NAZI GERMANY

Setting the Scene

Treaty of Versailles 1919

18th

January 1919
Power of the Big Three

Negotiations over the treaty France, Great Britain,

USA.
Germany excluded from Conference Attendance
April-May
Germany was outraged by the outcome of the
Conference- forced into signing the Treaty.

Signed

on 28th June 1919

Implications of Treaty
Military

provisions Germany army was reduced

to 100,000 men.
Restrictions in Navy and forbidden to develop
Airforce
Territorial Provisions
Germany was to pay the final reparations cost of
World War 1
War GuiltClause 231 of Treaty states that Germany must
accept responsibility for causing the war
Treaty caused a long lasting legacy of bitterness
and humiliation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
KfnEy8FuElc

stab in the back legend

The

defeat of WWI affected all of Germany

greatly

great belief grew that Germany had not

been defeated; it had been betrayed

The

Germany army claimed that it had not

failed but been betrayed by the
revolutionary activity at home.
for example- Ammunition worker strikes in
Berlin and the break down of the home front
were to blame

Weimar Republic 19191933

The fourteen years of the Weimar Republic

were a way station on the road to genocide
(Historian Paul Bookbinder)
New

constitution after WWI made Germany made

one of the most democratic states in the world.
German people were all held equal before the
law.

The

Weimar constitution had major weaknesses

it allowed the president of the Republic to pass
laws at a time of crisis without consent of the
Reichstag

Great Depression
October

1929- American stock market crashed

Germany

was particularly badly hit as American

banks called in the loans which propped up the
German industry

By

1932 the number of unemployed people had

soared to more than six million, living standards
collapsed and business and industry was at standstill

The

state of Germany caused political instability as

current Weimar Government was unable to deal with
the effects of Great Depression

Great Depression
The

Nazi Party used the current situation in

Germany to gain political power

Many

Germans lost faith in the Weimar

government

This

was a also a time of great political

propaganda the Nazi party used this
effectively to gain support

How and why Hitler, Nazi party

and the Third Reich came to power
https://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=
4zCF7KUh8RU