INTRO to the depth

Study

GERMANY BACKGROUND• Before 1919 Germany had been – under Kaiser

Wilhelm II – virtually a dictatorship. There was a Reichstag (a parliament), but it could not make laws and did not appoint the government. The Kaiser did all that. The German Government was a military autocracy.

(Germany before 1914)

• But the First World War changed everything. As Germany sank into defeat, the government fell apart. The navy rebelled and there were food riots. German had to sign the Armistice (temporary stoping war) in November 1918, and the Kaiser fled to Holland.

• After a short period of political chaos, the members of the Reichstag met in the small town of Weimar, near Berlin, and set up a new government in February 1919. It was a Republic (it did not have a king – which is why we call it the ‘Weimar Republic’) and it was a democracy.

• The Weimar Republic was a very good democracy. It had a Bill of Rights to protect the freedoms of the people, and it gave the vote to all men and women over the age of 21. The voting system was one of ‘proportional representation’ – which elected MPs exactly in line with the wishes of the people. The people elected the Reichstag, which appointed the government and made the laws. The Republic did have a President – Frederick Ebert – but he was elected too.

(The Weimar Republic)

Treaty of versailieshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le89WkxGTmU&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31vkB4IdS0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzZ1OwPXgk&feature=fvwrel(The Treaty of Versailles)

(The Peace Settlements of WWI)

(A war to end all War)

Weimar Republic Germany 1919–1933The history of Germany 1919–1933 falls into three phases:

1919–1923At first the Weimar Republic had great difficulties:•Left wing rebellions •All people were angry with it •Right-wing rebellions and terrorism •Invasion and inflation •Munich Putsch

1923–1929– But the Republic survived and (after Gustav

Stresemann became Chancellor in 1923) did well:

• Economic Prosperity • Foreign Policy successes • Cultural flowering (architecture, books, art)

1929–1933– After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, however, the

Republic collapsed: – Unemployment – Nazi Party grew more powerful – In 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor

(Weimar Problems 1919-1923)(was Weimar Republic ever a success)(Directed Investigation)