THE BIRTH OF THE WIMAR REPUBLIC

 Before war, Germany was a proud militaristic empire

 It was established in 1871 by unification of 39 separate German states
 Huge economic growth, elected parliament (the Reichstag)
 Influential working class
 They favored SPD, but Kaiser's minsters did everything to limit SPD's power and influence
 In 1918 government was running by military
 2nd October- Army High Command passed power to the civilian authorities to avoid blame and
get favorable peace terms
 Transformation into parliamentary monarchy with Prince Max von Baden as chancellor
 This is referred as first German revolution
 Since 1916- blockade of German ports
o Reduced industrial production (by 2/5) and grain production by half in comparison to
the pre-war level
o Avarage German citizen survived on 1000 Cal per day
o Winter 1918-19- 750 000 Germans died of starvation
o Worsened by flu epidemic
o No electricity, public transport, businesses had to close
o 2 million German soldiers killed, another 5 million wounded or disabled
 Second German Revolution
o 1918- sailors in Kiel refused to sail on the final attack on British navy and raised
communist flags on their ships
o Historian Geoff Layton- genuinely revolutionary situation
 November 1918- workers' and soldiers' councils (soviets) were established in other ports and
towns all across Germany
o Series of strikes, mutinies and left wing uprisings inspired by Bolshevik Rev. in Russia
o In Dresden and Leipzig they promised to arm workers and establish a socialist society
o November 7th- in Bavaria independent socialist republic
o Most of the revolutionaries wanted genuinely a communist style workers' state
o But most of them weren't communists, they just wanted some sort of democracy
o USPD- independent SPD
o They didn’t approve war
o Leader of the Bavarian Rep.- Kurt Eisner
o Prince Max of Baden was unable to restore order
o Left extremists exploited the situation
o SPD felt compelled to act
o Spartacists- extreme socialists
 One of the SPD leaders Philipp Scheidmann simply announced to the crowds that Germany had
become a republic
o Friedrich Ebert became the man in power
o The Kaiser was angered, but when Army High Command agreed to support this change,
Kaiser was powerless
o He formally abdicated and went to exile
o To maintain power, Ebert made an interim government consisting of 3 SPD and 3 USPD
members
o This group was known as Council of People's Commissars
 o Neither Ebert nor Scheidemann wanted to see communist rev. so they reached an
agreement with the right-wing army in 1918
o General Wilhelm Groener agreed to suppress the remaining revolutionary activity in
return for a promise that the army and existing offices would maintain their authority
o Ebert was accused by Spartacists and USPD for compromising his socialist principles
o 1918- 1000 sailors broke into the government HG, demanding overdue wages and a pay
rise
 Ebert was held captive until he gave in their demands
 Fierce exchange between USPD and SPD over behavior of the USPD police chief,
who allowed this to happen
 USPD ministers resigned in protest
 
Spartacist uprising
 Right before the elections
Spartacists also known as KPD (German Communist Party)
 They strongly opposed Ebert's approach
 They wanted power given to the worker's councils
 They seized SPD's newspaper office in Berlin on 6th January
 Fighting broke out between Spartacists and Freikorps (recently demobilized soldiers)
 FK strongly opposed communism
 FK brutally crushed the uprising and killed Spartacists leaders
 USPD weren't happy about the fact that some of their people died durring the uprising
 Killers of Spartacists leaders were judged by the right wing judge, so one of them escaped
unpunished, the second served few months
 This showed people, how much Ebert wanted to keep Germany a republic and this won him
majority of votes in the January elections
 The new government settled in Weimar instead of Berlin
 Ebert later got elected as a first president of the new Weimar Republic
 In march 1919, communists attempted another takeover in Berlin, which was once again
crushed by FK
 
The new constitution
 It was decided that the new Germany will be devided into Länder
 Each of them will have their own schools, police, judges…
 But the central government will control army and taxes
 Constitution also set fundamental rights and duties of German citizens
 
 
 
