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Empire to Democracy 1914-29 - Coggle Diagram
Empire to Democracy 1914-29
Political Authority 1914-19
Political impact:
In 1914 political disputes were swept aside as all parties pledged to support the war. The political truce
(known as Burgfride)
produced an unanimous Reichstag vote to grant war credits.
Germany thought it would be an easy win due to the
Schlieffen plan
, but when this failed and the US got involved in 1917 the germans ultimately failed.
German propaganda pushed the idea of
Siegfride
on the public - this means blessed peace of victory and the glory that would come once they win.
Political change and breakdown by 1918:
In 1916 the kaiser appointed Hindenburg as army chief of staff and Ludendorff as his deputy and this symbolised a change.
Under the constitution that role was given to the Kaiser and alludes to the idea that a military/silent dictatorship had taken over.
Rule without the support of the Reichstag.
The Russian revolutions in 1917 increased the amount of disturbances and strikes in Germany.
A split in the social democrat party in 1917 whereby a breakaway independent SPD party was formed with a commitment to end the war.
1918 Revolution (2 part):
Part 1
- Germany was ordered by Wilson in October of 1918 that they would need to fully surrender and an abdication of the kaiser.
On the 28th of October Germany became a parliamentary monarchy.
Part 2
- This part came from the people in Germany as a result of the appalling living conditions and news of germanys defeat.
The establishment of the democratic government in the Weimar Constitution:
A vote occurred in early January 1919 for the creation of a National Assembly in which the SPD, USPD and Zentrum parties took home over 80% of all votes - the newly elected weimar met in February 1919.
Hugo Preuss was made Secretary of State in 1918 and his constitutional reforms included: Prussia and Bavaria loosing their monarchies, Lander governments had control over their own police, schools and judges. This made Germany the most democratic constitution in Europe.
Key features were:
Guaranteed the fundamental rights and duties of German citizens.
Germany remained a federal state.
Both the chancellor and ministers were to be answerable to the Reichstag for their actions.
Government and Opposition 1914-24
Post War political problems:
In the immediate aftermath of the October revolution 1918, the newly proclaimed leader Erbet had to impose authority. He did this by:
He formed a provisional government consisting of 3 SPD and 3 USPD members (called the Council of peoples Commissiars)
Erbert-Groener Pact
used the right wing army to suppress the lingering revolutionary activity
in return for maintaining the authority of the army and its existing officers.
Armistice on November 11th
immediately associated the new founded republic with humiliating peace.
Opposition from the Left:
January 1919 - Spartacist rebellion
(lead by Liebknecht and Luxemburg) aimed to overthrow the SPD government before anymore new elections took place. (100 workers killed).
March 1919 - Another Spartacist uprising in Berlin.
April/May 1919 - Wave of strikes in Halle and the Ruhr valley.
The weimar government ordered the Friekorps to suppress them and around 1200 workers were killed.
March 1920 - Kapp putsch.
This involved an army of 50000 communists seizing control of the factories in the Ruhr. Over 1000 people died and 250 soldiers of the Friekorp died.
1923 - By this time there had been
22 political assassinations by left-wing oppositions.
Opposition from the Right:
"stab in the back" theory
- This originated from right wing opposition and it theorised that victory had been snatched from Germany due to revolutionary disruption. Also had a hatred towards the
ToV which was imposed in June 1919
.
February 1920 - Kapp Putsch.
The defence minister (Noske) ordered two Friekorp units to stand down which lead to his arrest.
I
n July 1922 the Reichstag passed a 5-year law "For the protection of the Republic"
placing severe penalties on people involved in conspiracy to murder. Of the right wing murderes,
326 went unpunished and only 1 was sentenced to severe punishment before 1923.
Ruhr and further right-wing opposition:
By 1923 there were 100000 French and Belgium troops
controlling all aspects of the Ruhr and due to germanys reduced army size, they could not fight back.
For 1922 the overall output of the Ruhr fell by a fifth.
The workings of the Weimar government:
Success:
The first election of the new republic in 1919 produced a 76% vote in favour of the moderate parties
that they wanted a representative democracy.
The "fulfilment policy'" hoped to regain German good faith and restore some peace amongst the people. This was introduced by Joseph Wirth.
Weakness:
By 1920, moderate/centre parties only gained 44.6% of votes and the SDP lost 60 seats in a year. This was due to the political turbulence surrounding the government at the time.
Wirths policies were attacked by the right-wing and it was difficult to hold the government together. Ultimately, the Weimar Republic faced serious issues from both the left and right wing.
Government and Opposition 1924-29
The Impact of the Ruhr invasion:
The invasion proved to be the last straw for Germanys already inflated currency and it contributed to the fall of the Mark.
The loss of tax revenues added to the enormous pressure on Germanys finances and by the end of 1923 the Mark had lost almost all value.
The Leadership of Stressemann:
He became chancellor in August 1923 - His main measures included:
The ending of passive resistance in the Ruhr by September 1923
- The Munich Putsch (November 1923) was a direct response to this.
Appointed
Hjalmar Schacht as Reich currency commissioner
- he introduced a new currency and brought inflation under control.
The negotiation of the
Dawes Plan in 1924
- This scaled down the reparations Germany owed as well as arranging to receive American loans.
The recommencement of reparation payments lead to the
French evacuation of the Ruhr in 1924/25.
The Locarno treaty 1925
- Germany promised to respect the Western frontier whilst also carefully avoiding any disruption with Poland or Czech, he won the Noble Peace prize in 1926.
Kellog-Briand pact 1928 -
condemned recourse to war as a means to solve international disputes.
