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Period: to
Weimar Germany
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Kaiser Wilhelm II Abdicates
Abdicates after losing support from the military and goes to Holland -
Weimar Republic formed
- Made in Weimar because Berlin was too chaotic
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Armistice Signed
End of WW1
Said to be signed by the "November Criminals"
'Stabbed in the Back' Theory - people thought Germany was winning the war -
Hitler joins the DAP under Drexler's command
- Hitler was spying on the party
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Spartacist Uprising (start date)
A Communist revolution - put down by Friekorps (unofficial army) -
Treaty of Versailles signed
- Allies forced Germany to sign (Diktat)
- Germany had to take blame
- Germany had to pay £6.6 Billion in reparations
- Army limited to: 100,000 soldiers | 15,000 sailors | 6 ships
- Demilitarisation of the Rhineland
- Germany had give up its colonies
-
Weimar Constitution established
- Ebert as Chancellor Weakness:
- Proportional representation (More votes = more seats) caused weak coalitions to be formed
- Article 48
-
Kapp Putsch
Friekorps marched on Berlin
(March 1920) -
DAP 25-point programme
These were the key goals for the party
Some examples are:
- Get rid of Treaty of Versailles
- Build up Germany's army
- Expand German territory - Lebensraum (living space) -
SA is established
- Nicknamed 'Brown Shirts'
- Under Ernst Rohm
- Protected Hitler
- Disrupted political opponents
-
Hitler becomes leader of NSDAP
-
French occupation of the Ruhr
- Germany couldn't pay reparations and didn't send coal to France
- French troops invade and occupy the ruhr
- German workers go on passive resistance and the government prints more money to pay the workers (starting hyperinflation)
- This leaves Germany in an even worse economic situation
-
Hyperinflation
- Peaked in November 1923 where the exchange rate was one trillion German marks per dollar
- People lost life savings
- Businesses went bankrupt
- However, people with debts got rid of them
-
Streseman becomes Chancellor and Foreign Minister
-
Munich Putsch
- Hitler wanted to copy Mussolini - the Italian facist leader who had come to power by marching on Rome
- On 8th November Hitler and 600 SA members burst into the Beer Hall where a meeting was taking place.
- Hitler let the people go home
- On 9th November Hitler and the SA marched on Munich but Kahr called in police and army reinforcements ending the putsch
-
Hitler is arrested
- Used his trial for publicity
- Made people aware of the NSDAP
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Period: to
Golden Age
- Change in culture
- Art, cinema and architecture challenged traditional styles
- Women were more free
- Standards of living increased after 1924 as working hours decreased. Benefits were payed and 101 thousand homes were built.
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Period: to
Hitler's imprisonment
Sentenced to 5 years but only served 9 months. -
Dawes Plan
- Lowered how much had to be payed per year but didn't reduce reparation amount
- USA loaned Germany 800 million Marks
-
SS formed
- Hitlers personal security
- Nicknamed the 'Black shirts'
-
Mein Kampf published
- Outlines Hitler's antisemetism and his future plans for Germany
-
Locarno Pact
- Germany, France, Belgium, Britain, Italy mutually guaranteed peace in western Europe
- Secured borders of the nations of Europe after WW1
-
Germany joins the League of Nations
September 1926 -
Bamberg Conference
- Meeting between leaders of the Nazi party
- Hitler did this to establish total control of the party
- Also to get rid of disagreements between the northern and southern sections of the Nazi party
-
Nazi party has 100,000 members but only 12 seats
-
Kellog-Briand Pact
Agreed to settle disputes peacefully between the 62 countries that signed it -
Young Plan
- Reduced total amount of reparations by 20%
- Germany was to pay 2 billion Marks per year
- 59 years to pay reparations Proposed in August 1929
-
Wall Street Crash & start of the Great Depression
- American banks called in all foreign loans quickly
- Rise in unemployment
- People began losing faith in democracy and looked to extreme parties October 1929
-
SD formed
- Monitored opponents to the Nazi party
- The intelligence gathering agency of the SS
- Made by Heinrich Himmler
-
Nazi party (NSDAP) becomes the largest party in Reichstag
-
Confessional Church set up
- Led by Martin Niemoller
-
Period: to
Nazi Germany
-
Period: to
Hitler establishing dictatorship
April 1933 - Gestapo set up
May 1933 - Trade unions banned
May 1933 - Communists banned
July 1933 - Other political parties banned -
Hitler appointed as Chancellor
- Von Papen and Hindenburg turn to Hitler as chancellor thinking thinking they could control Hitler
- They underestimate him
-
Reichstag Fire
- Blamed on a dutch communist called Van der Lubbe
- Hitler used the fire to expel communists from Parliment and imprisoned many communist leaders
- He also used Hindenburg declaring a state of emergency to pass the enabling act
-
Enabling Act passed
- Gave Hitle the right to make laws without the Reichstag's approvale for the next 4 years
- Enabled Hitler to remove all opposition to his rule
-
Boycott of Jewish shops
- Many Jewish shops were vandalised
- SA officers encouraged Germans to avoid entering Jewish places of work
- 1 April 1933, boycott of Jewish shops and other businesses took place
-
Gestapo Established
- Nazis' secret police force
- Had no uniform
- Montored German population for signs of opposition to Nazi rule
- Helped by ordinary German people who informed on other citizens
-
Concordat with Catholic Church
Allowed Hitler to increase his power without opposition from the Catholic Church in return for the Catholic Church being able to run its schools and youth movements without interference.
- Signed 20 July 1933 -
Night of the Long Knives
- SA cause problems by demanding to take over the army
- SS assasinates many of SA's leaders including Ernst Rohm the leader
- Hitler has wiped out internal opposition in the Nazi Party, giving more power to the SS
-
Death of Hindenburg and Hitler becoming Fuhrer
- Hitler unifies the roles of President and Chancellor and becomes the head of the German army
- He takes title of Fuhrer and becomes the undisputed dictator.
- All members of the armed forces had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler
-
Nuremburg Laws
- Stripped Jews of German citizenship
- Made marrige and sexual relations between Jews an Germans illegal
- Took away all civil and political rights from Jews
-
Berlin Olympics
- Nazis tried to show superiority of Aryan race
- Victories of African-American athlete Jesse Owens for the USA infuriated the Nazi Leadership
-
Reich Church set up
- Nazi version of the Protestant Church
- Led by Muller
- Supported the Nazi Party
-
Kristallnacht
- Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were attacked
- Around 7,500 Jewish shops were damaged or destroyed
- 400 synagogues were burned to the ground
- Almost 100 Jews were killed
- 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps