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Impact of WW1
Economic Impact:
- 1/3 of the government's budget was spend on war pensions
- their national income was 1/3 of what it used to be
-shortage of food and fuel with 300,000 people dying of starvation and hypothermia
- industrial production was 1/3 of what it was pre-war
Political Impact:
-Fighting between Left and Right Wing groups
- 'Stabbed in the back' myth
Social Impact:
-living standard was low
-Germans were angry about losing the war -
Kiel Mutiny
The kaiser ordered them to prepare to go into the war and to go against the British. The sailors however knew that the was was already lost (basically a suicide attempt)
Burned their ships and raised the communist flags and took over Kiel. -
Abdication of the Kaiser
In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II was leading the Second Reich during WW1. The country had an autocratic system meaning the Kaiser had complete control. There was still a government but the Kaiser could veto any of their decisions. The Kaiser abdicated due to lack of support from the military and the start of the German revolution. He fled to the Netherlands. -
Armistice
End of WW1. Signed by Ebert and his government who were nicknamed the 'November Criminals'. -
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President Ebert
Part of the 'November Criminals'.
Tried to introduce an 8 hour work day and improve the benefits for the sick, elderly and unemployed. -
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Wiemar Constitution
The Wiemar Constitution included:
- Federal Republic (Germany was divided into states)
- Universal Suffrage (everyone over 20 could vote)
- Reichstag (elected every four years by proportional representation)
- President (head of state, elected every 7 year)
- Chancellor (appointed by the president)
- Article 48 (president rules by decree in a National Emergency)
- Reichsrat (can veto the Reichstag's laws)
- The Army- Supreme Commander would be the President -
Sparticist Uprising
The Sparticist led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht wanted to destroy the Wiemar and set up a communist government based on the cities
The army and Freikorps (FRK) helped the government
They had strikes, seized newspapers, armed fights and formed a revolutionary committee
Their leaders killed- other revolutions after ended in casualties/death (May '19- 600 and '20- 2000)
The Sparticist failed from lack of tactics and brutality of FRK- showing how weak the Wiemar was to need help from FRK -
Treaty of Versailles
ToV included:
- War Guilt Clause
- Reparations (£6.6 billion)
- Territories and Colonies
- League of Nations (Not allowed to join till they become a peace loving country)
-German Armed Forces (only 100,000 men, 6 submarines, no battleships, no air force, no armed vehicles)
Results of Treaty:
- Germany lost 10% of it's land and all it's overseas colonies
- 16% of its coal and 48% of its iron industry -
Kapp Putsch
Wolfgang Kapp led a right wing revolt against the government. He and 5000 Freikorps marched into Berlin. The army refused to help the government. Ebert got the German people to help and they declared a general strike which stopped all transport, water and power in Berlin. After a few days Kapp realised that he wasn't going to succeed and fled. He was hunted down and dies awaiting trial. Little punishment was given to the other rebels and showed Ebert's government struggling to handle justice. -
Upper Silesia
Dispute between Germany and Poland over who should control Upper Silesia.
It was given to Poland in the ToV but it had many of Germany's industrial land.
The LoN called for a plebiscite in which 60% voted to return to Germany.
Poland was not happy with this saying the votes of the people in Germany were not living in Upper Silesia.
The LoN split up the land but neither side was happy.
The LoN declared that Germany could get discounted coal imports from Upper Silesia if Poland could own it -
Vilna
Dispute between Lithuania and Poland. Poland believed that Vilna should belong to them so they annexed Vilna and Lithuania appealed to the league.
The league ordered Poland to withdraw their troops from Vilna and wait for a plebiscite but Poland ignored them and the league was powerless against them -
Aaland Islands
A dispute between Finland and Sweden over who should control the Aalands. It belonged to Finland but Sweden complained that it had a majority Swedish speaking population. The league held a plebiscite to see whether the people wanted to go to Sweden or Finland. It ruled in favour of Finland and both countries accepted the leagues decision -
Drexler resigned- Hitler is Head of Nazis
Hitler came into the party in 1919 when it only contained 6 people and was given the role of head of propaganda and party ideologies.The head of the party was Anton Drexler who was replaced by Hitler in 1921. -
Corfu
Dispute between Greece and Albania.
An Italian soldier was killed on the border and as a result Mussolini invaded Corfu.
Greece appealed to the league who ruled that Italy needed to leave Corfu.
Mussolini refused to accept that and stayed in Corfu.
