Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement between the Allies and
Germany after the First World War. As Germany lost the war they were seen as
the scapegoat for the blame of World War One. The treaty terms were decided by
the leaders of The big three who consisted of France, America and Britain.
The terms of the treaty consisted of land possession, demilitarising the Rhineland
and several machinery and war related cut downs. Some examples of this are:

Reducing Germanys army size to just 100,00 men

Allowing Germany to have no aircraft for war use
Demilitarisation of the Rhineland
Allowing only 6 submarines

Some examples of the territorial losses are:

Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France

Belgium received Eupen and Malmedy
The industrial Saar religion was placed under the administration of the
League of Nations for 15 years

Other parts of the treaty forced Germany into millions of pounds worth of debt.
The reparations they were set to pay totalled 6600. In addition to this Germany
lost many of its natural resource sources as they were not entitled to take the
raw materials to the colonies.

Weimar Republic
Weimar constitution This was set up in a town called Weimar as they could not
set it up in Berlin due to the Spartacist Rebellion.
After Germany lost the First World War, the Kaiser fled and a new democratic
government of Germany was declared in February 1919 at the small town of
Weimar. It was too dangerous to make a declaration in Berlin where there had
just been a revolt by a Communist group called the Spartacists.
Bill of rights A Bill of Rights guaranteed every German citizen freedom of
speech and equality under the law
All men and women over the age of 20 were given the right to vote.
There was an elected president and an elected Reichstag (Which is a
parliament).
The Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government which had to do
what the Reichstag wanted.

The problems with the Weimar and Reichstag

Proportional Representation Instead of voting for an MP like we do it Britain,

Weimar Germans voted for a party. This meant that depending on how many
votes one party had then they would get power.
Article 48 This said that, in an emergency, the president did not need the
agreement of the Reichstag, but could issue decrees. The problem with this was
that it did not say what an emergency was, and in the end it turned out to be a
back door that Hitler could exploit easily but it would still be legal as it was in the
rules.
The Weimar Republic was made when there was much confusion in Germany
after they had lost the First World War. Many people felt that Germany had been
punished extremely harshly in the terms of the treaty of Versailles and they
resented the government for agreeing to the terms it stated.
The Weimar faced violent uprisings from several groups; they also had to face
devastating economic and financial problems.
Germany was in chaos between 1918 and in 1919. Due to the harsh terms in the
treaty Germanys people were starved and due to hatred towards the
government the Kaiser had fled.
Even after this there was constant violence and unrest which led up to the Kapp
Putcsh which was rebellion that aimed to set up a new government as the rebels
were angry at them for signing the Treaty of Versailles. This happened in March
1920. While this was happening Nationalist terror groups assassinated 356
government politicians.

There was also a crisis that occurred in the Weimar government in 1923 when
the Germans failed to make a reparations payment on time. This set off a train of
events, these consist of:

A French invasion of the Ruhr

A general strike
Runaway inflation hyperinflation
A number of communist rebellions
An attempted Nazi putsch in Munich

All of these events lead up to mass violence in the Weimar republic, some
examples of this are:

In Jan 1919, 50,000 Spartacists rebelled in Berlin, led by the Communists

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht.
In 1919, communist workers' councils seized power all over Germany, and
a Communist People's Government took power in Bavaria.

March 1920, the right-wing nationalist Dr Wolfgang Kapp took over Berlin.
The army refused to attack him; he was only defeated when the workers of Berlin
went on strike.
In 1920, after the failure of the Kapp Putsch, a Communist paramilitary
group called the Red Army rebelled in the Ruhr.
Nationalist terrorists assassinated 356 government politicians, including
Walter Rathenau, the foreign minister, and Matthias Erzberger who had been
finance minister. The judges, many of whom preferred the Kaiser's government,
consistently gave these terrorists light sentences, or let them go free.

After Germany missed the payment of the reparation the Weimar republic was
close to collapsing. Due to the lack of money that Germany possessed they
started to mass produce paper money into the economy.
This meant that there was a lot of paper money in Germany however as they had
printed so much the actual value of the money was decreasing at a rapid rate.
This caused prices to run out of control massively. For example a loaf of bread
which costed around 250 marks in January 1923 had risen to a staggering
200,000 million marks in November of 1923. The Weimar was at such a low point
due to the issue of hyperinflation it was thought that there was little they could
do and that the Weimar was going to completely collapse but surprisingly the
crsis was the start of a period of success. The period between 1923 and 1929
was a time when the economy boomed and cultural life flourished in Germany.
Gustav Streseman
Gustav Stresemann had been a nationalist, but he realised that something
needed to be done to save Germany. The most important thing he did in 1923
was to organise the Great Coalition of moderate, pro-democracy parties in the
Reichstag. At last, Germany had a government that could make laws! Under
Stresemann's guidance, the government called off the strike, persuaded the
French to leave the Ruhr and even got the rest of the world to allow Germany
to join the League of Nations in 1926.
Charles Dawes
Charles Dawes was the US budget director. In 1923, he was sent to Europe to
sort out Germany's economy. Under his advice, the German Reichsbank was
reformed and the old money was called in and burned. This ended the
hyperinflation. Dawes also arranged the Dawes Plan with Stresemann, which
gave Germany longer to pay reparations. Most importantly, Dawes agreed to
America lending Germany 800 million gold marks, which kick-started the German
economy.
Hitler and the rise of the Nazi party

In 1933 Hitler became the chancellor of Germany and by August 1934 he had
declared himself as the Fuhrer. Some of the events that allowed him to do this
are listen here:
Date
27th February 1933

5th March 1933

23rd March 1933

26th April 1933

2nd May 1933

20th June 1933

14th July 1933

24th April 1934

30th June 1934

19th August 1934

Event
Reichstag Fire The Reichstag building was set on fire
by a dutch communist (can der Lubbe) he was caught
red handed while burning the building.
General Election- Only 44 percent of the population
voted for Nazis, this means that they win 288 seats in
the Reichstag.
The SA intimidated all of the remaining non Nazi
deputies. The Reichstag votes to give Hitler the right to
make his own laws.
The local government is reorganised the country is
carved up to 42 Gaus, which are run by a gauleiter.
These Gaus are separated into areas, localities and
blocks of flats run by a Blockeiter. Hitler sets up the
Gestapo.
Trade unions are abolished and their leaders are
arrested.
Concordat Hitler made an agreement with the Pope
who sees him as someone who can destroy
Communism. This agreement allowed Hitler to take
political power over Germany so long as he left the
Catholic Church alone.
Other political parties are banned meaning that only
the Nazi party can exist.
Peoples Courts Hitler set up the Nazi peoples courts
where judges have to swear on an oath of loyalty to the
Nazis.
Night of the long knives Some of the SA leaders are
demanding that the Nazi part carry out its social
agenda, and that the SA take control of the army. Hitler
cannot afford to annoy the businessmen or the army.
This means that the SS murder around 400 SA
members, including its leader Rohm, along with several
of Hitlers other enemies.
Hindenburg dies, Hitler then declares himself as
President, Chancellor and the head of the army.
Hitlers 25 point programme

The policies of the 25 point programme were seen as:

Socialist Farmers should be given their land; pensions should improve;

and the public industries such as electricity and water should be owned by
the state.

Nationalist All of the German-speaking people should be united in one

country; the treaty of Versailles should be abolished and there should be
special individual rules for foreigners.
Racist Jews should not be German citizens and immigration should be
stopped.
Fascist A strong central government and control of the newspapers.
Economic policies and benefits

Full employment This was the idea that everyone in Germany should have a
job. This was successful as by 1939 there was almost no unemployment in
Germany.