IGCSE HISTORY: GERMANY DEPTH STUDY
1. Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?
How did Germany emerge from defeat at the end of the First World War?
● (P): The Revolution of 1918
○ The shock of military defeat & conviction that the nation was
betrayed from within by corrupt & craven politicians created post war
instability
es
■ Many ex-soldiers & civilians despised the new democratic leaders
■ Street fights between contending factions became common
○ Causes
■ Failure in WW1
● Germany’s army was not completely defeated, but by 1918
had been significantly diminished
ot
● Spring Offensive failed
● 2 million + died, low morale
■ Economic hardship
● Allied blockade prevented imports of supplies & food
N
● Food shortages = suffering & military failure caused a sense
of hopelessness
● Influenza was rampant in Europe and by August 1918 killed
millions
ay ■ The Russian Revolution
● Contributed to the discontent in Germany
● The Russians replaced their Tsar with a communist
government led by Vladimir Lenin after the October 1917
Revolution
● Many Germans wanted to replace the undemocratic rule of
nj
the Kaiser by councils of workers & soldiers
○ Events of 1918
■ 29th October: German sailors at Wilhelmshaven refuse to follow
order & mutiny spreads to Kiel
Sa
■ 4th November: 40,000 sailors join dock workers & set up a workers’
& soldiers’ council & took over the dockyard
■ 7th November: German workers in Bavaria force local King Ludwig III
to step down
● Other regional monarch begin to abdicate
■ 9th November: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates & flees to the Netherlands
after pressure from his own ministers & Allies who say they will only
a
negotiate with “representatives of the people”
● Chancellor Prince Max von Baden also resigns, & Social
Democratic Party (SPD) member Friedrich Ebert becomes
ni
the new Chancellor
○ Consequences of the revolution
■ The Kaiser had abdicated & was now replaced by the Weimar
Republic, Germany’s first democracy
So
● Weimar Republic born out of military defeat & revolution post
WW1
● Undercurrent of anti-democratic feeling damaged the fabric
of the republic
■ Unstable political scene
● Extreme left wing (communists/Spartacists) & right wing
groups (Friekorps) fought for power
○ The Spartacists Uprising, January 1919
, ■ Politics: communists, extreme left wing
■ Leaders: Karl Liebnecht & Rosa Luxembourg
■ Aim: overthrow Weimar Republic & create a communist govt in
Germany
■ Spartacists had broken away from SPD in 1915 & wanted to create a
communist state in Germany
● 30th December: Declared the formation of the Communist
es
Party of Germany (KPD)
■ Events:
● 5th January 1919: Spartacists begin an armed takeover of
Berlin
○ Hundreds of workers given weapons; Berlin
paralysed by street fighting
ot
○ Took control of govt’s newspaper headquarters &
telegraph bureau
○ Won some support from working class
● 10th January: Spartacists are put down by the Freikorps
N
○ Chancellor Ebert organised 3,000+ former soldiers
(Friekorps) to come to Berlin
○ Friekorps were right wing, fiercely nationalist &
anti-communists
ay ● 13th January: Liebknecht & Luxembourg captured &
executed
○ 100 Spartacists & 17 Friekorps killed in fighting
○ Ebert regained control of Berlin but had to rely on the
Freikorps
■ Undermined the credibility of the new govt
nj
○ April 1919 Communist Uprising
■ April 1919: Communists in Southern Bavaria attempt nother
revolution, declaring an “Independent Soviet Republic”
● Captured Munich
Sa
■ May 1919: Soviet was attacked by 9,000 German Army soldiers &
30,000+ members of the Freikorps
● 1,700+ Communists killed in Munich
● Summer 1919: threat of the communists were over
○ Kapp Putsch, March 1920
■ Politics: Freikorps, extreme right wing
■ Leaders: Wolfgang Kapp (one of Freikorps commanders)
a
■ Aim: overthrow the Weimar Republic & create a military right wing
dictatorship; to ignore the TOV
■ Marched into Berlin & took it over
ni
● President Ebert & Weimar govt forced to flee
● Kapp declared a new right wing govt
■ President Ebert appealed to ordinary workers
● Went on strike, refused to work for Freikorps & Kapp
So
● Successful strike = Kapp pulled out of Berlin within days
■ None of leaders of Putsch were punished (judges sympathetic to
right wingers)
● Economic
○ Farming was disrupted as many farmers were drafted into the army
■ 1918, Germany was producing only 50% of the milk, and 60% of the
butter and meat, which had been produced before the war
○ WW1: crippling war debts + TOV
1. Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?
