The Naval mutinies triggered other uprisings across Germany

The Kaiser eventually had to abdicate and fled to the Netherlands

Germany was declared a republic by Philipp Scheidemann

Friedrich Ebert, the SPD leader was made temporary leader of the country

On November 11th, the new government signed the armistice

Throughout the war, many Germans had been told they were winning, defeat was an unexpected shock

This led to the idea that the German army was stabbed in the back by politicians

The German government had agreed to pay reparations to the countries who had won the war

In 1921, the amount decided was £6.6 billion marks over 66 years, this increased German hatred of the Treaty and the government that had signed it

Germany’s inability to make the payments led to the invasion of the Ruhr and hyperinflation

In December 1922 Germany announced it could not afford to pay the second instalment

In January 1923, French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr taking control of all the factories and mines, they rook goods back in place of reparation payments

The German government urges passive resistance, so workers went on strike

80% if coal, iron and steel was from the Ruhr so the German economy was hit badly, the government decided to print more money, which led to hyper inflation

Proportional representations made sure small parties had a fair share of seats

Central government was more powerful than before but local governments retained power in each region

Proportional representation led to coalition governments that were unstable or found it difficult to work together and have strong policies

Lack of a strong government led to the president passing laws without the prior consent of the Reichstag

In January 1919, the Spartacists took over the government’s newspaper and telegraph bureau

In march 1920, the Freikorps troops, fearing unemployment decided to march on Berlin

Ebert asked the head of the army to resist the Freikorps but they refused

Dr Wolfgang Kapp, was in charge of the rebels, the Weimar Government fled Berlin

In order to stop the Kapp Putsch, the government organized a national strike which caused chaos, and forced Kapp to flee

The economic crisis of 1923 led to Hitler’s Nazi party trying to seize power in Germany

While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf which outlined his ideas

The failure of the Putsch made Hitler rethink the party’s tactics