Germany 1871-1945

1871, a range of states come together to form germany

Prussia is the strongest, so rules everything (Kaiser from there)

Prussians believe in militarism (strong army)

Kaiser is head of all armed forces and all that goes on in German y

Reichstag:

German parliament, elected by People.

Could pass laws

Could be ignored by Kaiser

Bundesrat:

Consultants to Kaiser over his laws

1 rep. per state

Reigned 1888-1918

Took Germany into WW I

Sacked people who didn't follow orders

Wanted German y to be strong and powerful, like England. He wanted a "place in the sun"

Vastly helped Germany industrialise, allowed for rich to get richer, and poor to get poorer

Comunism (Karl Marx)

SPD, founded by August Debel and William Liebknecht

SPD won many things in German parliament, such as healthcare provision

Was largest party in 1912

Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirptz was allowed to get what he wanted for the navy:

1 flagship

5 squadrons each of 8 battleships

40 cruisers

144 torpedo boats

72 submarines

Taxes were raised, a lot of debt was there

Expansion of colonies

1914 German empire

Africa (little of it)

Kiaochao (china)

Kaiser Wilhelm Land, Paupa New Guinea

In for 7 years

Head of state

Controlled the armed forces

Article 48: In emergency, President can make laws without Reichstag

Member of Reichstag

Elected by President, can be replaced at any time

Needs majority in Reichstag to pass laws or do anything

Communists wanted closer links to Russia, rather than America

Spartacists

Held Strikes that turned violent, put down by FreiKorps (Old soldiers turned police)

'Bloody Week' Killed 100 people

Gives Hitler a window to rise

Angry about Treaty of Versailles

Germany was now week, people hated it

Some people still had private armies

Kapp Putsch: tried to take Berlin, got government to flee, tried to set up own government, which was gone in 5 days

French and Belgians took over Ruhr 1923

German Government ordered workers to strike, Germany now had no income

Printed more money, led to Hyperinflation, lost all monetary value of the Mark

Had to rely on USA for money

Nazi attempt to overthrow the Bavarian Government

November 1923

Invaded a Beer Hall where leading politicians were located, got them to swear allegiance

Let free by General Ludendorff, where they renounced support

Hitler found and put on trial, where he talked his way out of a long sentence (9 months)

Elected to Reichstag in 1920 and spent next 3 years there

became Chancellor 1923, where he resigned after 3 months

1924, became FOreign Secretary, which he filled to great effect for 4 years

Rentenmark, temporary currency implemented November 1923, if this fails, government provides shares for the people

Reichsmark, implemented August 1924, controlled by Reichsbank

Deposits rose, 900m marks 1924 - 4.9b marks 1926

April 1924, Dawes Plan Negotiated

- Annual Payments reduced from 6.6b to 1.8b

-American banks agree to invest 800 mil into German Industry

Locarno Pact: Britain, France, Belgium, Italy

1926 Joins League of Nations

1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact signed, won't go to war unless for Defence

Builds new factories, houses, schools, roads to get new jobs using some of the USA's money

Slowly became prosperous

But too reliant on US econemy

Cinema is v. popular

Night life is rich, plays operas theatre popular

Art FLourished (e.g. Otto Dix and George Grosz)

Bauhaus Design

Literature flourished (all quiet on the western front by Erich Remarque selling 0.5 mil copies in 3 months)

Many normal Americans purchased shares

October 129, millions decide to sell their shares, companies become bankrupt

Millions lost their jobs

American Banks demanded all money back, where banks took from businesses, and they went bankrupt

6.1 mil unemployed in 1933

coalition government led by Heinrich Bruning unpopular, so new election held

Nazis get 107, more than the expected 50

Kept pushing

Bruning resigns, replaced by Hindenburg by Franz von Papen

Von Papen didn't have much support, election called

Nazis had 230 seats, largest party

Hitler demands chancellor, Hindenburg refuses

Tries to put in Von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher, had no support

Hitler elected January 1933, tries to restrict him

27 Feb: Reichstag Fire (Dutch communist)

18 Feb: Protection Law (Could deal with german problems)

23 March: Enabling Act (Hitler can now make laws himself)

26 April: Take over of local government and police

2 May: Trade Unions Banned, can't complain any more

30 Jun 1934: Night of the Long Knives, SA dismantled

14 July 1934: All political Parties banned except Nazis

18-25 year old men

Wore uniforms, lived in camps and were given pocket money and free meals

Unemployment figures dropped, reduced benefits cost

1933, Nazis create new AUtobahns to link cities

-By 1938, 3,800 km of highway built

New schools and hospitals built

All 18-25 year olds had to join for at least 2 years

from 100,000 men to 1.4 mil men in 1940

THousands of new jobs created building tanks, battleships and fighter planes

Wanted tight control over the economy to invest in the military

1933: Hjalmar Schacht appointed minister of Economics:

