Chancellor President

Ebert

Cuno

Stressman (100 day chancellor) Hindenburg

Brüning

Von Papen Hitler

Hitler

YEAR KEY WORDS, PURPOSE, EFFECT

1918 - People who signed armistace were called the “November
Criminals”
Armistace
- Germany had to accept responsibility for the outbreaks of WW1
and pay reparations.
Kaiser exiled - Rioting because Germans blamed Kaiser for their defeat.
1919 - Weimar Republic - parliamentary democracy:
- Guaranteed freedom of speech, religion and equality.
New constitution
- Men AND women over 20 could vote
- Opposition to the Weimar constitution:
- Some Germans wanted the Kaiser to return,
- many senior figures didn’t support the democracy
- Some wanted a communist revolution like in Russia.
- National Assembly met in Weimar because Berlin was too
dangerous
- Proportional representation. Gave everyone a say, but led to some
extremist groups gaining power and coalitions - unstable
government.
- Article 48 - emergency decree, President could pass laws without
Reichstag approval.

Spartacist uprising
- Communists tried to set up a communist government.
- Occupied the headquarters of the government newspaper,
telephone offices, tried to bring a general strike.
 - Difficult to end the revolt because of limited troops.
- Government used Freikorps (volunteer soldiers)
- Freikorps hated communism, so stopped the revolt quickly.

- Alsace Lorraine given to France

Treaty of Versailles
- Eupen and Malmedy given to Belgium
- War Guilt
- Reparations of 136,000 million marks
- Military forces cut - no tanks or submarines, army limited to
100,000 men and could only be used internally.

German Workers’ - Led by Anton Drexler.

party formed - Hitler worked for the army to monitor activities of extreme political
groups.
- He gathered information from the Workers’ party, but agreed with
their ideals;
- Democracy was weak
- Jews were to blame for weakness
- Socialists had betrayed Germany by signing the Treaty of
Versailles.
1920 - happened because Ebert tried to disband two Freikorps units.
- Freikorps marched into Berlin to declare Dr. Wolfgang Kapp leader.
Kapp Putsch
- Kapp = extreme Nationalist , had support of army officers
- German army refused to stop Freikorps. They felt sympathetic.
- Ebert moved the government out of Berlin
- Ebert brought about a general strike: gas, water, electricity
- City was not able to function.
- Kapp didn’t have support he needed, so fled to Sweden.
- Freikorps disbanded
- Showed that the government had little military power.
1921 - Hitler was in charge of propaganda for the German Workers’ Party
- Renamed it to NSDAP (national socialist German workers’ party)
Hitler becomes
- Anti-communist ideals, antisemitism to blame people for
leader of Nazis
Germany’s defeat, destruction of the Treaty of Versailles.
- Party increased to 1,100
- They bought a newspaper (People’s Observer)
- Hitler introduced the swastika and arm salute, and controlled the
party like a military leader.
- Powerful connections like General Ludendorff.

- Stormtroopers were the SA

Stormtroopers - Ernst Rohm was the leader
(SA) set up - Paramilitary force - riveted group run like a military force
- Disrupt meeting of opposing political parties, violent.
- By 1940 there were 400,000 members
1923 - Belgian and French troops marched into the Ruhr (Germany’s
centre of iron, steel and coal production)
French invasion of
- Germans had fallen behind on their reparation payments.
Ruhr
- German government encouraged passive resistance
- German economy struggled even more, lost income, German
government had to pay more money to pay workers.

Hyperinflation
- CAUSES of hyperinflation:
- Government printed more money during WW1, then more
for reparations, then the invasion of the Ruhr.
- By November 1923, it cost 4.2 billion marks to buy a dollar. ( 4
marks in 1914)
- 201 billion marks to buy a loaf of bread.
- Prices rose rapidly, but good for people with loans because value of
loans decreased.
- Farmers benefited because they could sell products at higher
prices.

- Hitler wanted to overthrow the Weimar Republic.

Munich Putsch
- Economic problems
(beer hall putsch)
- Weak government
- Similar approach to Moussilini (a Fascist), use violence to
Rentenmark
force the government to accept him as leader.
introduced
- He believed the Nazis were ready to seize power (20,000
supporters + SA, Otto Lossow - head of German army in
Bavaria, Kahr - Bavarian prime minister)
- Wanted to install Ludendorff as new leader.
- Hitler was arrested, 14 Nazis killed.
- Sentenced to 5 years in jail, but only spent 9 months - judicial
leniency.
- Hitler wrote Mein Kampf.
- Nazi party banned.
- Hitler established the SS

-
1924 - Charles Dawes sent to Germany by Stressman
- USA loaned Germany 800 million marks
Dawes Plan
 - Reparations lowered to 1,000 million marks for 5 years, then 2,500
Hitler’s trial and million marks after.
imprisonment - French agreed to withdraw troops from Ruhr.

