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Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963

The establishment and development of the Weimar Republic: 1919–Jan 1933 — early crises, hyperinflation and recovery

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on the Republic’s troubled birth, Versailles, the constitution, the Spartacist rising, the Kapp Putsch, the Ruhr occupation and hyperinflation, the Munich Putsch and the Dawes and Young Plans.

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.

Key term

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

Evaluation

Give two weaknesses built into the Weimar Constitution.

Questions from this subtopic

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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Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

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Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AA republic replaced the sultanate.
BThe caliphate was abolished in 1924.
CThe Latin alphabet was adopted.

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Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

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TrueFalse

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Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

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Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

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