemployment (ie. soldiers still
unemployed)
o
Rose levels of foreign investment
·
Politics
o
Leftists and rightist lost votes 1924-1928
o
Meanwhile, SPD gains votes
o
Hindenburg (isn’t against Wiemar but isn’t actively for it)
o
Joined League of nations
·
Culture and Society
o
Art, literature, and design advances,
§
Avant garde movement
o
Seen as decadent time in culture
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