The situation was given to the conference of ambassadors who ruled that Greece had to pay 50 million lira compensation to Italy if Italy left Corfu. -
Occupation of the Ruhr
Germany had to pay sums of $50M a year to pay off the $6.6B in reparations Germany struggled to pay the second sum in 1922. So France (& Belgium) invaded the Ruhr and took what they owed in raw materials The Ruhr was an important industrial land Ebert called for passive resistance in the Ruhr. This affected both countries France weren’t happy and killed 100 ppl and exiled over 100000. They stayed in the Ruhr till 1925 when Stresemann called off the passive resistance, the Dawes Plan was drawn up -
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Chancellor Stresemann
He was only Chancellor for 3 months but he was foreign minister up till his death.
He:
-made new currency (Rentenmark)
-signed Dawes plan (loans from America)
-signed Lorcano pact (accepting borders)
-drew up Young plan (lowers reparations)
-calls off passive resistance in Ruhr -
Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch
Hitler decided it was time to try to take over the government in Bavaria. Him together with Ludendorff and the SA stormed the Beer Hall and forced politicians Lossow and Von Kahr to swear themselves to Hitler. However Ebert was alerted of this and the army came and arrested many of them. 16 Nazis were killed. Hitler served 9 months in prison (of his 5 year sentence). During this time his popularity grew and he wrote his autobiography Mein Kaumf. -
Dawes Plan
American banks loaned 800 million marks to Germany.
Germany could only pay as much as they could when it came to reparations.
New currency called the Reichsmark. -
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Golden Years
This period of time is also known as the Stresemann years. This was a time when Germany thrived. There were no more political uprisings and the German economy grew stronger. There were some problem during these years such as unemployment being at 6%. -
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Nazi Wilderness Years
The Wiemar was booming during this time but the Nazi's were not. The Dawes Plan made the German people feel prosperous; Germany was politically stable (more people voting for centre parties than extremists with only 32 votes in '24); Hitler was banned from speaking publicly till '27; Nazi party was banned several times; their scapegoats fell on death ears. They reestablished themselves; held the Bamburg conference; set up the Nazi Youth and spread their propaganda. Party grew to 100,000 members. -
Hitler is released from prison
After serving only 9 months out of his 5 years in prison Hitler is released. -
Bulgaria
Similar to the incident in Corfu a Greek soldier was killed in a shootout over the Greece-Bulgaria border. Greece invaded Bulgaria and both countries appealed to the league for help.
In the end the Greek had to remove themselves from Bulgaria and pay them £45,000 compensation. -
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President Hindenberg
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Lorcano Pact
Germany had to accept their borders with France and Belgium. It allowed Germany to join the League of Nations -
Bamberg Conference
Hitler held a Nazi conference to settle the tension between the north and south parts of the party. While Hitler was in jail the party was split into the north- run by Gregor Strasser- who focused on the socialist parts of the 25-points and the south who focused on the nationalist and racist points.
Hitler clarified that any points close to communist wouldn't be pursued, reaffirmed the 25 points and established the 'leader principle,' (the idea that the party leader was in complete control). -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
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Young Plan
This was to replace the Dawes plan.
Reparations were lowered from 132 billion marks to 36 billion marks (£6.6 billion to £2 billion) -
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Policy of Appeasement
Appeasement was the policy of allowing a country to do what they want in order to avoid a war.
It was both justifiable and unjustifiable. -
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Manchuria Crisis
Started with the Mukden Incident.
Japan invaded Manchuria and set up a government in what they said was an act of "self-defence"
The LoN told them to leave but they refused.
Lytton Report took 1 year to complete
Vote in the league of 42-1 against Japan saying that they had to leave.
Japan didn't accept this.
They invaded more of Manchuria and the league was helpless to stop them due to the lack of key forces and being too far away. -
Disarmament Conference
This conference was held to try to complete one of the aims of the LoN (disarmament).
France and Germany were the main problem in this situation since France were still distrusting of Germany.
It was a failure since nobody trusted anyone so all countries left rearming instead of disarming. -
All Parties Banned from Reichstag
All political parties except for the Nazis were banned -
Protestant Church Uprising
The Confessing Church were against the Nazi's. Niemoller and Bonhoffer spoke out against the Nazi regime. They were attacked for speaking out against the Nazi regime. Bonhoffer was murdered and Niemoller was taken to a concentration camp from 1938 to 1945 until his death. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
In July 1932 the Nazis got majority in the elections. Hitler demanded to be Chancellor. Von Papen refused to step down and Hindenburg did not want Hitler to be chancellor so he made another election in November where they had majority again. Von Papen resigned and Hindenburg appointed Von Schleicher to be Chancellor. Von Papen convinced Hitler to form a Nazi-Nationalist coalition. Von Papen promised Hindenburg that he would keep Hitler under control. In January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor. -
Reichstag's Fire
There was a fire in the Reichstag and Hitler blamed the communists for the fire calling it a "communist plot". Van der Lubbe was arrested and charged for the fire.
