Weimar germany and the rise of the nazis.

I. The End of Imperial Germany.  During the final weeks of World War I, the German Imperial government unraveled. The outbreak of a sailors' at Imperial Naval base at Kiel, purred on similar uprisings in other armed force units and bread riots in the major cities. By November 9, Kaiser Wil1iam II, like his cousin Nicholas, was forced to abdicate. But unlike Nicholas, he lived out his life in exile in Holland. Two days later an armistice was signed between Germany and the Allies.

A.The Provisional Government. A provisional government was organized and led mainly by the Social Democratic party.

B The Social Democrats. The SPD was largest political party in Imperial Germany. The SPD was divided into factions.

government and the establishment of a Dictatorship of the proletariat like the Russian Bolsheviks.

D. The Weimar Constitution. The provisional government did not wait long to convene a constitutional convention, like the Russian Provisional government in 1917. In February 1919, less than a month after the Spartacist Revolt, National Assembly convened at Weimar and formed a constitution. The Weimar Constitution gave interwar Germany a republican government with federal, democratic features and a strong presidency. in which all parties would be included by their election strength throughout Germany.

E. Further Left Wing and Right-Wing Putsches. The Weimar Republic continued to face a threat to its existence from both the extreme left and the extreme right.

1. In the summer of 1919, an attempt was made to organize a Bavarian Soviet Republic center in Munich in the summer of 1919. Ironically one of the military leaders of this abortive revolt was Ernst Rohm, who later was the head of the Nazi Storm troopers.

2. In 1920, an armed putsch by rightist army officers forced the republican government from Berlin. This revolt was foiled when the labor unions of Berlin halted all public utilities and telecommunications.

3. In 1923, a second rightist coup was attempted in Munich led by retired Field Marshal von Ludendorff and Adolph Hitler. While this "Beer Hall Putsch" was crushed its fanatical ringleader, Hitler, was only given a token sentence in a comfortable jail, in which he wrote his blueprint for Nazism.

4. In 1924, both right wing nationalists and Communists gained strength at the expense of centrist parties parliamentary elections.

This was followed by the election of retired Field Marshal Paul von Hindenberg in 1925 that was considered a victory of the conservative right.

F. Weaknesses of the Weimar Government.

1. As the Weimar Republic was attacked by extremists from both left and right, whenever the republic faced economic and social problems, like the inflation and unemployment of 1918-1924 and the Great Depression of 1929-1933, moderate parties lost seats while extreme parties, like the Communists and Nazis, won seats in the Reichstag.

2. The moderate parties were divided, and the ideological enemy the Nazis, the Communists, did not make common cause with the SDs.

3. The Weimar Republic treated the extreme parties and their putsches quite leniently, hence allowing them to regroup and try again.

4. The Weimar Republics reputation among Germans was tainted by it acceptance of the humiliating Versailles Treaty. Reparations, demilitarization, loss of territory, and the "war guilt" clauses were especially despised.

8. The Social Democrats in power had made almost few economic or social reforms. The old imperial bureaucracy was still in the helm; and the army, although smaller, retained its militaristic Prussian traditions by maintaining officers and non-coms as the bulk of its force..

9. The Weimar Republic confronted to face enormous economic difficultiesinflation and depression

THE RISE OF NAZISM

Economic and Social Distress.                                    C. The Nazi Theories.

        A. Inflation.                                                          D. The Nazi Program.

        B. Economic effects of Inflation.                            E. Nazi Tactics and Appeal.

        D. Political and Social effects of Inflation.   

Foreign Affairs of Weimar Germany.         The Nazis come to Power.

        A. The Rapallo Treaty.                                           A. 1930 Elections Political Jockeying.

        B. The Russian Connection.                                     B. Hitler Becomes Chancellor.

        C. The Locarno Treaty.                                          C. 1933 Elections & the Reichstag Fire.

        D. The League of Nations.                                      D. The Enabling Act.