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Germany surrend in WW1
Germany faced many problems as the War dragged on. These included:
• Fighting on two fronts - Britain and France on the Western Front and Russia on the Eastern Front
• Restricted food supplies as the British Navy prevented access to German ports
• Less economic resources than their enemies
• Fewer people than their enemies. -
Period: to
Weimar Republic
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The Spartacist Uprising
- The spartacist were a group of communists.
- They wanted germany to be run as a communist state.
- They seized many government buildings.
- They published a manifesto.
- The revollution was put down by the Freikorps, a group of ex-soldiers of the german millatary who had remmained armed.
- During the uprising the government was moved from Berlin to a small town know as Weimar.
- Here they wrote the german constitution.
- Around 100 spartcists and 17 Freikorps were kill during the fight.
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Wilson's fourteen point plan
It was believed that Germany was responsible for WWI, so various heads of state met to discuss how Germany would pay for the damage they caused. The president of America at the time, Woodrow Wilson (left) had a plan that he believed would bring Europe back to a peaceful state. Some of the points included:
-a league of nations should be formed
-the defeated nations should not have to pay for the war
-all countries should reduce their armies
-Germany should return all land taken during the war -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the documents that declared peace at the end of World War I. The treaty contained rules/demands such as;
- The German Military must have no more than 100,000 troops,
- Germany is to lose 13% of land,
- Germany is to pay 226,000,000,000 ReichMarks in Reparations (later reduced to RM132,000,000,000/AUD$29,182,937,142) -
The Beginning of the Weimar Republic
In 1918, a constitution was drawn up in Weimar and it created a democratic German Republic known as the Weimar Republic or the Weimar Government.
- From the establishment of the new Government, they were unpopular due to the introduction a government.
- The hyperinflation in 1920 caused the Weimar Government even more trouble as nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed. The government then printed more money than the exported goods amount causing the German Marks to loose its value. -
25 Point Programme
In Munich on February 24 1920, Hitler proposed a 25 point programme, that outlined the beliefs of the NSDAP. It talked about achieveing a greater Germany through work and land expansion.
There are a few points on the programme that stand out as unusual:
4) Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race. -
Kapp Putsch
The Kapp putsch was an attempted revolution by Wolfgang Kapp in Weimar, Germany. Kapp was a journalist who opposed everything that Friedrich Ebert stood for.
Kapp was assisted by General Luttwitz, a leader of the Freikorps. Their first movement was to seize Berlin and start a new centre of government of which Kapp was chancellor. In retaliation Ebert called for a strike, after a few days of striking, Kapp and Luttwitz fled Berlin and the putsch ended. -
Invasion of the Ruhr
The invasion of Ruhr, between 1923 and 25, was a struggle against French and Belgian troops who came to invade a rich, industrialised area, the Ruhr (named after the river Ruhr).
The French invaded because the Germans had failed to pay the reparationos in the aftermath of WW1. Because of this, the Germans had a campaign of passive resistance where Germans stopped working and still got paid. This lead to hyperinflation. Due to Germans not working, the French brought in their own workers. -
The Munich Putsch
The Munich Putsch was Adolf Hitler's attempt at revolutionizing the countries Germany, Munich and Bavaria. It went from the evening of the 8th of November to the afternoon of the 9th of November. Germans lost power when WWI had ended. Hitler, among others, were put in charge, They used Munich as a base to march against the Weimar Government. He held the Triumvirate captive and tried to get support from the people. The Putsch eventually fell apart and Hitler was jailed. -
End Of Hyperinflation
On the 16th November 1923, Rentenmarks replaced the Riechsbank Marks as they were currently useless. By 30th Novemeber, 500 million Rentenmarks were printed and in circulation. A total of 2.4 billion Rentenmarks were printed. The government strictly limited the amount of Rentenmarks that were printed and issued that the production of Riechsbank Marks stopped. After April 1924, production of Riechsbank marks stopped and by August 30th 1924, 1 billion Riechsbank Marks were equal to 1 Rentenmark. -
The Dawes Plan
The Dawes plan, proposed by the Dawes comittee, chaired by Charles. G. Dawes was the result of negotiations between Germany and the US Government. The plan allowed the co-ordination of reparations repayments, making these more manageable. This involved paying reduced payments until 1929, when the situation would be reappraised. Reparation payments would begin at one billion marks the first year, increasing to two and a half billion marks annually after five years. -
Mein Kampf
After Hitler was sent to jail in 1923 after the Munich Putsch, he wrote a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle). It was about his political ideology also combined with an autobiography. Volume 1 was published in 1925 and volume 2 was published in 1926. The aim of the book was to gain world leadership and to express his ideas about Germany's future. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression in Germany first started in 1929 after the Wall St crash and lasted till 1933. America needed their repayment s from Germany but Germany didn’t have enough money to pay what they owed. Unemployment soared over this period, in 1929 unemployment had risen from 650,000 to 1,320,000 and in 1933 the number of people unemployed had risen to 6,100,000. During this time the Nazi party started to gain power with their extreme ideas. In 1933 Hitler was elected Chanceller. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hitler was appointed the Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg on January 30th 1933.