As a result of the fire the Communists were banned from March 5th elections.
In response Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to use Article 48 to issue a decree of protection for the German people and state. This suspended personal freedoms and increased police powers in Germany. -
Decree of Protection for the German People and State
This was a decree passed as a result of the Reichstag fire. It suspended personal freedoms- like the privacy of postage- and gave the police the power to search houses and confiscate property. The Nazi's used this as an excuse to arrest anyone who was Anti-Nazi. -
Enabling Act
The Enabling act allowed Hitler to become dictator in Germany. They needed 2/3's of the votes for it to be passed. In order to make sure it got passes the SS and SA troops stood outside the voting hall and threatened them into voting for the enabling act. They also got the Catholic Centre Party to vote for Hitler in return for them being bale to keep their Catholic Schools. -
Trade Unions Banned
Hitler banned all trade unions. Any leaders of these trade unions were arrested. New Nazi Labour organisations were established to support the working class (although this was more force than trade unions and didn't provide them with the option to strike) -
New Plan
Dr Schact was hired by Hitler as Minster of Economy. He developed the new plan which was an attempt to strengthen Germany's economy.
They wanted to:
- imports decreased
-trade agreements made with individual countries to supply them with raw materials
-reduce unemployment
The New Plan did this by:
- public works e.g. autobahns
- compulsory National Labour Service (RAD) for men between the ages of 18 and 25
- introducing conscription in 1935
- Luftwaffe was made -
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Abyssinian Crisis
Started with the Wal-Wal Oasis
Britain and France originally turned a blind eye on the situation because they wanted Italy to sign the Stresa Pact
They LoN ruled that neither side of the argument were to blame.
In October 1935 Mussolini started a full scale invasion of Abyssinia.
The league tried to impose economic sanctions but failed.
Hoare-Leval pact which failed
Italy ended up having complete control over Abyssinia and the league couldn't do anything. -
Night of Long Knifes
The night of long knives happened due to the SA growing too strong under the rule of Ernst Rohm. Hitler was scared that they would overthrow him since Rohm had so many followers. So Hitler got the SS to break into the houses of Rohm and other SA authroity figures and kill them.
After this many more SA members were killed as well as former chancellor Von Schleicher. -
Army Oath
The army had to swear themselves to Hitler and say that they would stay out of political affairs in return for Hitler making the army great again. -
Rearmament
Rearmament gave Hitler the opportunity to solve unemployment, challenge the ToV and 'make Germany great again'.
Rearmament started in secret (as to not peak the concern of any other countries) but after the disarmament conference failed he held a military rally (1935) and reintroduced conscription. Britain felt bad for Germany ( Anglo-German Naval agreement) and wanted to use them as a buffer against communism. France wasn't happy about this but wouldn't take any action without Britain. -
Saar Plebiscite
The Saar was under the control of the LoN since 1919. In 1935 the League of Nations held a plebiscite (as promised) so people could decide if they wanted to return to Germany. Hitler was worried as many of his opponents fled to the Saar however the LoN insisted. Goebbels held a massive campaign to persuade people of the Saar to vote to return 90% of the population wanted to return to Germany. After the vote Hitler declared that he had 'no further territorial demands to make of France'. -
Mutual Assistance Pact
Pact between France and USSR to envelope Germany to reduce the German threat -
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
Agreement that Germany could have 35% of the size of the British fleets and 45% of the size of the British submarines -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racial laws which were announced at the Nuremberg Rally in 1935. Two of the main antisemitic laws were the 'Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour' which said that Jews could not marry or have sex with aryans. and the 'Reich Citizenship Law' which classified Germans into different racial groups: Aryans, Mixed Race and Non-Aryans (Jews) -
Four Year Plan
Goering planned a four year plan in which to help Germany's economy prepare for war. He aimed to make Germany self-sufficient (autarky). He did this by:
- Increasing production of raw materials e.g. iron and oil for rearmament
- Tightening control on prices and wages (lowing wages and increasing prices)
- Made industry swap from making consumer goods to synthetic goods
- introduced forced face (work camps) -
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
This was Hitlers first big risk. It was banned in the ToV and accepted in the Lorcano Treaties. There was little interference as France was in the midst of elections, the LoN was distracted by Abyssinia and France wouldn't act without Britain. Hitler said that since France and USSR just signed a pact and it threatened Germany so they should be allowed to remilitarise. 20000 troops were sent to the Rhineland with orders to withdraw if there was any reaction from the french. They were successful. -
Spanish Civil War