1925 - Germany would accept its western borders.

- Avoid military force except in self-defense
Locarno Pact
- Alsace-Lorraine to be French.
- Germany’s Eastern borders settled peacefully through the League
Ban on Nazi party
of Nations.
lifted
- Germany treated as an equal

Hindenburg
- He and Stressman united moderate parties on both sides.
becomes President
- coalitions were able to govern effectively
- Germans were happy, no need to vote for extremists.
1926 - Result of the Locarno Pact
- Settle disputes peacefully and diplomatically.
Germany joins
League of Nations
1928 - Prevent further war. Not to use military force to settle
disagreements.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
- Involved the USA, which was not in the League of Nations.
1929 - reparation payments to be made over 59 years.
- Germany obliged to any only a third of annual reparations.
Young Plan
- Total reparations reduced to $8 billion.

Wall Street Crash

- USA couldn’t loan Germany money.
- German economy crashed
- Suspension of reparation payments.
- Great Depression:
- 50% of 16-30 year olds were unemployed by 1933.
- Economic problems in rural areas caused them to turn to
the Nazis
- Less customers for businesses.
- 4 out of 10 couldn’t get a job - employment benefits
reduced.
- Hindenburg used Article 48 to elect Bruning as chancellor because
he didn’t have the majority vote.
-

YEAR KEY WORDS, PURPOSE, EFFECT

1932 - They had 230 seats
- Bruning tried to ban the SA and SS with Article 48
Nazis = biggest party in
- Bruning sacked as chancellor under the influence of Von
Reichstag
Scheicher (army general)
- Von Papen was elected as chancellor - underestimated Hitler.
- Powerful businessmen wrote to Hindenburg to ask him to
appoint Hitler as chancellor. He refused (Hitler=lower class, too
ambitious)
- Von Schleicher wanted to have a military dictatorship (thought
Hitler and Von Papen were conspiring against him) - lost
support of the Reichstag.
1933 - After Von Paper persuaded Hindenburg. Von Papen = vice
Chancellor, Hitler = chancellor.
(January) Hitler
becomes Chancellor

- Started by a Dutch communist. He was executed.

(Feb.) Reichstag fire
- Hitler used this to his advantage to demean communism.
- 4,000 communist leaders arrested
- New emergency “Decree for the Protection of the People and
State” - police power to search homes and imprison anyone
without trial.
- Goering used decree to take over the state radio station.

- Goering recruited 50,000 SA members as ‘police auxiliaries’

March elections
- Thousands of Communist and social Democratic Party members
were sent to concentration camps.
- Propaganda:

- Ended democracy
Enabling Act passed
- Hitler could make laws and sign foreign treaties without
Reichstag approval.
- Used to remove any opposition from the Reichstag
First concentration
- Hitler used emergency powers - banned Communist party from
camp opened
the Reichstag and all other political parties (July).
- Nationalists agreed to support Nazis
- Central Party supported Nazis because they promised to protect
the Catholic Church

Concordat signed with

- Church not to get involved in political affairs
Catholic Church
 - Catholic Church to have freedom of worship, youth groups and
schools.
- Agreement broken. Images of Hitler instead of Crucifix
- Membership of Catholic Youth Groups made illegal.
- State funding of Church was cut
- Gestapo and SS spies in Church.
- Reich Church (Protestant) set up.
- Confessional Church set up to oppose Reich Church in 1934:
- 5,000 members
- When Nazis found out clergy was sent to concentration
Law for Encouragement camps, and Bonhoeffer (the leader) hanged.
of Marriage
- Loaned couples money to get married.
Sterilization law - Only happened if woman gave up work.

- Sterilized people with illnesses.

1934 - Goebbels - Minister of Propaganda:
- Newspapers controlled. Any Nazi - opposing paper shut
Ministry of propaganda
down. Nazis owned 8 newspapers.
- Radios couldn’t pick up foreign broadcasts.
- Anti-Nazi and Jewish authors banned. ‘Un-German’
books burned.
- All writers, actor and musicians had to join “ Reich
Chamber of Commerce”. Jazz banned because it was
black music.
- Public parades and rallies
- Posters showed that Hitler was a great leader.

