A new democracy from defeat

Germany lost World War One. In November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled, and Germany became a republic. In 1919 a new democratic government met in the town of Weimar to write a constitution — so it became the Weimar Republic.

• The Weimar Constitution was very democratic: all Germans over 20 could vote, including women.
• It used proportional representation — parties won seats in proportion to their share of the vote.
• The President could rule by decree in an emergency under Article 48.

Weakness built in: proportional representation meant many small parties and weak coalition governments that struggled to agree — a problem that would later help extremists.

The "Diktat" of Versailles

In June 1919 the new government was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Germans were furious — they called it a "Diktat" (a dictated peace) and blamed the politicians who signed it the "November Criminals".

• War Guilt Clause (Article 231) — Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war.
• Reparations — fixed in 1921 at £6.6 billion (132 billion gold marks).
• Germany lost land (e.g. Alsace-Lorraine) and all its colonies.
• Its army was limited to 100,000 men, with no air force and only a tiny navy.

Which clause?

Attacks on the young Republic

The Weimar Republic was attacked from both extremes almost from birth:

• Spartacist Uprising (January 1919) — a Communist revolt in Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. It was crushed by the army and the right-wing Freikorps.
• Kapp Putsch (1920) — a right-wing attempt to seize Berlin, led by Wolfgang Kapp. It collapsed when workers went on a general strike.

Left vs right: the Spartacists were communists (left) wanting a workers' revolution; the Kapp Putsch was nationalist (right). Weimar had enemies on both sides.

The Ruhr and hyperinflation

When Germany fell behind on reparations, in January 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr — Germany's industrial heartland — to take goods by force.

• The German government told workers to go on strike ("passive resistance") and printed money to pay them.
• This caused hyperinflation in 1923: prices spiralled out of control and money became worthless.
• People's savings were wiped out; wages were paid twice a day and spent instantly.

Who suffered? The middle classes and pensioners on fixed savings lost everything, while people with debts or goods to sell sometimes gained. It scarred trust in the Republic.

Name the crisis

Hitler's failed coup

Amid the chaos of 1923, Adolf Hitler and the young Nazi Party tried to seize power in Munich in November 1923 — the Munich Putsch (also called the Beer Hall Putsch).

• The coup failed: police opened fire, several Nazis were killed and Hitler was arrested.
• Hitler was imprisoned — but used his trial for publicity and served only a short sentence.
• In prison he wrote Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), setting out his ideas.

A turning point: the failure taught Hitler he could not simply grab power by force — from now on the Nazis aimed to win power legally, through elections.

Lesson of the Putsch

The "Golden Years" of recovery

From late 1923 Gustav Stresemann led Germany's recovery, first as Chancellor and then as Foreign Minister:

• Rentenmark (1923) — a new stable currency ended hyperinflation.
• Dawes Plan (1924) — US loans and rescheduled reparations restarted the economy.
• Locarno Pact (1925) — Germany accepted its western borders and improved relations with France.
• Germany joined the League of Nations (1926), restoring its status as a great power.
• Young Plan (1929) — reduced reparations and gave Germany more time to pay.

Fragile prosperity: the recovery was built on American loans. If those loans were ever recalled, the German economy would be dangerously exposed. Stresemann died in 1929.

A cultural golden age

The stability of the mid-1920s allowed Weimar culture to flourish — new art, film, architecture and nightlife, especially in Berlin:

• Bold new art and design (the Bauhaus movement in architecture).
• A world-leading film industry and a lively cabaret nightlife.
• Greater freedom of expression than ever before in Germany.

Not everyone approved: traditionalists and later the Nazis saw this new culture as immoral and "un-German", and used it to attack the Weimar Republic.

When was the Dawes Plan?

The Wall Street Crash hits Germany

In October 1929 the Wall Street Crash in the USA triggered a worldwide Depression. American banks recalled their loans — the very loans propping up Germany.

• Businesses collapsed and unemployment soared — reaching around 6 million by early 1933.
• Weimar's weak coalition governments could not agree how to cope, and used Article 48 to rule by decree.
• Desperate voters turned to extreme parties — the Nazis and the Communists.

The Nazis become the biggest party

The Depression was the making of the Nazis. Hitler offered simple, powerful promises: jobs, national pride, an end to the "November Criminals" and Versailles, and someone to blame.

• Slick propaganda (run by Goebbels), mass rallies and Hitler's powerful speeches won huge support.
• The SA (stormtroopers) fought Communists on the streets and made the Nazis look strong.
• By July 1932 the Nazis were the largest single party in the Reichstag.

Key point: the Nazis never won a majority in a free election — but they became the biggest party, which made Hitler impossible for the elite to ignore.

Why the Nazis grew

Chancellor — 30 January 1933

Hitler did not seize power — he was handed it. Conservative politicians around President Hindenburg believed they could control Hitler and use his popularity.

• After political scheming by von Papen and others, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor on 30 January 1933.
• They thought they could keep him in check with only a few Nazis in the cabinet — a serious misjudgement.

Misconception alert: Hitler came to power legally and constitutionally, as Chancellor — not by a coup or by winning a majority. Once in office, he quickly destroyed the very democracy that had appointed him.

Reichstag Fire and the Enabling Act

Within weeks Hitler turned his Chancellorship into dictatorship:

• Reichstag Fire (February 1933) — the parliament building burned down. Hitler blamed the Communists and used it to have them arrested and banned.
• Enabling Act (March 1933) — passed with the Communists excluded, it let Hitler make laws without the Reichstag for four years.

Why it mattered: the Enabling Act was the legal foundation of the dictatorship — it effectively ended democracy and gave Hitler the power to rule alone. Other parties and trade unions were soon banned.

Night of the Long Knives and Führer

By 1934 the only remaining threats to Hitler were inside the Nazi movement and above him as head of state:

• Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934) — Hitler had the leaders of the SA, including Ernst Röhm, murdered by the SS, removing rivals and reassuring the army.
• August 1934 — President Hindenburg died. Hitler combined the roles of Chancellor and President and declared himself Führer ("leader").
• The army swore a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler.

By August 1934, only 18 months after becoming Chancellor, Hitler held total power — Germany was a one-party Nazi dictatorship.

The key law

Control, fear and propaganda

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

• Terror: the SS and the secret police (Gestapo) spied on people; opponents were sent to concentration camps.
• Propaganda: Goebbels controlled newspapers, radio and film to spread Nazi ideas.
• Young people: the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls trained the young to be loyal Nazis.
• Workers: trade unions were banned; the DAF and "Strength Through Joy" replaced them.

Persecution: Jews were increasingly persecuted — the Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped them of citizenship, and Kristallnacht (November 1938) saw violent attacks on Jewish homes, shops and synagogues.

Name the law

Event ↔ significance

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

Boom, then bust

Germany's fortunes swung sharply between 1919 and 1933 — crisis, recovery, then collapse:

Name the title

Timeline: 1919 → 1939

Removing rivals

Put the events in order

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

Sources and interpretations

In the exam you handle sources and interpretations about Weimar and Nazi Germany. Two quick habits win marks:

• Ask who made it and why (provenance). A Nazi propaganda poster and a Communist cartoon about the same event will disagree — because each side used propaganda to win support.
• Use your own knowledge to judge it. Support or challenge a source with facts you know (dates, events, motives).

Interpretations differ: historians disagree over how doomed Weimar was, and how far Hitler's rise was inevitable. Being aware that interpretations vary — and why — is exactly what the exam rewards.

The essentials to remember

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