The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 Germany had 15 days to respond (later extended to 21)
 Fourteen point- drawn up by US president Woodrow Wilson
 The treaty included
o Loss of land
o Colonies
o Military restriction (max 100 000 troops, only 6 battleships)
o No subs or aircarft
o Reparations
  Germany had to accept it or face renewed military actions
 Naval commanders sank their fleet instead of giving it up to Allies
 
German reaction
 They saw it as a diktat (dictated peace)
 Humiliation and War guilt
 Stab-in-the-back myth: Germany had been betrayed by socialist politicians who agreed to
armistice
 Reparations
1920
 Patriotic Associations- group of right wing patriotic organizations
 They used intimidation and violence to prosecute public figures
 They had their parliamentary forces, made op of former soldiers
 354 politically motivated assassinations between 1918-1922
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stresemann's chancellorship
 Gustav Stresemann- appointed as chancellor in 1923
 Leader of right wing German People's Party (DVP)
 Strongly opposed Treaty of Versailles
 He agreed to become chancellor, but lasted only 100 days, then his coalition collapsed
 He set Weimar Republic onto the path of economic recovery
 He proved that middle-class parties could be more effective serving the republic than opposing
it
 He called off the passive resistance in the Ruhr
 Hjalmar Schacht- banker-politician, appointed as currency commissioner and head of the
Reichsbank (central bank)
 1923- Rentenmark- new currency, worth a trillion old marks
 It was backed by lands and resources rather than gold- believed to be secure, because supply
was limited
 Schacht controlled lending rates, new taxes, inflation, exchange rate, this all at reasonable level
 
The Dawes Plan and economic recovery
 1924- Dawes plan
 USA wanted to get back money they loaned to the Allies during the war
 Aimed to help Germany to repay reparations
 They loaned Germany 800 million marks
 In return- Reichsbank reorginised under Allied supervision
 Rentenmark replaced with Reichsmark
 It was backed by Germany's gold reserves
 As a result, in 1924, France withdrew their forces from Ruhr and in 1925 Germany started
paying once again
 Dawes Plan was bitterly opposed by right-wing groups, including DNVP and the Nazi Party (they
wanted Germany not to pay reparations at all)
 
Affects on industry
 1923- industrial output already reached prewar level
 1924- rapid economy growth
 1925-1929- 40% export increase
 US loans 25,5 billion marks in total
 Used to boost industry and infrastructure
 Manufacturers replaced old machinery with new
 By 1925- 3000 cartel arrangements
 One of them covered 90% of Germany's coal and steel production
 Expanding artificial fertilizers and aircraft (and probably many others)
 1928- started BMW production
 Inflation dropped almost to 0 from 1924
 Since 1923 real wages rose, living standards too
 New roads, schools, hospitals, municipal building
 Gas and electricity services taken into public ownership
 
Social improvements
 New welfare schemes were developed and social benefits increased
 1923- new National Insurance Code
 1924- Public Assistance Programme reformed
 1927- National Unemployment Insurance Programme
 
German economy compared to others
 In 1925 worse than many other's
 Industrialist cartels reduced healthy competition and drained government subsidies rather than
their own money
 Germany lacked internal capital and relied heavily on foreign loans and investments
 Stresemann: Germany was living on 'borrowed prosperity'
 Middle- and upper-class industrialists were heavily taxed, as the government needed the
income
 Industrialists were angry, they tried to increase the working day from 8 to 10 h, reduced wages
 Cartels formed monopolies
 1928 employers in the Ruhr locked out 250 000 workers
 
 
New Society
 New groups formed to oppose female emancipation, nudism, same-sex relationships and
Americanisation
 Nazis exploited Jewish involvement in almost anything and argued against un-German behavior
 
