Germany 1918-1924

By Ph0en1x
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    World War 1

    There were 6.2 million casualties

  • Political leaders sign a Burgfriede

    This was a Political truce between all political parties. It would last the first 2 years of the war.
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    The Silent Dictatorship

    Hindenburg and Ludendorff led the military from August 1916. They established effective control over Germany, giving the army powers over important decisions.

  • Famine

    Potato blight, poor harvest and a poor weather contributed to physical and psychological damage.

  • Matthias Erzberger's speech about negotiated peace

    The leader of the centre Party gave a speech that led to the formation of a coalition that agreed peace was necessary. The Reichstag voted in favour of this 212 to 126.

  • The Fatherland Party is set up

    They wanted peace through Victory (Diktat) and were incredibly popular with the conservative Army and

  • America votes to support the Allies

  • The splitting of the SPD

    42 members of the SPD split from the group to form the USPD. This group had more radical and violent views.

  • America declares war on the Axis powers

  • Treaty of Brest-Litosvsk

    Between Russia and Germany.
    Germany makes major land gains and creates peace.

  • Prince Max of Baden is appointed as Chancellor

    He was a moderate conservative.
    Appointed the new chancellor of the constitutional monarchy.
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    Sailors mutiny in response to news of an armistice.

    The first occurred on the 29th at Wilhemshaven.
    The last began on November 3rd at Rostok, Bremen and Hamburg respectively

  • Protests are initiated by the USPD

    These called for peace and demanded the release of detained socialist leaders.

  • Kurt Eisner addresses a crowd of 60,000 in Munich demanding change.

    He demanded:
    - Peace
    - 8 hr workday
    - relief for the unemployed
    - abdication of the Bavarian king and the Kaiser
    - the formation of Worker's and Soldier's councils

  • A Republic is Declared in Bavaria

    The crowd from Eisner's speech march to the Army barracks and gain support. Together, 100,000 march on the Residenz Palace and depose King Ludwig

  • SPD leader Schiedemann declares that Germany is a Republic

    He also had no constitutional right to do this, and in fact shouted it from a window of the palace.

  • The Kaiser is forced to Abdicate

    General Groener tells the Kaiser that the Army would no longer fight for him.

  • Prince Max announces the Kaiser's Abdication and Resigns

    He had no constitutional right to do this. This was an attempt to keep order.

  • SPD call a general strike in Berlin

    They also tell Prince Max they would not support his new government.

  • Ebert is declared chancellor ...

    ... Of a newly formed left-wing coalition government called the Provisional Government.

  • The Ebert-Groener Pact

    The army offered Ebert unconditional support in exchange for Ebert preserving the traditional role of the army and the army being able to put down any left-wing uprising that occured

  • The Armisitice

  • Stinnes - Legien Agreement

    This protected the rights of workers.
    Limited their working days to 8 hours, created Trade Unions
    and agreed to support the new government

  • The Spartacists split with the USPD and found the KPD

    KPD = Communist Party

  • The Versailles peace conference begins

    Germany is not invited to attend at this time

  • Debt = 1.44 billion Marks

    The Government allowed inflation to continue and began printing more money to keep up with their over-zealous welfare state.
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    Prices Quadruple

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    The Consul Organisation

    There were 376 political murders in this period.
    22 organised by the Left.
    354 organised by the Right.
    The CO was a group that carried out a number of the assassinations against left-wing ministers.
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    The Spartacist Revolt

    On Jan 5th an Uprising begins in Berlin. Revolutionaries call for a general strike, occupy public buildings and form a revolutionary committee. The Government initially tries to negotiate but quickly turn to the Army for aid. Groener uses both the regular army and the Friekorps to squash the rebellion. Both the leaders, Rosa Luxemborg and Karl Liebknecht, were murdered in Police Custody

  • Schiedmann becomes Chancellor of the new Weimar government

    He replaces Ebert, who is now the President instead.

  • Germany is allowed to view the Treaty

    They had no say in the peace negotiations at this point.
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    Red Bavaria

    Following the assassination of a USPD leader in February.
    - Bavaria was declared a Soviet state in April.
    - A 'Red Army' was formed to protect the state and round up right-wing citizens.
    - May 1919 - 30,000 troops and Friekorps crush the revolt.
    1000 members of the 'Red Army' die and a further 800 communists are executed.

