Hiter: Rise to power

★ End of the old Germany

➔ In autumn 1918, Germany had lost the war
➔ Germany was a state of chaos
➔ The allies had offered Germany peace but under strict conditions, that
the Kaiser should abdicate and Germany would have to be a more
democratic republic
● The Kaiser refused: So, Kaiser old enemies (socialist) led
uprisings (levantamientos) of workers and soldiers in other
german ports while sailors in the north of Germany took over
the town of Kiel.
● In Bavaria an independent socialist Republic was declared.
● In November 8 the Kaiser abdicate and left Germany (he went
to the Netherlands)
● A new socialist leader Ebert Friedrich became the new
Republic of Germany. He immediately signed an armistice with
the allies.
● Impact of the war in Germany:
➢ Economic impact: Germany was bankrupt, industrial productions were lost,
loss of income.
➢ Political Impact: Germany had a revolution and became an unstable
democratic republic. Right Wing and Left Wing (Spartasist)
➢ Social Impact: Huge gaps between poor people and rich people

● A New Germany: Weimar Republic:

➔ In January 1919 free elections took place in Germany for the first time.
Eberts party won and become president of the Weimar republic
➔ It depended in two factors: The Constitution and the German people

➔ The Constitution: Designed to be as democratic as possible and to

represent the many different groups which made up the German Society.
➢ Designed to be as democratic as possible and to represent the many
different groups which made up the German Society.
➢ ️The Weimar Constitution, attemped to be the democratic system in
the world.
➢ the chancellor was responsible for the day to day government, but he
needed support from the half of the reichstag (congreso o elecciones).

Crisis Years

● The threat of the left

➔ One left wing group was known as the Spartasist
➔ They were communist led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
➔ They wanted a Germany ruled by workers councils or soviets.
➔ But some anticommunist ex-soldiers had formed another group called Freikorps
➔ A rebellion between the Spartasist and the Freichkorps began, And Ebert made an
agreement with the commanders to put down the rebellion. But the Freikorps
eventually won and Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered.
➔ The spartacist uprising soon followed by another rebellion in Bavaria

● The threat of the right: Kapp Putsch

➔ At the same time there was a rebellion between the spartacist and the Freikorps the
right wing was also facing violence.
➔ The right wing opponents were largely people who had grown up successfully while
the Kaiser power was leading
➔ They were also resented because of the Treaty of Versailles. They felt humiliated and
they blame Ebert for agreeing to.
➔ So in March 1920 Kapp led 5000 Freikorps and it looked as if Eberts Government
was doomed (condenado)
➔ They declared a general strike which brought the capital to a halt (detener) this
meant no transport, no power, or water. After a few days Kapp realized that he
couldn’t succeed. He died waiting for his trial.

● The Treaty of Versailles

➔ The biggest crisis for the new democratic government was in 1919
when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced. As
Germany lost in the war: - 10% of its land, - All overseas colonies, -
12.5% of population, 16% of coal and 48% of its iron industry.
➔ Plus, by the treaty of Versailles: Germany’s army would have to be
reduced up to 100,000, the air force is not allowed and the navy was
also reduced. And Germany had to accept the blame of starting the
war and was forced to pay reparations.
➔ Germans felt that they were stabbed by the back as they felt betrayed
by the liberal and socialist politicians who agreed and armistice in
November 1918
➔ The treaty was still a source of bitterness in Germany when Hitler
came to power in 1933.

★ Economic disaster
➔ The treaty destabilised the Germans politically but also economically.
➔ The treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay an amount of $6600
million pounds. This bill was announced in April 1921.

★ Occupation of the Ruhr

● The first payment was an amount of $50 million and was paid in
1921. But in 1922 nothing was paid.
● Ebert tried his best at trying to negotiate with the allies, but the french
lost patience as they also had to pay debt to the USA.
● So in January 1923 France and Belgium troops entered the Ruhr and
they began to take what was owed in the form of raw materials and
goods.
● This occupation was disastrous for Germany as the government
ordered the workers to go on strike as they didnt want them to work
 for the french. But the French acted harshly by killing 100 workers and
expelling 100,000 protesters form the regions, they also brought some
of the workers of France to start working in German Industry so they
would take more goods.

● Hyperinflation:
➔ Because of the no trade and no goods, there was no money, so the
government started printing.
➔ People soon realized that the money was worthless
➔ Prices wages were rocked
➔ Poor people suffered
➔ People who lost moat were middle class Germans as now they couldn’t buy
food as the prices were high
➔ This situation needed urgent action so in August 1923, Stressemann took
over
■ He called passive resistance to the Ruhr
■ He replaced worthless marks with new currency called the
Rentenmark
■ He renegotiated the American loans by the Dawn's Plan
■ He negotiated the reparation payments.
➔ The economic crisis was solved very quickly
➔ The hyperinflation had donde political damage to the weimar government

Golden Years

● Weimar Republic: Under Stresemann

➔ Economy: Stresemann rebuilt Germany prosperity
➢ Under the Daws plan, reparation payments were spread over a longer
period.
➢ 800 million loans of the USA were poured into German Industries.
➢ Some went into public works like swimming pools, sports stadia.
➢ By 1927, German industry seemed to have recovered. And in 1928
Germany recovered the same levels of production as before the war
➢ Reparations were being increased and exportations were on increase
➢ Problems:

➔ Politics: Politics became stable

➢ There were not attempts of revolution after 1923
➢ Weimar democracy did well in these years
➢ By 1928 the moderate parties had 136 more seats in the Reichstag
(congreso) than the radical parties.
➢ Hitler, nazis gained less than 3% of the votes in the 1928 elections.
➢ Problems

➔ Culture: Cultural revival in Germany.

◆ The Weimar constitution allowed free expression of ideas.
◆ Artists in Germany started to go back to their old styles of painting
 ◆ The 1920 were the golden era of the cinema producing the greatest
◆ Problems:

➔ Foreign Policy: In 1925 he signed the Locarno treaties

◆ Defended the German borders
◆ In 1926 Germany was accepted in the League of Nations
● Here Stresemann started to act quitely on order to change the
terms of the Treaty…