The civil war was between the Republicans and Nationalists (led by General Franco) The USSR supported the Republicans. Hitler and Mussolini supported the Nationalists as they supported fascism. Hitler saw this as a chance to test out his new Luftwaffe and develop the Blitzkrieg tactics. Results were the strengthening of bonds between Mussolini and Hitler it encouraged Hitler that Britain and France would not intervene. USSR became suspicious of Britain and France's reluctance to oppose fascism. -
Anti-Comintern Pact
Pact between Japan and Germany (and eventually Italy) to oppose communism. Italy also joined later on- this was called the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance -
Anschluss
Anschluss was the uniting of Austria and Germany. Hitler believed that the two states belonged together and many Austrian citizens agreed. He tried to achieve Anschluss in 1934 but Italy stopped him. In 1938 he had a better relationship with Mussolini so he tried again. Hitler pressured chancellor Schuschnigg to hold a plebiscite and let the people decide what they wanted. He sent German troops into Austria the day before the plebiscite to ensure a 'fair' vote. 99.75% wanted Anschluss. -
Czechoslovakia/ Sudetenland
Hitler wanted the Sudetenland due to there being 3 1/2 million Germans there. President Benes was warry of Hitlers aims and reached out for support from Britain, France and the USSR. On 19th September Hitler said he only want parts of the Sudetenland (with industrial gain) but changed his demands three days later, wanting the whole of the Sudetenland. The Munich Conference was held and Germany was given the Sudetenland. Later on March 15th 1939 Germany took hold of the whole of Czechoslovakia. -
Munich Conference
Conference between France, Britain, Germany and Italy about Czechoslovakia. They appeased Germany allowing German troops to enter Sudetenland for 10 days and hold a plebiscite to see if the German population there wanted to rejoin Germany. They also allowed Poland and Hungary to have some of Czechoslovakia but other than that the rest of Czechoslovakia was under their protection. Czechoslovakia was not invited to this conference- they had no say. Chamberlain called it the 'peace for our time'. -
Kristallnacht
Also known as the night of broken glass, Kristallnacht was a night when the Nazi's destroyed and set fire to Jewish businesses and shuls. The Nazis used an event in Paris to excuse the event. They sent SS soldiers with pickaxes and hammers to Jewish businesses and they smashed them up. 91 Jewish people were murdered and 20,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps. Many Germans were concerned by the event but were to scared to speak up. Those who did were killed. -
Anglo-Poland Agreement
Agreement between Britain and Poland to defend Poland against Germany (used when WW2 was declared) -
Euthanasia Program
A Euthanaisa Program started in 1939 against people with mental disabilities. At least 5000 babies and children were killed between 1939 and 1945 and 72,000 patients were gassed between 1939 and 1941. -
Pact of Steel
This was a pact between Germany and Italy to assist each other both economically and militarily. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
This was a pact between Hitler and Stalin to agree not to attack one another. They also agreed to split Poland between the two of them. Hitler gained an open opportunity to invade Poland (and did on the 1st of September). Stalin gained time to rearm as he knew Hitler would not keep his word but it allowed him a chance to build up his forces. -
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WW2
Started when Germany invaded Poland and Britain declared war on Germany (due to the Anglo-Poland Pact) -
Swing Movement
The Swing Movement was a group of middle and upper class teenagers who enjoyed jazz music, mixed gender dancing and long hair. They were centred in bars and cafés in Berlin/Hamburg. They weren't overly political as their opposition was more culture based. They had tolerance towards jews, listened to music that wasn't allowed and dressed 'inappropriately'. In 1941 300 were arrested and the leaders sent to concentration camps. Others had their hair cut off and were integrated into society slowly. -
White Rose Movement
The White Rose Movement was created in 1942 by Hans and Sophie Scholl. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets at their University. They were a small movement but were impactful enough that the Scholls were executed in February 1943 -
Bishop Galen speaks up
In 1942 Bishop Galen spoke up against the Nazi's and their T4 program (which was the Nazi's policy of killing people with mental or physical disabilities). He had an influence on the Nazi's as he had direct communication with the Pope of who Hitler feared. He temporarily stopped the Nazi's due to his mass support. -
Edelweiss Pirates
The Edelweiss Pirates were groups of working class teenagers aged 14-17. They shared a distaste for the Nazi regime. They believed in freedom of expression and would meetup in gangs, sing anti-Nazi songs, taunt the Hitler Youth and graffiti buildings. When the war started they were seen as a threat they started to hand out British propaganda leaflets. In 1944 12 teenagers were hanged publicly for speaking out against the Nazis and the rest had their heads shaved and sent to concentration camps. -
Bombing of Dresden
In 1942 the Allies took a new policy towards the bombing of Germany. They tried to bomb the more industrial and rural areas. The allies assumed that Dresden was where all the German bombs were being made so they heavily bombed Dresden in Feburary 1945. 35,000-150,000 people were killed.