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German Revolution (The soldiers in the army started to protest in the…
German Revolution
The soldiers in the army started to protest in the streets and stopped controlling people. Additionally in 1918 there was a naval rebellion
On the 9th of November 1919 the kaiser abdicated, and the Weimar Republic was declared
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The Weimar Republic
The Weimar republic was the name of the new democratic government of Germany, and their first president was Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the social democrats.
Ebert arrange for civil servants who helped run Germany to stay in office and reassured Generals the army wouldn't be reformed, as wells as making an agreement they would help the government, and reassured business leaders the government wouldn't confiscate land. This helped to boost peoples confidence in the government.
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The Chancellor was the head of government, who was usually the leader of the biggest party in the Reichstag, chosen by the President, and appointed government ministers.
The president was elected every 7 years, and could override the Reichstag with article 48
The Reichstag was the more powerful of the two houses, and controlled taxation, elected by people at least once every 4 years.
The Reichsrat was e;elected every 4 years and represented regions of Germany, each region with a certain number of representatives.
The Republic was made to be very democratic, and designed for no one person to be too powerful, and also had a good balance between central government and local government.
Because the republic was very democratic it meant parties had to compromise and create coalition governments, and some of the parties hated democracy.
The Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles meant Alsace and Lorraine was lost to France, Eupen and Malmedy were lost to Belgium, Posen and West Prussia was lost to Poland, other territories voted to leave Germany, the rich Saar coalfields went to France for 15 years, and the Port of Danzig was made an international city
The treaty hurt nationalists as they were proud of the army and felt it was unfair to fully blame Germany for the war.
Germany was made to pay reparations of 136,000 million marks.
The German army was limited to 100,000 men with no heavy artillery, the Navy was limited to six battleships, six cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boat. No submarines were allowed. No air force was allowed. The Rhineland was demilitarised
The leaders of the Weimar Republic were seen as the weak leaders who surrendered to the allies in November 1918.
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The Ruhr
France sent in soldiers into the Ruhr because Germany hadn't sent coal to France as they were supposed to.
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To counter the loss of the Ruhr new money was printed, causing hyperinflation where the economy stopped functioning as intended.
Political Violence
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Some of the high profile members of the government killed were Hugo Hasse, Matthias Erzberger and Walter Rathenau
Both the left and right wings had private armies that often caused violence on marches and at meetings.