Hitler's Nazi Party won two general elections in 1932, winning 37% and 34% of the vote, this made the party the biggest in the Reichtag.
Hinderburg tried to make Hitler the Chancellor then take him under control, however, this attempted failed, Hitler wanted to rule by decree, he started the "National Socialist Revolution". -
Period: to
Nazi Germany
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Reichstag Fire
The reichstag Fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag Building which was a pivotal moment in the upcoming of Nazi Germany. The Nazi's used this fire as evidence that the communists were planning attacks on the German government. Adolf Hitler seized this opportunity and pleaded president Paul Von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree . This was Hitler's opportunity to gain power. -
The Enabling Act
To stop Hindenburg, cancelling the decree of February 28, 1933, Hitler was required to change the constitution. By doing this, he would gain more power over Hindenburg. He needed to get his act passed through Reichstag with at least two-thirds of the votes in his favour.
The act included 5 main points designed to make it easier for Hitler to rule. After persuading many of the delegates, the vote went the way of Hitler and the result was a resounding was 444 votes to 94. -
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives was a purge definition that took place in Germany between June 30 and July 2. It was a series of political executions; most who were killed were members of the SA. Hitler purged the people who were critising his regime.
Around 85 people died in the Night of the Long Knives, although the final death toll could have been in the hundreds. -
Death of Paul Von Hindenburg
Hindenburg was the second president of the Weimar republic. He helped Germany through the rough times of the hyperinflation and was the leader who announced Hitler as Chancellor. He led Germany from 1925 till his death. It was on his death bed that Hitler convinced the cabinet to agree to allow the role of president and chancellor to merge. This meant that when Hindenburg died Hitler was left with all power. The role of chancellor and president were merged and Hitler was addressed as Führer. -
Hitler appointed as Führer
After Paul Von Hinderburg's death on the 2nd of August 1934, Hitler decided to abolish the title of the president,and renaming it Führer, meaning leader or guide.
Using the enabling act, which gave him power to do almost anything in a state of emergency, Hitler appointed himself as Führer and Reich Chancellor on the 4th of August 1934 -
The Nuremburg Laws
The Nuremburg Laws were a set of laws passed by the Reichstag in 1935. They were discriminatory to the Jews.
Of the legislative sections (out of a total of 6), the most important were those that prevented "Jews" from:
a) having German citizenship
b) marrying Germans
c)having sexual intercourse with Germans
d) Displaying the national "colours", although they were specifically permitted to display the "Jewish colours"
The punishments depended on the disobeyed section, hard labour being the worst. -
Lebensborn
The Lebensborn Project was founded by Heinrich Himmler. First it involved offering young girls who were considered 'racially pure' to breed and give brith to Aryan babies in secret. Then they would be taken to SS nurseries. In 1936, the first Lebensborn home was built to house expectant mothers, and later orphans and native babies. From 1939 till May 1st 1946, when the war ended, kidnappings occured for 'racially good' children. This was the harsh reality of the Lebensborn Project. -
Laws of Jewish Identificaton
Initially implemented in April 1938 these new laws were put in place to asure that no Jew could be mistaken for an Aryan man. The forced all Jewish people to carry with them an identification tag showing their heritage. Other rules included:
- All jews must add the name Isreal or Sarah to their own.
- All passports and legal documents must be stamped with the letter J for Jude.
Soon enough the personal identification tags became, simply, a star of david worn in plain sight. -
Law on economic life of Jews
These were laws that restricted Jews from doing many things and banned them from the following.
• Banned from working in shops
• Banned from businesses.
• Banned from schools and universities.
• Banned from leisure facilities.
• Could not belong to trade organistions. -
Kristallnacht continued (2nd)
When Zindel Grynszpan's son, heard of his families dismissal he went to the German embassy in Paris and he killed the Third Secretary, Ernst vom Rath. Rath died on November 9.
Joseph Goebbels used this attack to introduce an organized massacre of the Jews. This pogrom* was called Kristallnacht. On November 9 and 10, Jews were viscously attacked by mobs. They were attacked in their homes, streets and workplace. Shops were broken, living places of many Jews were destroyed. -
Kristallnacht continued again.(3rd)
Hundreds of Jews were injured, and 96 were killed. They were burned, bashed and around 7500 businesses were destroyed. Many were also sent to concentration camps.
Kristallnacht was an important turning point in Germany's history, and could be considered as the beginning of the Holocaust. -
Kristallnacht (1st)
There are many theories given to why the Kristallnacht occurred. The most common involving the Grynszpan family.
In the August of 1938 German authorities declared that all permits for residence for foreigners were to be canceled. This included all German-born Jews with foreign origins. Families were ordered to leave.
On the 27 of October Zindel Grynszpan and his family were made to leave their home buy force by German police. Their store and majority of their belongings seized. -
The Wannsee Conference
On the 20th of January 1942, Reinhard Heydritch, second in command of the SS, assembled a Conference of 15 Nazi Bureaucrats in Wannsee, Berlin to devise the Final Solution (Endlösung). The plan was made by Hitler on the elimination of Jews from Europe and French North America. They were to be deported and taken to German occupied areas where those who were fit to work were put into labour. The survivers would then be annihilated once the project was complete.
