cojs.org/.../4/4f/ Adolf_Hitler_Appointed.jpg

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The Rise to Power of Hitler National Socialism
in Germany
cojs.org/.../4/4f/ Adolf_Hitler_Appointed.jpg
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Weimar Republic Background

• Name of the government after World War One set
  up in town of Weimar
• 1919-1933 known as Weimar Germany even though the
  government soon moved back to Berlin

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Background Weimar contd

• 9 Nov 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm 11
• abdicated
• Civilian government took over,
• Scheidemann 1st Chancellor
• Given powers to rule by decree if Reichstag
  (German Parliament) failed to reach agreements
• January 1919 people elected an assembly they
  were to draw up a constitution

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• Reichstag was to be elected by proportional
  representation
• President would be elected who would have the
  power to appoint/dismiss the Chancellor (Prime
  Minister)
• June 1919, Friedrich Ebert becomes the 1st
  President (Socialist but not revolutionary)

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Factors that led to the rise of Hitler the Nazis

1. Weaknesses of the Weimar Republic
2. Occupation of the Ruhr hyper-inflation
3. Munich Putsch
4. Optimism of the Stresemann era ended by the Great
   Depression

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1) Weakness of the Weimar Republic

• 1st five years were chaos as the Communists
  the Right wing tried to topple the government
• Had the difficult tasks of
• Coming to terms with the Treaty of Versailles
• b) Maintaining civil order
• c) Payment of reparations (dealing with the
  war guilt clause)

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Stab in the Back! A 1924 right-wing German
political cartoon
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Weakness of Weimar, contd

• Spartacist (Communists) Putsch, 1919 a short-
  lived Communist regime rule in Munich until bands
  of war veterans restored order
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vOb8B5YNG2VE

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Wolfgang Kapp

• Kapp Putsch, 1920 right-wing challenge,
  initiated by military

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Result of two attempted putsches

• Weimar government forced to use martial law (rule
  by military force) and run by presidential decree
  (this became the norm)
• 1924 Moderates in dominate and stability returns
  to the Reichstag

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• 2) Reparations and Hyperinflation economic woes
  in Germany

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Reparations (equivalent to 838 billion US today)

• Reparations were the biggest problem for the
  government 1st payment (5 billion) came from art
  treasures, jewelry the savings of those with
  property
• This drove public support away from the Weimar
  Government
• Subsequent payments were to come from profits
  made on foreign markets but Germany was not
  welcome on these markets
• United States loaned money to Germany charged
  very high interest rates

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Hyper-inflation

• Germany government printed more more money to
  pay off its debts
• Loss of industrial output ( coal iron) had
  damaged the economy
• 1921 onwards the value of the mark (German
  currency) fell rapidly

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Hyper-Inflation
Inflation and food shortages during 1923 German
shoppers line up?in front of a Berlin bakery
www.missouriwestern.edu/. ../inflation2.html
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• 1922 Germany defaulted on its reparation
• payments France occupied the Ruhr in January
  1923, determined to take the coal for themselves

http//cla.calpoly.edu/lcall/taylor_map.jpg
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Occupation of the Ruhr (industrial heartland)
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A German poster urges passive resistance during
the Ruhr crisis, under the motto?"No! You won't
subdue me!"
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Reaction to Ruhr Occupation

• German workers went on strike in protest and an
  already-weak economy ground to a halt
• Inflation soared
• Cost of bread in 1918 0.6 of a mark
• Cost of bread in (Jan) 1923 250 marks
• Cost of bread in Sept 1923 1.5 mill marks
• Savings of middle- and working-class people were
  wiped out overnight
• Most Germans would never trust the Weimar
  Republic again

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Better Economic Times for Germany

• Americans convinced the French to evacuate the
  Ruhr in return for a promise by Germany to resume
  payments
• 1924 Dawes Plan allocated 30 billion in US aid
  to Germany to assist in reconstruction, Germany
  to make payments on an ability-to-pay scale
• 1929 Young Plan further modifications to
  reparation-payment arrangements (spread payments
  out over 59 years)

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Munich Putsch (Beer Hall Putsch)1923
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Munich Putsch November 9, 1923

• Occupation of Ruhr hyper-inflation convinced
  Adolf Hitler that the time had come for armed
  seizure of power (a putsch)
• Plan was once the NAZIS (National Socialist
  German Workers Party) had taken control they
  would march on Berlin
• Hitler Ludendorff 3,000 armed brown-shirted
  Nazi storm troopers marched from a beer hall
  towards Bavarian Parliament

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• Bavarian police fired on the marchers 16 were
  killed
• Hitler was arrested and given a 5 year sentence
  released after 9 months
• In jail he wrote Mein Kampf and set the plans for
  a legal take over of Germany

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4) End of Stresemann Era-Optimism ended due to
Great Depression

• Leadership of Gustav Stresemann
• 1924-1929 Golden Years of the
• Republic
• Currency was stable, economy
• began to prosper
• 1925- ordered German workers back to work
  French withdrew from the Ruhr
• Helped by the Dawes Plan Young Plan

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• Germany in the international community
• 1925 Locarno Treaties (with France) Germany
  recognized the border with France and gave up
  Alsace-Lorraine
• 1926 Germany joins League of Nations
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFFB8X5Jy2ZA

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Crash of 29

• Fate of Germany was sealed with the economic
  crash US called back its loans from Germany
• Government reacted by cutting unemployment
  welfare benefits
• Centre Partys coalition partners, The
  Socialists, withdrew from government in protest
• This meant the government did not have majority
  support in the Reichstag, allowing for opposition
  parties to get more votes