Locarno Treaty 1925
 One of Stresemann's biggest triumphs
 Meeting of Western European Allies with Germany at Locarno in Switzerland
 He wanted to prevent France and Britain from forming an anti-German alliance
 France felt threatened by Germany's industrial recovery and growth
 Rhineland Pact
o Confirmed Germany's acceptance of its western border
o Germany would never face another Ruhr invasion
o France promised to withdraw forces from Rhineland (took them 5 years to fulfil the
promise)
o Arbitration treaties included Poland and Czechoslovakia
 Stresemann established Germany's position as an equal partner with France and Britain
 
Further successes
 Germany became member of the League of Nations and a permanent member of the Council in
1926
 Stresemann was awarded the Nobel Piece Prize
 1926- ties with USSR renewed
 Treaty of Berlin 1926- to make sure the relationship with USSR was strong
 He also bypassed the Treaty of Versailles by sending German troops to train on the USSR soil
 
Young Plan
 Reduced reparation total from 132 billion marks to 37 billion
 This reduced annual pay (plan was 59 years)
 After that, Allied supervision would be over
 Right-wing parties opposed even the reduced amount of reparations
 The Nazis re-organized after Hitler came out of prison
 
 Stresemann died in 1929 (aged 51)
 His achievements and aims were questioned
 His main goals were to fix the reparation problem, protect 10-12 millions Germans living under
foreign yoke and readjustment of eastern frontiers
 
Weimar Republic 1924-29
 Political developments
o Much greater stability
o More than 50% voted for republican parties
o Later that year (1924) it rose to 60%
o Extremists didn’t get enough votes
o 1928- Grand Coalition (SPD, Centre Party, DVP, BVP, DDP)
o 1925- Ebert dies, smooth transition to new president
o Hindenburg earned 48,3% of votes in second ballot
 o He was absolutely loyal to his constitutional responsibilities
o Central parties were losing popularity
o The Nazis started expanding
 They built local branches and worked in the countryside, to get support from
farmers
 Youth organizations, well trained SA
 
CRISIS YEARS 1929-33
 1929- US stock exchange collapse
 Germany was heavily affected (because of Dawes Plan granted them US loans, which now were
unavailable)
 As a result- huge unemployment
 This ended the Golden Era of Weimar Republic
 Hermann Müller's coalition formed in 1928 collapsed in 1930
 New president Paul von Hindenburg appointed series of chancellors who were unable to do
their job and covering himself by Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution he got rid of all of them
 This undermined confidence in democracy, and raised popularity for the opposition (Hitler used
this opportunity)
  
  
The Nazis and the Great Depression
 They used full advantage of the situation
 Promises of solutions to unemployment
 Constant flood of propaganda
 Focused on lower and middle class (the Mittelstand of small businessmen, independent artisans,
shopkeepers, office workers and farmers)
 Nazis gained big popularity among young citizens (40% of votes came from people aged 18-30
 Violence and intimidation by SA played huge role
 
Brüning's chancellorship
 Appointed in 1930
 Tried to resolve economic crisis
 Lower and middle classes weren't happy with him, they turned to extreme groups such as
communists and Nazis
 Nazis became second largest party after Social Democrats
 Hitler had so much confidence that he stood against Hindenburg in presidential elections in
1932, but he gained only 26,8%, while Hindenburg 53%
 
Franz von Papen's chancellorship
 Tried to fix financial crisis by imposing exchange controls
 Government gained strict rule over the import and export
 This had negative effect on foreign trade
 Papen called for new ellection in 1932 which showed dramatic rise in popularity of Nazis
 They gained 230 seats and 37,3%- this made them the biggest political party
 Hitler was offered vice-chancellor position, but he demanded to be chancellor, Hindenburg
declined
 
Kurt von Schleicher
  He promised to win some of Nazi leaders to his side but he failed
 Papen made a deal with Hitler and then proposed it to Hindenburg
 Hitler would be appointed as chancellor of a coalition government, where 3 of 11 members
were Nazis and Papen would be deputy chancellor
 With fear of rising communism, Hitler was appointed as chancellor in 1933
 
Factors that contributed to Hitler's rise to power
 Fear of communism
 Use of propaganda and technology
 Divisions among the oppositions