How did Germany emerge from defeat at the end of the First World War?
● (P): The Revolution of 1918
○ The shock of military defeat & conviction that the nation was
betrayed from within by corrupt & craven politicians created post war
instability
es
■ Many ex-soldiers & civilians despised the new democratic leaders
■ Street fights between contending factions became common
○ Causes
■ Failure in WW1
● Germany’s army was not completely defeated, but by 1918
had been significantly diminished
ot
● Spring Offensive failed
● 2 million + died, low morale
■ Economic hardship
● Allied blockade prevented imports of supplies & food
N
● Food shortages = suffering & military failure caused a sense
of hopelessness
● Influenza was rampant in Europe and by August 1918 killed
millions
ay ■ The Russian Revolution
● Contributed to the discontent in Germany
● The Russians replaced their Tsar with a communist
government led by Vladimir Lenin after the October 1917
Revolution
● Many Germans wanted to replace the undemocratic rule of
nj
the Kaiser by councils of workers & soldiers
○ Events of 1918
■ 29th October: German sailors at Wilhelmshaven refuse to follow
order & mutiny spreads to Kiel
Sa
■ 4th November: 40,000 sailors join dock workers & set up a workers’
& soldiers’ council & took over the dockyard
■ 7th November: German workers in Bavaria force local King Ludwig III
to step down
● Other regional monarch begin to abdicate
■ 9th November: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates & flees to the Netherlands
after pressure from his own ministers & Allies who say they will only
a
negotiate with “representatives of the people”
● Chancellor Prince Max von Baden also resigns, & Social
Democratic Party (SPD) member Friedrich Ebert becomes
ni
the new Chancellor
○ Consequences of the revolution
■ The Kaiser had abdicated & was now replaced by the Weimar
Republic, Germany’s first democracy
So
● Weimar Republic born out of military defeat & revolution post
WW1
● Undercurrent of anti-democratic feeling damaged the fabric
of the republic
■ Unstable political scene
● Extreme left wing (communists/Spartacists) & right wing
groups (Friekorps) fought for power
○ The Spartacists Uprising, January 1919
, ■ Politics: communists, extreme left wing
■ Leaders: Karl Liebnecht & Rosa Luxembourg
■ Aim: overthrow Weimar Republic & create a communist govt in
Germany
■ Spartacists had broken away from SPD in 1915 & wanted to create a
communist state in Germany
● 30th December: Declared the formation of the Communist
es
Party of Germany (KPD)
■ Events:
● 5th January 1919: Spartacists begin an armed takeover of
Berlin
○ Hundreds of workers given weapons; Berlin
paralysed by street fighting
ot
○ Took control of govt’s newspaper headquarters &
telegraph bureau
○ Won some support from working class
● 10th January: Spartacists are put down by the Freikorps
N
○ Chancellor Ebert organised 3,000+ former soldiers
(Friekorps) to come to Berlin
○ Friekorps were right wing, fiercely nationalist &
anti-communists
ay ● 13th January: Liebknecht & Luxembourg captured &
executed
○ 100 Spartacists & 17 Friekorps killed in fighting
○ Ebert regained control of Berlin but had to rely on the
Freikorps
■ Undermined the credibility of the new govt
nj
○ April 1919 Communist Uprising
■ April 1919: Communists in Southern Bavaria attempt nother
revolution, declaring an “Independent Soviet Republic”
● Captured Munich
Sa
■ May 1919: Soviet was attacked by 9,000 German Army soldiers &
30,000+ members of the Freikorps
● 1,700+ Communists killed in Munich
● Summer 1919: threat of the communists were over
○ Kapp Putsch, March 1920
■ Politics: Freikorps, extreme right wing
■ Leaders: Wolfgang Kapp (one of Freikorps commanders)
a
■ Aim: overthrow the Weimar Republic & create a military right wing
dictatorship; to ignore the TOV
■ Marched into Berlin & took it over
ni
● President Ebert & Weimar govt forced to flee
● Kapp declared a new right wing govt
■ President Ebert appealed to ordinary workers
● Went on strike, refused to work for Freikorps & Kapp
So
● Successful strike = Kapp pulled out of Berlin within days
■ None of leaders of Putsch were punished (judges sympathetic to
right wingers)
● Economic
○ Farming was disrupted as many farmers were drafted into the army
■ 1918, Germany was producing only 50% of the milk, and 60% of the
butter and meat, which had been produced before the war
○ WW1: crippling war debts + TOV
