Germany becomes a republic

Germany's defeat in the First World War brought revolution. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and, in 1919, a new democratic republic was set up at the town of Weimar.

• The new government signed the Armistice (November 1918). Its leaders were nicknamed the "November Criminals" by their enemies, who blamed them for the "stab in the back".
• The Weimar Constitution was very democratic: votes for all men and women over 20, and a President elected every 7 years.
• But it had weaknesses: proportional representation led to many small parties and weak coalitions, and Article 48 let the President rule by decree in an emergency.

Misconception alert: the "stab in the back" was a myth. Germany was defeated militarily in 1918; the new republic did not lose the war, but it was unfairly blamed for the surrender.

The Treaty of Versailles, 1919

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) punished Germany harshly and was hated across the country. Its main terms are often remembered as "GARL":

• Guilt — the "War Guilt Clause" (Article 231) forced Germany to accept blame for the war.
• Armed forces — the army was limited to 100,000 men, with no air force, tanks or submarines.
• Reparations — Germany had to pay huge compensation, later fixed at £6.6 billion.
• Land — Germany lost territory and all its colonies; the Rhineland was demilitarised.

Germans called it a "Diktat" (a dictated peace). Resentment of Versailles damaged the Weimar Republic and was a gift to extremists like the Nazis.

The hated treaty

1923: occupation and hyperinflation

1923 was the Republic's worst year:

• When Germany fell behind on reparations, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr (Germany's industrial heartland) in January 1923.
• The government ordered passive resistance (workers went on strike) and printed money to pay them.
• This triggered hyperinflation: money became worthless. By late 1923 a loaf of bread cost billions of marks, and savings were wiped out.

Hyperinflation ruined the middle classes who had savings, and made many Germans lose faith in the Weimar democracy.

Stresemann and recovery, 1924–29

Gustav Stresemann helped Germany recover in the later 1920s — the "golden years" of Weimar:

• He introduced a new stable currency (the Rentenmark) to end hyperinflation.
• The Dawes Plan (1924) and later the Young Plan (1929) reorganised reparations and brought US loans that boosted industry.
• Germany's international standing improved: the Locarno Treaties (1925) and joining the League of Nations (1926).

Weakness: the recovery depended heavily on American loans. When those were suddenly recalled after the 1929 Wall Street Crash, the German economy collapsed — with disastrous political results.

Date the Republic

The Munich Putsch, 1923

Adolf Hitler led the small Nazi Party (NSDAP), with its private army the SA ("brownshirts"). In November 1923, during the chaos of hyperinflation, he tried to seize power.

• In the Munich Putsch (November 1923), Hitler and the Nazis tried to take over the government of Bavaria and march on Berlin (copying Mussolini).
• The putsch failed: the police stopped the march, several Nazis were killed, and Hitler was arrested.
• Hitler was tried for treason but got a light sentence, serving only about 9 months in prison, where he wrote "Mein Kampf".

Turning point: after the failed putsch, Hitler decided to seek power legally — through elections — rather than by force. The trial also gave him valuable publicity.

The Depression and Nazi growth

The Nazis were a minor party in the "golden years", but the Great Depression transformed their fortunes:

• The Wall Street Crash (1929) caused US loans to be recalled. German firms collapsed and unemployment soared to around 6 million by 1932.
• The Weimar government seemed unable to cope, and people turned to extremist parties — the Nazis and the Communists.
• Hitler's propaganda (run by Goebbels), his promises of "work and bread", and the SA's activity won mass support. In the July 1932 elections the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag.

The Depression is the key reason for the Nazi rise: without the economic collapse of 1929–32, Hitler's message of national revival would not have attracted so many desperate voters.

The failed seizure

Hitler becomes Chancellor

Even as the largest party, the Nazis did not simply win power — Hitler was appointed. Conservative politicians thought they could control him.

• President Hindenburg at first refused to make Hitler Chancellor.
• But after political "backstairs intrigue" — led by Franz von Papen, who believed he could use Hitler — Hindenburg gave way.
• On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, with von Papen as Vice-Chancellor.

