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Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963

  • 8 subtopics
  • 23 things to know
  • Unit group 2
  • Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four

What Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 covers

Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 is unit Y221 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics are the establishment and development of the Weimar Republic: 1919–Jan 1933, the establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship and its domestic policies Feb 1933–1939, the impact of war and defeat on Germany: 1939–1949, divided Germany: The Federal Republic and the DDR 1949–1963. 328 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

Unit group 2

Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four.

Check the OCR specification ↗

The 8 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Describe the Spartacist rising of January 1919 and how it was defeated.

Who and when

Why did Hitler destroy the SA leadership in the Night of the Long Knives, and who besides Röhm died?

Key term

Explain why many Germans regarded Nazi rule as beneficial by 1939.

Numbers

How did Speer change German war production after February 1942?

Process

What caused the East German uprising of June 1953, and how did it end?

Key term

What happened at the Munich Putsch of November 1923, and what did Hitler gain from its failure?

Numbers

Explain why the Great Depression hit Germany so severely.

Key term

Explain why the German war economy was poorly prepared for a long war in 1939.

Numbers

What were the main features of East German economic policy in the 1950s?

Numbers

Give two ways in which ordinary Germans' lives improved during the ‘Golden Years’.

Key term

Why is the Nazi system of government often described as chaotic rather than efficient?

Numbers

Describe Nazi policy towards the Christian churches.

Key term

Describe the July Bomb Plot of 1944.

Key term

What condition was Germany in at the surrender of May 1945?

Key term

What was the outcome of the first Bundestag election in 1949?

Numbers

Give three reasons for the West German economic miracle.

Evaluation

Give two weaknesses built into the Weimar Constitution.

Numbers

Trace the Nazi vote in the Reichstag elections of 1928, 1930 and July 1932.

Key term

Contrast Schacht's New Plan of 1934 with Goering's Four Year Plan of 1936.

Who and when

What did Goebbels call for in his Sportpalast speech of February 1943?

Numbers

How did developments in the Soviet zone differ from those in the west?

Numbers

Name two social reforms that helped stabilise West German society.

Key term

What was the Der Spiegel Crisis of 1962?

Take Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Bizonia vs Social market economy

    Bizonia: the merged British and American occupation zones, joined economically from 1947. Social market economy: the post-war policy combining free markets with welfare provision and rules on competition.

  • Der Spiegel Crisis vs Kapp Putsch

    Der Spiegel Crisis: the affair of 1962 in which a magazine's offices were raided and its journalists arrested. Kapp Putsch: the attempted coup of 1920 defeated by a general strike.

  • Article 48 vs Enabling Act

    Article 48: the clause allowing the president to rule by emergency decree. Enabling Act: the law of March 1933 permitting the cabinet to legislate without the Reichstag.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Give two ways in which the end of the First World War damaged the new Republic from the start.

    Model answer

    It was born out of defeat, with the Kaiser's abdication and the armistice of November 1918, and the politicians who signed were branded ‘November Criminals’ by nationalists spreading the myth that an undefeated army had been stabbed in the back.

  2. 2

    Which terms of the Treaty of Versailles caused the deepest German resentment?

    Model answer

    Germans resented most the war guilt clause and the reparations bill of 132 billion gold marks fixed in 1921, the cut of the army to 100,000 men with no conscription or air force, the demilitarised Rhineland, and the loss of territory and all colonies.

  3. 3

    Give two weaknesses built into the Weimar Constitution.

    Model answer

    Proportional representation let many small parties into the Reichstag so that governments were always unstable coalitions, and Article 48 allowed the President to suspend rights and rule by decree.

  4. 4

    Describe the Spartacist rising of January 1919 and how it was defeated.

    Model answer

    Communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to seize Berlin; Ebert used the army and the Freikorps to crush them, and both leaders were murdered.

  5. 5

    Explain why the Kapp Putsch of March 1920 collapsed.

    Model answer

    Although Wolfgang Kapp's Freikorps took Berlin and the army refused to fire on them, a general strike by Berlin workers paralysed the capital and the putsch fell apart within days.

  6. 6

    What triggered the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923?

    Model answer

    Germany defaulted on reparations deliveries of coal and timber, so France and Belgium occupied the industrial Ruhr to take payment in kind.

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Simony means the buying and selling of Church office.
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Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 revision questions

What does Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 cover in OCR A-Level History A?
8 subtopics: the establishment and development of the weimar republic: 1919–jan 1933 — early crises, hyperinflation and recovery, the establishment and development of the weimar republic: 1919–jan 1933 — the stresemann years, the depression and hitler’s appointment, the establishment of the nazi dictatorship and its domestic policies feb 1933–1939 — seizing and holding power, the establishment of the nazi dictatorship and its domestic policies feb 1933–1939 — opposition, the economy, society and racial policy, the impact of war and defeat on germany: 1939–1949 — war economy and total war, morale and rationing, the impact of war and defeat on germany: 1939–1949 — resistance, defeat, occupation and the berlin blockade, divided germany: the federal republic and the ddr 1949–1963 — basic law and constitution of west germany and divided germany: the federal republic and the ddr 1949–1963 — adenauer’s foreign policy, elections, rearmament and the ddr. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963 organised?
By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

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