Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship

What Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship covers

Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship is examined in Paper 1, Understanding the modern world. It covers Kaiser Wilhelm and the difficulties of ruling Germany, impact of the First World War, Weimar democracy, the impact of the Depression, the failure of Weimar democracy, the establishment of Hitler’s dictatorship, Nazi economic changes and the impact of war, Nazi social policy: women, youth, education, churches and racial persecution and Nazi control: propaganda, the police state, opposition and resistance.

The 9 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Kaiser Wilhelm and the difficulties of ruling GermanyWilhelm II and the Reichstag, Prussia's dominance, militarism and the army's influence, the industrial boom and the growth of cities, state welfare, the rise of the Social Democrats, and the cost of the battle fleet.Open →
• Impact of the First World WarWar weariness and the blockade, how the war was paid for, the Kiel mutiny and the Kaiser's abdication, the November Criminals, reparations, the occupation of the Ruhr, passive resistance and hyperinflation.Open →
• Weimar democracyThe constitution's voting rights, the Spartacists and the Freikorps, the Kapp and Munich risings, the Rentenmark, the Dawes and Young Plans, Locarno and the League, Bauhaus and Berlin culture, and how fragile the recovery was.Open →
• The impact of the DepressionThe Wall Street Crash and the recalled loans, six million unemployed, Brüning the Hunger Chancellor, the growth of the Nazis and Communists, the SA, Hitler as a speaker, and the promises made to each group.Open →
• The failure of Weimar democracyArticle 48 and rule by decree, Hindenburg, the presidential election of 1932, the two Reichstag elections of that year, Papen and Schleicher, the deal of January 1933 and why Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor.Open →
• The establishment of Hitler’s dictatorshipThe Reichstag fire, the Enabling Act and how its majority was won, the end of the unions and other parties, Nazi governors, Rohm and the Night of the Long Knives, and Hitler as Führer.Open →
• Nazi economic changes and the impact of warThe labour service and rearmament, how the jobless figures were made to look better, self-sufficiency and the Four Year Plan, what workers gained and lost, forced labour, rationing, Allied bombing and the refugees of 1945.Open →
• Nazi social policy: women, youth, education, churches and racial persecutionNazi views of women and the drive for larger families, the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens, the Nazified schools, the agreement with the Pope, the Reich Church and Martin Niemöller, the idea of the Aryan race, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and the Final Solution.Open →
• Nazi control: propaganda, the police state, opposition and resistanceGoebbels and the radio, the Nuremberg rallies, censorship and approved art, Himmler, the SS and the Gestapo, the Edelweiss Pirates, the Swing Youth, the White Rose, and Stauffenberg's bomb plot of July 1944.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Dawes Plan vs Young Plan

  Dawes Plan: 1924 arrangement reducing reparation instalments and lending American money to restart German industry. Young Plan: 1929 arrangement cutting the reparations total from 132 to about 112 billion gold marks and spreading payments over nearly sixty years.

• Spartacists vs Freikorps

  Spartacists: communists led by Liebknecht and Luxemburg who wanted power handed to workers' councils. Freikorps: armed bands of embittered ex-soldiers used by Ebert to crush the Berlin rising.

• SA vs SS

  SA: Nazi party's private army of brown-shirted ex-soldiers commanded by Ernst Röhm. SS: Himmler's organisation that grew from Hitler's bodyguard into running the police and camps.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who was the German Emperor from 1888 until the end of the First World War?

   Model answer

   Wilhelm II, who believed he ruled by the will of God and answered to nobody.

2. 2

   Which assembly did German men elect, and how much say did it have over the government?

   Model answer

   The Reichstag, chosen by all men over 25, could vote on laws and taxes, but the Kaiser picked and sacked the Chancellor and could dissolve it whenever he wished.

3. 3

   Which German state dominated the empire, and how did its dominance show?

   Model answer

   Prussia: its king was the Kaiser, it supplied most of the army's officers and it held the largest voice in the upper chamber.

4. 4

   What is meant by militarism?

   Model answer

   The belief that a nation should keep powerful armed forces and be ready to use them, with soldiers and military values admired above civilian ones.

5. 5

   Why did senior army officers carry so much weight in decision-making before 1914?

   Model answer

   Because they reported straight to the Kaiser as commander of the armed forces, so neither the Chancellor nor the elected deputies could overrule them.

6. 6

   Which industries made Germany an economic giant in the years before the First World War?

   Model answer

   Coal, iron and steel expanded enormously, and German firms led the world in chemicals and electrical engineering.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship revision questions

What does Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship cover in AQA GCSE History?

9 subtopics: kaiser wilhelm and the difficulties of ruling germany, impact of the first world war, weimar democracy, the impact of the depression, the failure of weimar democracy, the establishment of hitler’s dictatorship, nazi economic changes and the impact of war, nazi social policy: women, youth, education, churches and racial persecution and nazi control: propaganda, the police state, opposition and resistance. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship organised?

By the AQA 8145 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.