  • Germany is given a 7 day ultimatum to accept the Treaty.

    This provoked a political crisis in Germany and led to the formation of a new Coalition government under Bauer.

  • Germany signs the Treaty of Versialles

    • Forced to Accept Article 231
    • Reparations would be fixed at £6.6 billion in 1921
    • Germany lost all of its territories and much of its own territory was placed under Allied control.
    • Germany was forbidden from joining the League of Nations

  • The Weimar Constitution is Officially enabled

    • The Constitution allowed everybody over 20 could vote
    • Unions are enabled
    • The Middle-Class were protected
    • Articles 48 and 54 were very anti-democratic It was considered the most democratic constitution in the world at the time.
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    The Kapp Putsch

    Wolfgang Kapp and General Luttwitz led 12,000 troops to march on Berlin. The army refused to fire on them and so reached state buildings relatively unopposed.
    They declared a new state government, causing the current one to flee to Stuttgart.
    The new government crumbled when the SPD called for a general strike which quickly paralysed the city and caused the Kapp government to collapse.
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    The Ruhr Revolution

    A response to threat posed by the Friekorps. Workers formed 'Red Army'. In March they seized power and set up government in Essen, planning on creating a communist state. Friekorps and the army were sent to stop the revolt. They were ruthless. No prisoners were taken and any suspected revolutionaries were shot on the spot.

  • The NDSAP is set up

  • Reparations are set at £6.6 billion

  • German Government's response to Inflation and spiralling debt.

    January and February, A postponement of Reparations payments was granted.
    In July, it was refused.
    By November, Germany had requested a loan of 500 million marks and 3-4 years without reparations to stabilise the economy.

  • French and Belgian Troops enter the Ruhr

    They do this to seize the missing coal payment that had been granted to them by the ToV. They occupied factories and seized raw materials as compensation. Chancellor Cuno emphasises 'Passive Resistance' and promises to continue paying wages whilst workers were on Strike. The French prevent coal deliveries from the Ruhr to the rest of the country, which forced Germany to import coal. The French expelled 150,000 Germans from the Ruhr and 132 were shot, including a 7 year old boy.
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    The Hyperinflation Crisis

    Triggered by the Ruhr invasion the Government was forced to print larger and larger quantities of money. In August, Cuno and his Government Resign. By Autumn, it cost more to print a banknote than it was worth. 300 Paper mills and 150 printing presses worked 24hrs a day to print the money required. By November, it cost 201,000,000,000 Marks to buy a loaf of bread. By late 1923 only 29% of the Workforce were fully employed.
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    Streseman's 100 days

    • He sharply cuts Government expenditure. 700,000 civil servants are sacked.
    • Appoints Hjalmar Schacht to oversee the development of a new stable currency [The Renetenmark]
    • He requested an international conference to consider Germany's plight. [Leads to the set up of the Dawes Committee]

  • Streseman calls off Passive Resistance

    He also promises to resume the payment of Reparations to France in order to garner foreign sympathy for Germany's plight.
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    German October

    Triggered during the summer months due to a wave of strikes accompanied by violence. In the process 24 police stations were stormed and over 100 people were killed. The GO. led to the deaths of 24 communists and 17 policemen. The revolt barely lasted 24 hours and was quickly overthrown by the police and army units.

  • The Munich Putsch/ Beer Hall Putsch

    • Aimed to establish a dictatorship with General Ludendorff as leader.
    • Led by Hitler.
    • Caused the death of 14 Nazis and the arrest of Hitler and Ludendorff.
    • The party was banned until 1925, Hitler was banned from public speaking until 1927 and imprisoned for 9 months. [Although it should have been 5 years.]
    It was easily squashed by the Bavarian Police because Von Kahr had backed out of the Revolution, taking his supporters with him.

  • The Dawes Plan

    • Reparations would be reduced until 1929. Initially set at 1000 million marks, but incremental increases of 2500 million marks
    • Reparations would be in the form of gold, natural resources and manufactured goods not money.
    • Germany given an initial cash injection of 800 million marks to stabilise the economy.

  • Steseman becomes Chancellor

    He leads a broad coalition of DVP, DDP, ZP and SPD.