Weimar Germany Summary
- Created by: OliviaYorke
- Created on: 22-05-17 22:26
Weimar Germany Revision
Interpretations of the Weimar Republic
· It was doomed from the start
· The republic had the potential to succeed & failed due to specific circumstances and misfortunes
Differences between the two views in…
1) Possibilities of Liberals unifying Germany in 1848
View One – feeble attempt, failed
View Two – brave attempt by liberals, combination of conservative rulers and foreign powers crushed them
2) Reasons for WWI
View One – aggressive ideas became widespread, wanted to dominate Europe. Grasp for power caused war
View Two – threat from socialist movements in Germany, government saw minor gains abroad as a way to distract from this. British and French were jealous of upstart state and this led to war
3) Reasons for failure of Weimar Republic
View One – democratic ways went against Germanys traditional militaristic values so failed to gain support
View Two – Treaty of Versailles and Great Depression caused major problems leading to the gamble of appointing Hitler as ruler as he was anti-communist (mistake of the elites)
4) How Hitler came to power
View One – the people voted him to power
View Two – he skilfully exploited nationalist resentment and fear, manipulating people to get him to power
5) Efficiency of the Nazi regime
View One – very efficient, embarked on plan to rid Germany of Jews and sub-humans
View Two – impressive looking to mask the chaos of different interests
6) Reasons for WWII
View One – Hitler prepared for war, was purposely looking for it to spread power
View Two – war was stumbled into after feeble western democracies encouraged Hitler to revise Versailles and misunderstanding on attack on Poland lead to war
7) Nature of post-war Germany
View One – Nazism lurked beneath the surface and Germans still wanted to express their power
View Two – prosperous parliamentary regime, east and west peacefully reunited in 1990 after popular revolution
Weimar Positives and Negatives
Positive Signs
Negative Signs
Removal of Kaiser (November 1918)
Anger regarding WWI
Previous attempts to set up democracy (1848)
Militaristic traditions – militaristic leaders
Had an elected Reichstag with some powers (to approve laws) and political parties
Democracy was unpopular with the most powerful/key groups in society (army, civil service, judiciary, landowners – Junker Class)
Well educated population
Tradition of authoritarian leadership – Kaiser and Chancellor
Advanced economy
Potential economic problems
Liberal cultural traditions
Communist and right wing threats
Racism/Anti-Semitism
World War One
Reactions: majority of Germans supported (even socialists who opposed nationalism), felt it was defensive against aggressive enemies (Britain, France, Russia), hoped for quick victory, period of patriotism – Volksgermeinschaft (people's community)
War: quick victory plan failed, two fronts – mostly eastern (Russia), naval blockade – seven shortages by 1917, support for the war broke down – socialists opposed, 2 million killed, 5 million injured by 1918
Defeat: Autumn 1917 – economic and military crisis, April 1917 – USA joined allies, Germany's allies on verge of…
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