- SA was very powerful = 2 million members

Night of the long
- Hitler saw Ernst Rohm as a potential rival
knives(June)
- SS leader - Himmler.
- SA members were too violent and embarrassing, many drunk
fights. Nazis lost support of conservative Germans.
- Rohm was a homosexual - some thought he was corrupting the
Hitler Youth.
- SA wanted to take the place of the army.
- SS arrested 200 SA officers and executed them (Rohm included)

Hinderburg 😵(August) - Hitler - Chancellor + President = Fuhrer

- Hitler in control of the Third Reich.
Hitler abolished state - Hitler had 90% of the public vote.
parliaments. - Totalitarian rule - control over all aspects of peoples’ lives.
- Indoctrination and censorship
Hitler = head of state - Control of: courts, churches, radio, newspapers, education etc.
- Gestapo formed to incite terror. - used the public for info.
1935 - Intermarriage between Aryans and Gypsies and Blacks banned.
- ‘Reich Law for the protection of German Blood and Honour’
Nuremberg Laws
- Jews banned from public places and army : parks, cinemas etc
- Jews couldn’t vote, or be German citizens.
- ⅔ of Jews emigrated.

- Unemployed men forced to join RAD (labour force); manual

labour, building cars.
1936 - Hitler wanted to indoctrinate young people
- Youth groups set up to reduce time spent with families to limit
Hitler Youth compulsory
other influences.
- Curriculum changed:
Olympic Games in
- ‘Race Studies’ - Aryans superior, Jews lowest racial type.
Berlin
- PE prepared boys for army, girls to be healthy mothers
- Lebensraum (living space) replaced Geography.
- Domestic Science - irks to be future wives and mothers.
- By 1930 there were 8 million members.
- Nazis banned contraception and abortion- encouraged children
‘Four Year Plan’

- Set up by Goering
- To prepare Germany for war.
Juvenile delinquents,
- Making Germany self-sufficient
Jew, homosexuals etc.
- Autarky - not needing food or materials from another country.
sent to concentration
- Created jobs: building motorways and cars (Volkswagen)
camps.
- DAF - German Labour Front. Work more for less pay:
- KDF( Strength through joy) rewarded workers for hard
work.
- SDA(beauty of labour) - improve working conditions
e.g. canteens, hot meals , sport.
1937 - Started in Rhineland:
- Dress and music didn’t fit Nazi standards.
Edelweiss Pirates
- Anti-Nazi graffiti
formed
- Beat up Hitler Youth members
- Gave shelter to army deserters + escaped prisoners
- Derailed train cars with ammunition =, and gave
explosives to adult resistance groups
 - Swing Youth: listened to Jazz ‘degenerate’ music.
- Some served short sentences/arrested.
1938 - After the murder of a German official by a Jewish man.
- 800 Jewish shops destroyed.
Kristallnacht
- 200 synagogues vandalised or burned.
(November)
- 90 Jews killed and 30,000 arrested.
1939 - Unemployment reduced to ½ a million from 6 million in 1933
- Germany occupied Poland which had 2 million Jews.
Membership of Youth
- Jews forced to move to Ghettos - dirty, cramped, typhus spread.
groups made
compulsory

WW2 begins

YEAR KEY WORDS, PURPOSE, EFFECT

1941 - TOTAL WAR
- Conquered the west of the country and took more Jews.
Germany invades
- Special units (Einsatzgruppen) 1.2 million civilians, mostly Jews, in
Soviet Union.
the Soviet Union
(Operation
- Soviets adopted a scorched Earth policy - destroying useful things
Barbarossa)
as they retreated.
- Prolonged battle, 2 million German soldiers died.
- Russian prisoners of war used as slave labour.
1942 - Final solution
- 150,000 Jews sent to camps in eastern Poland and put to death.
Holocaust begins
(genocide)

- To convert concentration camps into extermination camps.

Wannsee
- 6 million Jews killed
Conference
- Gas chambers made to kill up to 2,000 people at a time.
- 2.5 million German children evacuated to rural parts (KLV
programme) to avoid allied bombing.

1943 - Hans and Mary Scholl

- Group criticised the treatment of Jews and Slavs.
Scholls executed
- Wanted to stop the war.
- Printed anti-Nazi leaflets and painted anti-Nazi messages on
buildings.
Total war regime - men and women form 16-65 had to register for work
enforced - Small businesses closed (not essential)
- By the end of the war women made up 60% of the workforce.
1944 - Led by Von Stauffenberg. Bomb in briefcase.
- kill Hitler and install Dr Carl Goerdeler (anti-Nazi politician) as
(July) Bomb plot
chancellor.
- Army leader moved briefcase, 4 killed, Hitler survived.
- Von Stauffenberg killed
- 7,000 plotters arrested = 6,000 of them were executed.

Ban on holidays for

- working week increased to 60 hours
workers
- Places of entertainment closed down
- Volkssturm (home guard) formed to protect Germany from
invasion. Boys as young as 12 recruited.

Allied raids on Ruhr

- Reduced metal production by 40%
valley
1945 - 1 million civilians died from hunger, disease and cold.
- Allied advancing into Germany.
Germany surrenders
- Bombing of German cities relentlessly.