Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945

What Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 covers

Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 is examined in Units 2 and 4, the depth study — one of eight options, taken in two halves across the course. It covers the revolution of 1918 and the Weimar Constitution, the Treaty of Versailles and its impact on Germany, the Spartacists, the Kapp Putsch and the threats to the republic, reparations, the Ruhr and the hyperinflation of 1923, the early Nazi party and the Munich Putsch, Stresemann, the Dawes and Young Plans and Locarno, the Nazi party 1924-1932 and the growth of its support, the Depression and the collapse of parliamentary government, Hitler's consolidation of power 1933-1934, propaganda, terror and the extent of Nazi control, Nazi racial policy and the persecution of the Jews, young people, women, workers and the churches under the Nazis, the Nazi economy: recovery, rearmament and total war and Nazi foreign policy and the Second World War.

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS History students sit this topic in the first year.

• The revolution of 1918 and the Weimar ConstitutionEbert-Groener agreement, stab-in-the-back myth and parties that made up the Weimar Coalition.Open →
• The Treaty of Versailles and its impact on GermanyDone with the Rhineland, three territories Germany lost in Europe and what the Polish Corridor was and why it was resented.Open →
• The Spartacists, the Kapp Putsch and the threats to the republicRecall questions on the rising of January 1919 and its suppression, the bargain the government struck with the army, the right-wing coup defeated by a strike, and the political murders of these years.Open →
• Reparations, the Ruhr and the hyperinflation of 1923Recall questions on the sum demanded in 1921, the occupation that followed default, passive resistance and how it was paid for, and who gained and lost as the currency collapsed.Open →
• The early Nazi party and the Munich PutschSA and state its purpose, three groups the early Nazis blamed for Germany's condition and mein Kampf and summarise what it sets out.Open →
• Stresemann, the Dawes and Young Plans and LocarnoAim of Stresemann's policy of fulfilment and deliberately left out of Locarno.Open →
• The Nazi party 1924-1932 and the growth of its supportRecall questions on the party's reorganisation after prison, its poor showing while the economy held, the surge after 1929, and which groups and regions gave it most.Open →
• The Depression and the collapse of parliamentary governmentSocial effects of the Depression in Germany and brüning's economic policy and its consequences.Open →
• Hitler's consolidation of power 1933-1934Composition of Hitler's first cabinet, what the Enabling Act allowed and what was meant by Gleichschaltung.Open →
• Propaganda, terror and the extent of Nazi controlGoebbels's official position, führer myth and white Rose group.Open →
• Nazi racial policy and the persecution of the JewsEugenics in the Nazi context, nuremberg Laws and T4 programme.Open →
• Young people, women, workers and the churches under the NazisPurpose of the Hitler Youth, girls prepared for in the League of German Maidens and taught as racial science.Open →
• The Nazi economy: recovery, rearmament and total warHjalmar Schacht's role in the Nazi economy, autarky and how the Nazis pursued it and guns or butter debate.Open →
• Nazi foreign policy and the Second World WarMain aims of Nazi foreign policy, anglo-German Naval Agreement and remilitarisation of the Rhineland.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Kapp Putsch vs Munich Putsch

  Kapp Putsch: the attempt in March 1920 by a Freikorps brigade ordered to disband to seize Berlin, defeated by a general strike that shut down transport, power and the civil service. Munich Putsch: Hitler's failed attempt in 1923 to seize the Bavarian government as the first step to a march on Berlin, broken by police fire.

• Spartacists vs USPD

  Spartacists: the revolutionary Marxists led by Liebknecht and Luxemburg, who wanted a country governed by workers' and soldiers' councils and who founded the Communist party at the very end of 1918. USPD: The independent socialists who had broken from the majority party over support for the war, and who sat in the provisional government of six alongside it.

• Nuremberg Laws vs Kristallnacht

  Nuremberg Laws: two statutes of 1935 stripping Jews of Reich citizenship and forbidding marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans. Kristallnacht: The nationwide pogrom of November 1938 in which synagogues were burned, Jewish shops and homes wrecked, around a hundred Jews killed and some thirty thousand Jewish men taken away.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What triggered the German revolution of November 1918?

   Model answer

   Sailors at Kiel refused an order to put to sea for a final battle, and their mutiny spread within days into workers' and soldiers' councils across Germany.

2. 2

   What happened to Kaiser Wilhelm II?

   Model answer

   He abdicated on 9 November 1918 and went into exile in the Netherlands, where he remained for the rest of his life.

3. 3

   Who proclaimed the German republic, and who became head of the new government?

   Model answer

   Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic from a window of the Reichstag, and Friedrich Ebert of the SPD took charge of the government the same day.

4. 4

   Explain what the Council of People's Representatives was.

   Model answer

   The provisional government of six socialists, drawn equally from the SPD and the more radical USPD, which ruled Germany until the National Assembly met.

5. 5

   Explain the Ebert-Groener agreement.

   Model answer

   The army high command promised Ebert its support against a Bolshevik-style revolution, and in return Ebert undertook not to reform the officer corps, so the imperial army survived the revolution intact.

6. 6

   What did the Stinnes-Legien agreement give the trade unions?

   Model answer

   Employers recognised the unions as bargaining partners and conceded the eight-hour day and workers' committees, in exchange for the unions abandoning any move towards nationalisation.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 revision questions

Is Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 examined at AS in WJEC History?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 cover in WJEC AS-Level History?

14 subtopics: the revolution of 1918 and the weimar constitution, the treaty of versailles and its impact on germany, the spartacists, the kapp putsch and the threats to the republic, reparations, the ruhr and the hyperinflation of 1923, the early nazi party and the munich putsch, stresemann, the dawes and young plans and locarno, the nazi party 1924-1932 and the growth of its support, the depression and the collapse of parliamentary government, hitler's consolidation of power 1933-1934, propaganda, terror and the extent of nazi control, nazi racial policy and the persecution of the jews, young people, women, workers and the churches under the nazis, the nazi economy: recovery, rearmament and total war and nazi foreign policy and the second world war. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945 organised?

By the WJEC 601-5817-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.