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- leads the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
- Germany is now a social democratic republic
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- short for Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the German Workers' Party
- founded by Anton Drexler
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- communists who wanted a Germany ruled by soviets where the state would own all industry
- joined by rebel soldiers and sailors who set up soviets in towns
- rebellion was crushed by the Freikorps (who made an agreement with Ebert)
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- SPD won but did not have enough Assembly members
- formed a coalition with Catholic Centre Party and German Democratic Party
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- terms were announced in May
- Ebert was reluctant to sign but had no choice
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- allowed all Germans over 20 to vote, including women
- party representation would be determined by proportional representation
- laws had to be approved by at least 2/3 of Reichstag
- Article 48 allowed the president to rule the country directly without consulting the Reichstag in a crisis
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- was originally sent as an army intelligence officer to spy on the party
- agreed with their ideas and criticism of the Weimar Republic
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- Hitler and Drexler set out the 25-Point Programme at this time
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- Wolfgang Kapp led 5000 Freikorps into Berlin to overthrow the Weimar Republic and return to an authoritarian system
- the German army refuses to attack them, but the trade unions and their 12 million industrial workers declared a general strike
- Civil servants and government officials refused to cooperate with Kapp
- Kapp fled a few days later, but was captured and died awaiting trial (he was the only one punished)
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- appointed Hermann Goering in charge of the SA (Sturmabteilung/Stormtroopers/Brownshirts)
- turned the SA from an informal group providing security, into a private army with uniforms and command structure
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- a paramilitary organisation that aimed to groom German youths into future leaders in Nazi organisations
- organised a variety of activities such as camps, sports and physical training
- indoctrination in anti-Semitism and Nazi ideology
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- loans and investments from the US stabilised the economy, increasing the number of jobs
- the government provided generous welfare benefits like old-age pensions and housing
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- French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr Valley, Germany's most important and valuable industrial region, because Germany failed to pay the reparations stated in the Treaty of Versailles
- took what was owed to them in form of raw materials and goods
- legal under the Treaty of Versailles
- caused hyperinflation because the government ordered the workers to go on strike, leading to too much money and too little goods
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- Hitler and his followers (including Erich Ludendorff, senior commander of the army during the war) marched on Munich, expecting support from the local government, police, and troops
- instead they were met with armed police
- Goering was shot, Hitler escaped but was arrested, the Nazi Party was banned
- Hitler faced trial but was allowed to make speeches to showcase his views
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- helped Germany to recover from hyperinflation and restructure its reparation payments
- removed French and Italian troops from the Ruhr
- the US sent large sums of money to support Germany's economy
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- done by the new Chancellor, Gustav Stresemann
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- caused by the Great Depression
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- people turned to the German Communist Party (KPD) after the Weimar Republic failed to manage the economic crisis well
- they had local party branches, a youth movement, an effective publicity machine and organised meetings
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- sought to reduce the reparation amount and extend the repayment period
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- US economy crashed, causing US bankers and businessmen to take back their loans and remove their investments from Germany
- leading to an economic crash in Germany
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- the SPD wanted to increase welfare spending for the unemployed, but its coalition partners refused
- parties were so divided, it became impossible to form a coalition
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- president Paul von Hindenburg used Article 48 to appoint Bruning as new Chancellor
- the measures were so harsh that Bruning could not get them passed without the use of Article 48
- thus, Hindenburg from then on continued to rule by decree
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- lost, but campaign raised his profile and made him even more popular
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- Hindenburg needed a Chancellor who had the support of the Reichstag to avoid calling for elections and unnecessary disputes
- failed in being able to form a government with support of the Reichstag
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- used to persuade the Nazis to support him to get the government working again
- failed and had to resign
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- due to the Great Depression
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- set up to "correct" opponents of the regime (anyone who criticised the Nazis or did not fit in)
- prisoners were forced to do hard labour and had limited food
- harsh discipline, beatings and random executions were common
- were not death camps but very few people came out alive
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- Hindenburg and von Papen planned to offer the position to Hitler to get measures passed, restoring stability and fixing the unemployment problem
- if he became too powerful, they were confident they could work with his opponents to curb his influence, or unseat him
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- work of a lone communist called Marinus van der Lubbe
- Hitler declared this as the beginning of a communist uprising
- persuaded Hindenburg to pass the Decree of the Protection of People and State, giving him sweeping emergency powers
- 4000 communists were arrested, and opposition party meetings, newspapers and radio broadcasts were banned, making it hard for them to campaign
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- this would allow Hitler to make and pass laws without consulting the Reichstag
- only the SPD voted against him: the communists were in prison, many Reichstag members did not vote as they were injured or intimidated by the SA and SS, the Catholic Centre Party decided to co-operate with the Nazis
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- from this point, it's almost impossible to be promoted if you didn't belong to the Nazi Party
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- consists of working-class teenagers
- mocked the Nazis, regularly getting into fights with the Hitler Youth
- some actively opposed the Nazi regime
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- squads of SS men arrested leader of the SA, Ernst Rohm and other leading figures
- Hitler accused Rohm of plotting to overthrow and murder him, thus Rohm and possibly 400 others were executed
- there were tensions between the two because of the size and loyalty to Rohm of the SA
- SA was not disbanded after but lost prestige
- Hitler also placed von Papen under house arrest and later gave him the position of ambassador to Austria when von Papen resigned as Vice-Chancellor
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- Hindenburg died and Hitler took over of Fuehrer of Germany
- army swore an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler and agreed to stay out of politics
- in return, Hitler spent vast amounts on making the military great again
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- first started in secret in 1933
- held a Freedom to Rearm rally in Berlin in 1935
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- took away German citizenship and deprived civil and political rights from the Jews
- could not marry pure-blooded Germans
- propaganda filled with anti-Jewish messages, children were humiliated and segregated, adults lost their jobs
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- introduced the Four-Year Plan under Goering (make the economy ready for war in 4 years: self-sufficiency)
- Goering managed the economy through a series of regulations on labour, prices and raw materials
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- used as a showcase of Nazi rule to impress the other countries and Germans
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- a young Jew killed a German diplomat in Paris, leading to the Nazis attacking the Jews
- plain-clothes SS officers smashed up Jewish shops and workplaces with pickaxes and hammers
- 91 Jews were murdered, 20,000 were put in concentration camps, thousands left the country
- hundreds of synagogues were burned
- the press presented this as the reaction of ordinary Germans, those who dared to speak out against this lie were killed
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- a public outcry in Germany stopped this
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- even those who were Aryan were targeted
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- Jews were used as slave labour, lived in ghettos and systematically killed in death camps
- known as the Final Solution to the Jewish Question
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- women were originally discouraged against applying for jobs because of the traditional role they were meant to play
- Nazi policy remained conflicted between the traditional view and the need to support the Nazi war machine
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- an organised youth group from the University of Munich
- secretly distributed leaflets of topics such as the extermination of Jews on the Eastern front
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