Misconception alert: Hitler was not "voted in" as dictator. He was appointed Chancellor legally in January 1933, then used his position to destroy democracy over the following months.

Date the appointment

The Reichstag Fire and the Enabling Act

Once Chancellor, Hitler moved fast to turn power into dictatorship:

• On 27 February 1933 the Reichstag (parliament building) burned down. A Dutch Communist, van der Lubbe, was blamed; Hitler used it to whip up fear of a Communist plot.
• An emergency decree let him arrest thousands of Communists and ban opposition meetings before the March election.
• In March 1933 the Enabling Act was passed, letting Hitler make laws without the Reichstag or the President for four years — the legal basis of his dictatorship.

The key to dictatorship

The Night of the Long Knives

By 1934 Hitler faced a threat from within his own movement. Ernst Röhm and the huge SA wanted more radical change and a bigger role, alarming the army and business leaders.

• On the Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934), Hitler used the SS to murder Röhm and other SA leaders, plus old rivals.
• This removed the SA threat and won the loyalty of the regular army.
• When President Hindenburg died (August 1934), Hitler merged the roles of Chancellor and President to become Führer, and the army swore an oath of loyalty to him personally.

By late 1934 Hitler's dictatorship was complete: he was Führer, controlled the state, the army and the Nazi Party, and faced no legal opposition.

Date the purge

Event ↔ significance

Tap an event on the left, then tap its significance on the right.

The police state and propaganda

The Nazis controlled Germany through a mix of terror and persuasion:

• The SS (led by Himmler) and the secret police, the Gestapo, spied on and arrested opponents, who were sent to concentration camps.
• The courts and law were "Nazified" — judges were expected to support the regime.
• Propaganda (run by Goebbels) controlled newspapers, radio, film and mass rallies (like Nuremberg) to spread Nazi ideas and glorify Hitler.
• Censorship banned unwanted books, art and music; the regime staged public book burnings.

Historians debate how far Germans obeyed out of fear and how far they were genuinely won over by propaganda — probably a mixture of both.

Young people and women

The Nazis tried to reshape society to fit their ideas:

• Youth: boys joined the Hitler Youth and girls the League of German Girls (BDM). Schools taught Nazi ideas, especially race and loyalty to Hitler; boys were prepared to be soldiers, girls to be mothers.
• Women: the Nazi ideal was "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church). Women were encouraged to leave work, marry and have many children (rewarded with the Mother's Cross).

Not everyone conformed: some young people rebelled (e.g. the Edelweiss Pirates and the Swing Youth), showing Nazi control of the young was never total.

Work, and the victims of Nazism

• Work: the Nazis cut unemployment through public works (the autobahns), rearmament, and schemes like the National Labour Service (RAD). Trade unions were banned and replaced by the German Labour Front (DAF); workers were offered rewards through "Strength Through Joy".
• Persecution: the regime persecuted anyone who did not fit its idea of a "pure" German — especially Jewish people. The Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jews of citizenship and rights, and Kristallnacht (November 1938) saw violent attacks on Jewish homes, shops and synagogues.

Key point: falling unemployment came at the cost of lost freedoms — no unions, no free wage bargaining — and rested heavily on rearmament for war.

Becoming Führer

Timeline: 1918 → 1939

Put the events in order

Tap the events in the correct time order, from earliest to latest.

Sources and interpretations

Edexcel's Weimar and Nazi Germany paper is a modern depth study using sources and interpretations:

• Sources: judge how useful a source is using its content and provenance (a Nazi photograph is staged propaganda, not a neutral record).
• Interpretations: you compare and explain why two historians' views differ — often because they emphasise different evidence.

Exam tip: a Nazi propaganda source is still useful — it reveals what the regime wanted people to believe. Explaining why a source or interpretation says what it does is what earns the marks.

Persecution

Year of crisis

The essentials to remember

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