cojs.org/.../4/4f/ Adolf_Hitler_Appointed.jpg

The Rise to Power of Hitler & National Socialism in Germany

Weimar Republic Background

• Name of the government after World War One ; set up in town of Weimar

•1919-1933 known as Weimar Germany even though the government soon moved back to Berlin

Background Weimar cont’d

• 9 Nov 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm 11 abdicated• Civilian government took over,

Scheidemann 1st Chancellor• Given powers to rule by decree if Reichstag

(German Parliament) failed to reach agreements

• January 1919 – people elected an assembly & they were to draw up a constitution

• Reichstag was to be elected by proportional representation

• President would be elected who would have the power to appoint/dismiss the Chancellor (Prime Minister)

• June 1919, Friedrich Ebert becomes the 1st President (Socialist but not revolutionary)

Factors that led to the rise of Hitler & the Nazis

1. Weaknesses of the Weimar Republic2. Occupation of the Ruhr & hyper-inflation3. Munich Putsch4. Optimism of the Stresemann era ended by

the Great Depression

1) Weakness of the Weimar Republic

- 1st five years were chaos as the Communists & the Right wing tried to topple the government

- Had the difficult tasks of:a) Coming to terms with the Treaty of

Versaillesb) Maintaining civil orderc) Payment of reparations (dealing with

the war guilt clause)

“Stab in the Back!”

A 1924 right-wing German political cartoon

Weakness of Weimar, cont’d- Spartacist (Communists) Putsch,

1919; a short- lived Communist regime rule in Munich until bands of war veterans restored order

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob8B5YNG2VE

-Kapp Putsch, 1920; right-wing challenge, initiated by military

Wolfgang Kapp

Result of two attempted putsches

- Weimar government forced to use martial law (rule by military force) and run by presidential decree (this became the norm)

- 1924 Moderates in dominate and stability returns to the Reichstag

2) Reparations and Hyperinflation –economic woes in Germany

Reparations (equivalent to $838 billion US today)

• Reparations were the biggest problem for the government; 1st payment (5 billion) came from art treasures, jewelry & the savings of those with property

• This drove public support away from the Weimar Government

• Subsequent payments were to come from profits made on foreign markets but Germany was not welcome on these markets

• United States loaned money to Germany & charged very high interest rates

Hyper-inflation• Germany government printed more & more

money to pay off its debts• Loss of industrial output (& coal & iron) had

damaged the economy • 1921 onwards the value of the mark (German

currency) fell rapidly

Hyper-Inflation

Inflation and food shortages during 1923: German shoppers line upin front of a Berlin bakery www.missouriwestern.edu/. ../inflation2.html

1922 Germany defaulted on its reparationpayments & France occupied the Ruhr in January 1923,

determined to take the coal for themselves

http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/taylor_map.jpg

Occupation of the Ruhr (industrial heartland)

A German poster urges passive resistance during the Ruhr crisis, under the motto"No! You won't subdue

me!"

Reaction to Ruhr Occupation• German workers went on strike in protest and an

already-weak economy ground to a halt• Inflation soared• Cost of bread in 1918 0.6 of a mark• Cost of bread in (Jan) 1923 250 marks• Cost of bread in Sept 1923 1.5 mill marks• Savings of middle- and working-class people were

wiped out overnight• Most Germans would never trust the Weimar

Republic again

Better Economic Times for Germany

• Americans convinced the French to evacuate the Ruhr in return for a promise by Germany to resume payments

• 1924 Dawes Plan allocated $30 billion in US aid to Germany to assist in reconstruction, Germany to make payments on an ability-to-pay scale

• 1929 Young Plan – further modifications to reparation-payment arrangements (spread payments out over 59 years)

Munich Putsch (Beer Hall Putsch)1923

Munich Putsch November 9, 1923

• Occupation of Ruhr & hyper-inflation convinced Adolf Hitler that the time had come for armed seizure of power (a putsch)

• Plan was once the NAZIS (National Socialist German Workers Party) had taken control they would march on Berlin

• Hitler & Ludendorff + 3,000 armed & brown-shirted Nazi storm troopers marched from a beer hall towards Bavarian Parliament

• Bavarian police fired on the marchers; 16 were killed

• Hitler was arrested and given a 5 year sentence; released after 9 months

• In jail he wrote Mein Kampf and set the plans for a legal take over of Germany

4) End of Stresemann Era-Optimism ended due to Great Depression

Leadership of Gustav Stresemann • 1924-1929 “Golden Years of the Republic”• Currency was stable, economy

began to prosper• 1925- ordered German workers back to work

& French withdrew from the Ruhr• Helped by the Dawes Plan & Young Plan

• Germany in the international community• 1925 Locarno Treaties (with France) –

Germany recognized the border with France and gave up Alsace-Lorraine

• 1926 Germany joins League of Nationshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFB8X5Jy2ZA

Crash of ’29• Fate of Germany was sealed with the economic

crash; US called back its loans from Germany• Government reacted by cutting unemployment &

welfare benefits• Centre Party’s coalition partners, The Socialists,

withdrew from government in protest• This meant the government did not have

majority support in the Reichstag, allowing for opposition parties to get more votes