GERMANY 1919-1945
You may be asked about
(a) the problems of the Weimar Republic 1919-1923
(b) the problems of the Weimar Republic 1923-1933
(c) the rise of Hitler and the Nazis 1923-1933
(d) the rise of Hitler and the Nazis 1929-1933
(e) how Hitler took control after 1933
(f) young people in Nazi Germany
(g) the opposition to Hitler
You are an ordinary working-class German. How do your feelings change?
1918
The First World War ended. Germany lost. Britain, France and the USA won.
The king (Kaiser) of Germany left and Germany became a republic.
Elections. Ebert was Chancellor.
1919
Fighting in Berlin between Communists and Nationalists.
Communists wanted to get rid of the rich people.
Nationalists wanted to bring back a strong leader like the Kaiser.
Berlin was so dangerous the government left the city and met in Weimar.
They made the rules for the new republic.
The Treaty of Versailles. The winners in the war punished Germany.
Germany had to accept blame for the war.
Germany had to lose land and most of its army.
Germany had to pay a lot of money every year.
FEELINGS IN 1919?
1923
Germany could not pay.
France sent its army into the Ruhr, a part of Germany.
German workers in the Ruhr went on strike.
The German government printed money to pay its workers.
The value of German money went down and down. Prices went up and up. Hyperinflation.
Stresemann, the new Chancellor, solved the problem. He changed the money system and borrowed lots of money from the USA. The Dawes Plan.
Adolf Hitler tried to take power in the city of Munich. This was called the Beer Hall Putsch. He failed and went to prison. There he wrote his book ‘My Struggle’.
1923-29
Things seemed to be going better in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party did not get much support.
FEELINGS IN 1923?
FEELINGS IN 1928?
1929.
The Wall Street Crash – a big money crisis in the USA.
The USA wanted its money back and closed its businesses in Germany.
Millions of Germans unemployed.
1929-1933
People lost confidence in the German government.
More and more support for the Nazis and Communists.
The Nazi SA (brownshirts) fighting the Communists in the streets.
Hitler promised bread, work and land. He said he would tear up the Treaty of Versailles. He blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems.
The Nazis started to do well in elections.
FEELINGS IN 1931?
1932
In elections the Nazis were the biggest party.
President Hindenburg tried to stop him being Chancellor but failed.
1933
Hitler became Chancellor.
The Reichstag (Parliament building) caught fire.
No one knows who started the fire.
Hitler blamed the Communists and took special powers.
Communists were arrested. Meetings were not allowed.
In new elections the Nazis did better. Hitler was still Chancellor.
He forced the Parliament to agree a new law. This was the Enabling Act. It said Hitler could make any law he wanted without asking Parliament.
Now Hitler had a lot of power.
Lots of people were arrested for criticising him.
He set up concentration camps.
All other political parties were banned.
But most Germans supported him. They wanted a strong leader.
1934
Hitler organised the murder of hundreds of top Nazis including Rohm, the head of the SA and his friend.
The SA was closed down and replaced by the SS.
President Hindenburg died and Hitler was now President and Chancellor.
He got all the soldiers in the army to swear to die for him personally.
He now had total control. He was a dictator.
Germany was a country of terror where everyone was afraid to speak out.
He started building up the army.
He found jobs for everyone building, making roads, in the armed forces.
FEELINGS IN 1935?