Young Plan 1929
- Reduced reparation payments by 75% and lessened annual payments. DNVP forced a referendum over this issue but only won 14% of votes.
Governmental Change and opposition:
After improved economic climate from 1924, extremism from both sides declined. The establishment of the
Reichsbanner in 1924
helped to spread pro-republican sentiment. (Defence force in reaction to uprisings).
2 elections in 1924, in May the pro-republican parties won 67.5% of votes, the Nazis won 6.5% and by December their vote was down 3%.
In 1925 the first president of Weimar (Ebert) died. His successor was Hindenburg who due to his renowned military leadership, gave the republic an air of respectability.
Political Developments:
6 different coalition governments between November 1923 and June 1928.
Despite the SPD being the biggest party between those years, it never served in any government due to poor leadership.
Extremist parties performed poorly,
in 1928 the Nazi party only won 2.6% of votes.
The Grand coalition was formed in 1928
, although there were constant disagreements between the SPD and DVP.
SPD got 153 seats in 1928.
Economic Developments
The impact of war and post-war problems and policies:
Treasury bills were introduced which borrowed heavily from people who were prepared to provide a "war loan" in which they would receive interest on after the war. This ultimately failed as they lost the war.
By 1919 the circulation of Marks had increased by 43000 million and at the same time national debt grew by 139000 million marks.
By 1919 the currency fell in value and it was
worth less than 20% of its pre-war value
.
In 1921, Germany was presented with reparation bills for £6.6 billion.
Reparations and hyperinflation:
The reparations came at a time when Germany was already facing large financial issues through interest loans and social welfare payments.
The first reparation instalment (£50 million) was payed in May 1921
but by 1923 they had fallen behind and France accused them of deliberately defaulting on their coal and timber deliveries.
This lead to the march and take over of the Ruhr.
The Ruhr occupation worsened the countries economic situation in a number of different ways:
Paying wages to striking workers drained government money.
Germany now had to import coal.
Shortages of goods pushed prices up.
Inflation had exceeded 100% by most of 1920 and despite the fall in 1921, in July 1922 the monthly rate of inflation passed 50% for the first time (hyperinflation).
The Dawes and Young Plans and foreign loans:
I
n November 1923 Schacht introduced the Rentenmark - 1 rentenmark was valued at 1 trillion old marks.
Dawes Plan (1924)
: Reparation payments of 6.6 billion remained but yearly payments until 1929 were reduced. Germany recieved 800 million marks loan which will be used for heavy investment into German infrastructure.
The Dawes plan also forced France out of the Ruhr.
Young Plan (1929)
: Reduced total reparations by 75% and extended the period of payments to 59 years. Ended allied supervision of German banking.
Industrial Growth:
Germanys industrial output more then halved between 1913 to 1923.
However sky rocketed in 1927-29 as it reached even higher then 1913.
1924-29 Golden years
:
Unemployment never fell below 1.3 million,
German companies controlled
50% of total iron and steel production and 36% of coal production.
Agriculture:
By 1927/28, farmers were getting little to no profit on the cost of running their farms and this was due to high tax demands and substantial rents.
Social Developments
The effect of War on German Society:
By October 1918 over a 1/3 of the workforce was female and 25% of those had joined unions.
Many poor families suffered from malnutrition and around 40% of all children in Germany suffered rickets during the war years.
By 1918 all resources where focused on the war -
the average man was consuming 1000 calories a day.
German army was limited to 100000 men - people lost jobs.
The years of turbulence, 1918-24:
The Spanish flu spread all across Europe in 1918 and lead to millions dying in Germany.
The economic state of the country also effected society and the 1923 hyperinflation crisis can be seen as having the same effect on people (if not worse) than the war.
People with savings lost all of their money whereas people who owed debts actually benefited.
The Weimar welfare state:
The new Weimar Constitution placed greater power and emphasis on the Reichstag and because this was dominated by the left-wing (SPD), conditions for the working class improved.
Significant changes:
1920 -
War victims benefits were created - included 2.5 million people (40% of national expenditure).
1922 -
Youth Welfare Act
- promoted physical and social health.
1918 - workers granted an 8 hour day -
restrictions on trade unions was demolished.
1924 - Public assistance programme replaced older poor relief legislation.
1925 - Accident insurance programme allowed diseases linked to certain work to become insurable risks.
1927 - An act concerning labour exchanges and unemployment insurance extended protection to 17.25 million workers.
Housing - over 150000 dwellings were built in 1925.
Women and the family:
Continuing Wartime trends, women in employment rose by 31.2% in 1907 to 35.6% in 1925. The number of women going into higher education also increased.
The attitude on women however stayed the same - both left and right wing parties believed women belonged at home and even the German women's Associates (900000 members) encouraged women to undertake social work.
Abortion remained illegal until 1926 and you could not advertise contraceptives until 1927.
Jews and ethnic minorities:
Minority rights were respected and laid down in the Weimar Constitution.
Around 11% of doctors were jews and 16% of lawyers were jews.
Pre-war anti-semitism had not disappeared though and was fuelled on by right-wing nationalist such as Pan-German league (40k members in 1922).
Cultural changes:
Art took a rise in popularity.
Modern classical music - Arnold Schoenberg. Other music like jazz from the US and cabaret became popular.
Overall condition of Germany by 1929
Political:
The new Weimar Republic was created off the back of WW1 and has all the features of a democratic government.
Economy:
The ToV after WW1 hit the German economy hard and despite the Dawes and Young plans trying to aid Germany, the reliance of loans and poor infrastructure left them in a vulnerable position.
Social:
The Weimar Republic offered new freedoms such as giving women the vote and securing civil rights. However distinction between the classes remained.