-Saw that germany needed iron,steel, rubber and wood

-Signed deals with other countries to secure these, sacked because of this

Hermann Goering then put in Schacht's position (1936), was Hitler's right hand man

Introduces 4 year plan to get germany ready for war

-Increased military production, huge contracts for this

-attempts at self-sufficiency, artificially making non-natural German products

Banned all other trade unions except their own, The Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF)

2 Schemes to improve worker's lives:

-The Beauty of Labour- Improved Working conditions such as adding sport facilities

-Strength through Joy- gave workers leisure activities such as cruises or football tickets

Introduces Volkswagen to produce affordable cars

Upping Birth rate after Weimar Government lowered it

Women had to make a good meal out of a small amount

Had to get children loyal to Hitler with their message through childhood

-Kinder: Children

-Kirche: Church

-Kuche: Cooking//kitchen

Female workers sacked, couldn't work in Nazi Germany

Promoted to stay at home and have lots of children (Motherhood Medal + Gold Cross)

Contraception and Abortion was banned

New Couples given loans based on how many children they had

"Law for the prevention of Diseased Offspring"

Women with hereditary/mental disease in their family were sterilised

Same with Jewish Women

Hitler wanted Nazis ideals to become the new religion

Churches were also powerful threatened his rule

Concordat: Agreement with Pope to not interfere with each other

Nazis did break this, and Pope sent letter to Catholic churches opposing Hitler

Reich Church introduced (Protestant Nazi Church)

Confessional Church also introduced (Anti-Nazi Protestant Church) (Led by Pastor Niemoller and Bundhuffer

Social Darwinism (The strongest in society survive)

Nazi Beliefs:

-Conflict between races was inevitable

-Aryan 'master race'

-These were undermined by undesirable races and undesirable aryans

-Had to get rid of these people

1933 Begins state-led attack on Jews

Boycotted their businesses, barred access to their shops, completely separated from society, sacking them from influential jobs such as teaching or newspaper editors

November 1938, Kristallnacht, Himmler an SS lead attacks on Jewish Businesses, breaking them

Jews can't marry non-Jews

Had to wear Star of David

Jewish children expelled from non-Jewish schools

Banned from German citizenship

Tramps:

-Don't contribute anything

-by 1945, 350,000 sterilized (Hitler Cut)

Homosexuals:

-Nazis don't agree that anything that is private stays private

-Homosexuals don't reproduce

-10-15 thousand imprisoned

-Either castrated of subjected to experiments to correct their sexuality

Disabled:

-Not the fittest is society

-"Mercy Killing" resulted in 280,000 deaths

Kristallnacht

Not many opposition arose due to fear of Gestapo

Ghettos introduced (Adolf Eichmann)

-Rounded up jews from their occupied countries and moved them to ghettos

-Walls were build to separate them

-7-8 people per room with 300 calories per day

1942, policy changed

January 1942, secret conference in Wannsee held to discuss final solution

Hitler reluctant to sign papers on this

Takes Jews to concentration camps, from prisons to execution sites

Death Camps built to kill people a quick as possible

Many gassed (Zyklon B)

Had to keep current Nazis happy

Josef Goebbels given the job to remind them why they voted Nazi and to reassure them

Let Germans believe what Hitler wanted them to

Basic ideas with short messages and powerful images

Limited other ideals, censorship

Newspapers:

-Showed Nazis doing good things

-Negative Stories about jews

-Non-approved stories shut down

Films:

-Plots shown to Goebbels before film made

-Had to show Nazis in a good way, and 'enemies' in a bad way

Radio

-Controlled all stations

-Put across Nazi idead

-Cheap radios mass produced

Mass Rallies:

-Celebrated Hitler's "greatness"

-Special arenas built

Chamber of Culture:

-All artists had to join to create

-Jews banned

-All art had to be nazi propaganda

Music:

-German/Austrian

-Jewish Composers banned, and jazz (african american origins)

Theatre:

-Jewish theatre banned, as well as cabinet clubs

Literature:

-Many booked banned and burned

-Books about race, glory of war and Nazi brilliance encouraged

-Popular weimar books banned

Art:

-Banned modern art, only wanted pure German art