The Weimar Republic is born

After Germany lost the First World War, the Kaiser abdicated and a new democracy — the Weimar Republic — was set up in 1919.

• It was forced to sign the harsh Treaty of Versailles (1919), losing land, its army and paying huge reparations.
• Many Germans hated the new government, calling its leaders the "November Criminals" for signing the armistice.
• The Republic faced revolts from both left and right, such as the Kapp Putsch (1920).

Key idea: Weimar democracy was born in defeat and humiliation, which left it weak and unpopular from the start.

Hyperinflation and the Golden Years

Weimar Germany swung between disaster and recovery in the 1920s:

• 1923: when Germany could not pay reparations, French troops occupied the Ruhr, and money became worthless in hyperinflation.
• Gustav Stresemann helped Germany recover: a new currency, the Dawes Plan (1924) brought US loans, and the Locarno Pact (1925) improved relations abroad.
• 1924–1929 are called the "Golden Years" of relative stability and culture.

But recovery depended on American loans — which made Germany dangerously fragile if those loans ever stopped.

What was the Weimar Republic?

Depression and the rise of Hitler

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered a worldwide depression. American loans were recalled, German businesses collapsed and unemployment soared to around 6 million.

• Desperate voters turned to extreme parties. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party promised jobs, national pride and an end to Versailles.
• The Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag in 1932.
• Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933.

The Depression turned the Nazis from a fringe group into Germany's biggest party — economic misery was key to Hitler's rise.

Building the Nazi dictatorship

Once in power, Hitler quickly destroyed democracy:

• The Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933) was used to arrest communists and pass emergency laws.
• The Enabling Act (March 1933) let Hitler make laws without the Reichstag — the end of democracy.
• Other parties and trade unions were banned; in the Night of the Long Knives (1934) Hitler killed rivals; on Hindenburg's death he became Führer.

Nazi Germany became a one-party police state, using propaganda, the SS and Gestapo, and the persecution of Jews and other groups (leading to the Holocaust).

When did Hitler take power?

The Second World War and Germany's defeat

Hitler's aggression led to the Second World War, which began in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

• After early victories, Germany was ground down after invading the USSR (1941) and war with the USA.
• Germany was defeated in 1945; Hitler killed himself and the country surrendered.
• The Nazi regime had carried out the Holocaust, murdering around six million Jews.

In 1945 Germany lay in ruins and was occupied by the victorious Allies — the USA, Britain, France and the USSR.

A divided Germany

The wartime allies fell out, and Cold War tensions split Germany in two:

• The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) saw Stalin cut off West Berlin; the Allies supplied it by the Berlin Airlift.
• In 1949 Germany split into the democratic Federal Republic (West) and the communist German Democratic Republic (East).

Two Germanys

The Berlin Wall

West Germany prospered (the "economic miracle"), while many people fled communist East Germany through Berlin. To stop them, the East built the Berlin Wall in 1961.

• The Wall physically divided Berlin and became the symbol of the Cold War and a divided Germany.
• People trying to escape over the Wall were often shot.
• West Germany's success under leaders like Konrad Adenauer contrasted sharply with the East's shortages and the feared secret police, the Stasi.

For nearly 30 years the Berlin Wall stood as the clearest sign of Germany's Cold War division.

The year of the Wall

Event ↔ significance

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

The fall of the Berlin Wall

By the late 1980s Soviet control was weakening under Gorbachev's reforms. Protests spread across Eastern Europe and East Germany.

• Facing huge peaceful demonstrations, the East German government gave way.
• On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall was opened, and crowds began tearing it down.

The fall of the Wall was one of the great moments of the 20th century — the end of the Cold War division of Germany was in sight.

Germany reunited

Once the Wall fell, events moved quickly. Germany was formally reunified on 3 October 1990, with East Germany joining the Federal Republic.

• Chancellor Helmut Kohl led the drive to reunite the country.
• The Soviet-backed East German state ceased to exist.
• The Soviet Union itself broke up soon after, in 1991, ending the Cold War era.

In 1990, after more than 40 years of division, Germany was one country again — the endpoint of this whole study.

The year of reunification

The end of democracy

Timeline: 1919 → 1991

Put the events in order

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

When did the Wall fall?

Turning points and sources

This period study focuses on the key turning points in Germany's development, and rewards good handling of sources:

• Identify turning points: 1919 (democracy), 1933 (dictatorship), 1949 (division), 1990 (reunion).
• Explain change: link the Depression to Hitler's rise, and the Cold War to Germany's division.
• Judge sources by who made them and why (provenance) — Nazi and East German material was often propaganda.

Interpretations differ: historians debate how far Hitler's rise was caused by the Depression, by Versailles, or by weaknesses in Weimar democracy.

Thinking like a historian

The peace Germany hated

The story in one line

Over 70 years, Germany moved from a fragile republic, through the horrors of dictatorship and total war, to division — and finally, in 1990, back to being one democratic nation.

The essentials to remember

You've covered the Eduqas period study The Development of Germany, 1919-1991. Press Finish to see your score.