Downloaded 77 times
Uploaded byGeorge Dumitrache
DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: HOW DID GERMANY EMERGED FROM DEFEAT AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR?
Germany transitioned to a democratic republic known as the Weimar Republic after World War 1. The Weimar Republic lasted from 1918 to 1933, beginning after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and ending when Hitler rose to power. During this time, Germany experienced political instability, with the republic threatened by communist uprisings like the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin in 1919. The Weimar Constitution established democratic principles like proportional representation but also controversial measures like Article 48 that granted emergency powers.
More Related Content
Similar to DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: HOW DID GERMANY EMERGED FROM DEFEAT AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR?
More from George Dumitrache
DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: HOW DID GERMANY EMERGED FROM DEFEAT AT THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR?
- 1.
- 2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY INTRODUCTION • Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November 1918, 2 days before signing of the Armistice. • His autocratic system was replaced with a democracy, later known as the Weimar Republic. • This Republic will last for 14 years, being destroyed by Hitler’s dictatorship. • The Third Reich intended to last for 1000 years, collapsed in 1945, following the suicide of its creator, Adolf Hitler and the military defeat of Germany. • The Third Reich was the term used to describe the Nazi Germany from 1933-1945.
- 3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY German General Headquarters 8 January 1917. Chief of the General Staff (General) Paul von Hindenburg and Kaiser Wilhelm II with General Erich Ludendorff.
- 4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY Abdication statement of Emperor Wilhelm II, signed 28 November 1918.
- 5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE “GERMAN REVOLUTION” • The events of October to November 1918 are called “the German Revolution”. • Following the naval mutiny at Kiel and soldiers’ and workers’ rebellions spreading to other German ports and cities, the German Kaiser was persuaded to abdicate. • He fled to exile in Holland. • Political power was assumed by Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the Reichstag (Parliament). • The social unrest, violence on the streets and political chaos were normal.
- 6. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. He was a moderate socialist. Ebert was a pivotal figure in the German Revolution of 1918–1919. When Germany became a republic at the end of World War I, he became its first chancellor. His policies at that time were primarily aimed at restoring peace and order in Germany and suppressing the left. In order to accomplish these goals, he allied himself with conservative and nationalistic political forces, in particular the leadership of the military under General Wilhelm Groener and the right-wing Freikorps.
- 7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY DEFEAT CAUSED A SOCIALIST WEIMAR REPUBLIC • Defeat • Germany had refused President Wilson’s Fourteen Points and in 1918 gambled on her major offensive since 1914, the Ludendorff Offensive. The result was disastrous. • By November she could fight no more and was forced to accept the terms of the Armistice on 11/11/1918, 11am. • Disaster • The Kaiser had fled to Holland (Netherlands). Ludendorff organised a parliamentary republic, but also thought Germany had been let down by the Socialists and war profiteers, who would now form the new government.
- 8. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY BACKGROUND TO SURRENDER • This is the origin of Hitler’s myth of the “stab in the back”, with irresponsible politicians signing an Armistice and stabbing in the back all patriotic German soldiers, fighting for the Fatherland. • Germany had lost 2 million men during the war, with over 6 million wounded. • Her currency had lost 75% of its value between 1913 and 1918. • Germany was split between the extremes of the Independent Socialist Party (left) and the Fatherland Party (right). • After the “Turnip winter” of 1917-1918, Germany suffered a major flu epidemic. Thousands died.
- 9. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY A ration stamp of the City of Erfurt, 1917 for 1 kilogram of turnips per week (left). THE TURNIP WINTER of 1916 to 1917 was a period of profound civilian hardship in Germany during World War I. For the duration of World War I, Germany was constantly under threat of starvation due to the success of the British Naval blockade. The winter of 1916–1917, later known as the "Turnip Winter", marked one of the harshest years in wartime Germany. Poor autumn weather led to an equally poor potato harvest and much of the produce that was shipped to German cities rotted. Germany's massive military recruitment played a direct role in this, as all areas of the economy suffered from lack of manpower, including agriculture. The loss of the potato crop forced the German population to subsist on Swedish turnip.
- 10. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY REVOLUTION • October 1918: the sailors of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven mutinied. Prince Max of Baden handed power to Ebert, a moderate Socialist, to try to maintain control while agreeing to the surrender. • January 1919: a further wave of Spartacist (communist) unrest made it impossible to convene the new National Assembly in Berlin. It met at Weimar in February 1919, and had drawn up the Weimar Constitution by August. • Important: Weimar Constitution refers to government under the Weimar constitution, not a political party.
- 11. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY Text supplied by the German Federal Archive: "With the rebellion of the sailors and workers on 3 November 1918 in Kiel the November revolution starts. On 6 November the revolutionary movement reaches Wilhelmshaven. Our picture shows the soldiers' council of the Prinzregent Luitpold."
- 12. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY Group photographs of Spartacist militia during the fighting in Berlin in January 1919. It was also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand), and it was a general strike (and the armed battles accompanying it) in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919.
- 13. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE SPARTACIST UPRISING SUMMARY
- 14. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE SPARTACIST UPRISING SUMMARY cont.
- 15. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY ARTICLE EXTRACT All this resistance must be broken, step by step, with an iron fist and ruthless energy. The violence of the bourgeois (middle-class) counter-revolution must be confronted with the revolutionary violence of the proletariat. Against the attacks, insinuations, and rumours of the bourgeoisie must stand the inflexible clarity of purpose, vigilance, and even ready activity of the proletarian mass. Extract from an article written by the Spartacist leader Rosa Luxemburg in December 1918 GLOSSARY Bourgeois = middle class Proletarian = urban working class
- 16. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY ACTIVITY – 5 MINUTES HOW FAR DOES THIS EXTRACT AGREE WITH THE MESSAGE OF THE POSTER?
- 17. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY GERMAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE JANUARY 1919 GENERAL ELECTIONS
- 18. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY EBERT’S SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY • The Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest party after the general election of January 1919. • The newly-elected assembly was asked to devise a constitution for the new republic. • Because Berlin was still affected by protests and street fighting, the National Assembly met in the small town of Weimar.
- 19. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION
- 20. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY INTERESTING/CONTROVERSIAL FEATURES • Proportional Representation • Article 48 • Forward-looking features
- 21. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
- 22. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY ARTICLE 48
- 23. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE –DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY FORWARD-LOOKING FEATURES