Transcript 18 The Weimar Republic 1918

The Weimar Republic 1918-1932
Daniel W. Blackmon
IB HL History
Coral Gables Senior High
Max Pax: 10 / 1918
• Ludendorff's demand for an immediate
armistice led to the formation of a new
government on Oct. 3, 1918 by Prince
Max of Baden.
Max Pax: 10 / 1918
• Max' primary task is to negotiate with
Woodrow Wilson for an armistice.
Labelled the Pacifist Prince by the
public and the army, he is hampered by
the inconsistent attitudes of
Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
Max Pax: 10 / 1918
• Prominent in Max’ government are the
Social Democrats, led by Friedrich
Ebert.
The Kiel Mutiny: 10 / 18
• As the war ended, officers in the High
Seas fleet concocted a plan to take the
fleet out on a "death ride," challenge
the Royal Navy, and go down in glory.
The Kiel Mutiny: 10 / 18
• The sailors refuse to do their duty to
take the ships out. By November 3, the
mutiny has spread to the city of Kiel
itself, involving sailors and
dockworkers.
The Kiel Mutiny: 10 / 18
• The port is shut down. The Social
Democrats send representatives to try
to head off a Bolshevik revolution and
succeed. Clearly, German military
units are no longer reliable.
The Bavarian Revolution 10 / 18
• Kurt Eisner, a Jewish Independent
Socialist, deposes the Wittelsbach
dynasty on November 7 and
establishes and declares a republic with
power held by a Council of Workers,
Peasants, and Soldiers.
The Bavarian Revolution 10 / 18
• Eisner is not, however, a Bolshevik.
Rosa Luxemburg despised him. He
distrusted Lenin and Trotsky. There is
no Red Terror at all.
Abdication of the Kaiser: 11/ 18
• Amidst great turmoil and confusion in
the country, Max tried to save the
monarchy, but the Kaiser hesitated to
abdicate.
Abdication of the Kaiser: 11 / 18
• By Nov. 7, Ebert told Prince Max that
if the Kaiser did not abdicate, a social
revolution would be inevitable. He
added that he did not want to see such
a revolution occur.
the German Republic 11 / 18
• Ebert asks Max to resign and begins
forming a Socialist-dominated
government for the new German
Republic.
the German Republic 11 / 18
• Ebert must negotiate the armistice,
withdraw all German troops from
France, arrange a nation-wide election
in January to write a new constitution,
keep the country from dismembering
itself, and fight off an attempted
Bolshevik-style coup from the radical
left, the Spartacists.
The Spartacists 11 / 18
• Led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa
Luxemburg, the Spartacists had
opposed participation in the war, and
were ideologically close to the
Bolsheviks.
The Spartacists 11 / 18
• Lenin rejected the Social Democrats as
true socialists (he regarded them as
Marxist Revisionists, which they were)
but accepted the Spartacists as
comrades.
The Spartakists
• Lenin encourages this development
with money and with the despatch of
Karl Radek (a close confidant of
Lenin and, like Luxemburg, a Polish
Jew--the two disliked each other).
The Spartakists
• Tension exists among the Spartacists
since Luxemburg rejects Lenin's use of
terror and suppression of other socialist
parties. Neither Liebknecht nor
Luxemburg are prepared to accept
Lenin's primacy.
The Spartacists 11 / 18
• They will eventually organize
themselves as the KPD (Communist
Party of Germany).
Armistice November 11, 1918
• The Armistice agreement was signed in
a railroad car in the Forest of
Compiègne.
The Freikorps
• The Freikorps were paramilitary units
owing loyalty to the brigade organizer,
like the condottieri of the Italian
Renaissance.
The Freikorps
• The pre-War Youth Movement (the
Wandervogel) is an important shaping
influence. The Movement represented
a revolt of discontented bourgeois
youth against the world of their
parents.
The Freikorps
• The Movement emphasized a restless
desire for action (of any kind, action
for its own sake), a mystic fellowship
of the Volk which absorbs the
individual, and a willingness to follow
a Führer, a Leader.
The Freikorps
• The second determining experience of
the Freikorps was, of course, the War,
and especially the creation of
Sturmtruppen or Stoßtruppen.
The Freikorps
• These units were self-contained, with
their own organic mortars, machine
guns, and flame-throwers. Individuals
were issued lighter carbines instead of
the heavier Mauser rifle, and were
permitted to carry pistols (previously
the exclusive province of the officers).
The Freikorps
• Stormtroopers were the first to adopt the
steel helmet. Their preferred weapon was
the hand grenade. Discipline was strict, but
not the traditional discipline unto death
(Kadaverdisziplin) of the Imperial Army.
Enlisted men used the Familiar Singular
"du" in addressing their officers.
The Freikorps
• These units also produced a very large
ratio of officers to men (as high as 1:4),
chiefly lieutenants and captains--all
unmarried men under 25 years of age,
usually from outside the ranks of the
traditional officer corps
The Freikorps
• . They were made up largely of
veterans, many of whom came from
elite shock troop formations. Their
officers were primarily from the shock
troops. They are heavily armed, very
skilled and professional, nihilistic,
violent, viciously anti-democratic and
anti-Bolshevik..
The Freikorps
• Many of them will end up in Hitler’s
SA. Although they despised Ebert,
they were very happy to kill
Spartacists. Lenin did not have to face
anything like them in Russia.
The Freikorps
• The German novelist, Ernst Jünger
may be taken as the spokesman for the
Freikorps.
The Freikorps
• In 1914, this sensitive university
student marched to war, writing in his
diary: "Surely this day that God has
given/ Was meant for better uses than
to kill." (Waite 23)
The Freikorps
• By 1916, at 21 years of age, Jünger has
been wounded 20 times, wears the
coveted Pour le Mérite, Imperial
Germany's highest decoration, and now
commands a Stormbattalion. He is a
hard and ruthless killer:
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• "The turmoil of our feelings was called
forth by rage, alcohol and the thirst for
blood. As we advanced heavily but
irresistibly toward the enemy lines, I
was boiling over with a fury which
gripped me -- it gripped us all-- in an
inexplicable way. The overpowering
desire to kill gave me wings.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• Rage squeezed bitter tears from my
eyes . . . Only the spell of primaeval
instinct remained. . . . . Combat during
the World War also had its great
moments.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• Everyone knows that who has ever
seen these princes of the trenches in
their own realm, with their hard, set
faces and blood-shot eyes; brave to the
point of madness, tough, quick to leap
forward or back.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• Trench warfare is the bloodiest,
wildest, most brutal of all warfare and
it produced its own type of men--men
who grew into their Hour--unknown,
crazy fighters.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• Of all the stimulating moments of war,
none is so great as the meeting of two
Schok Troop Leaders in the narrow
confines of a trench. There is no
retreat and no mercy then. Blood
wrings forth from their shrill war cries
which are wrenched from the heart like
a nightmare. . . .
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• This is the New Man, the storm soldier,
the elite of Mitteleuropa. A completely
new race, cunning, strong, and packed
with purpose. What first made its
appearance openly here in the War will
be the axis of the future around which
life will whirl faster and ever faster . . .
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• The glimmering sunset of a declining
period is, at the same time, the
morning light of another day in which
men are called to new and harder
battles.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• Far behind them await the mighty
cities, the hosts of machines, the
nations whose iner foundations will be
torn asunder by the attacks of the New
Man--of the audacious. the battleproven, the man merciless both to
himself and to others.
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• This war is not the end. It is only the
call to power. It is the forge in which
the world will be beaten into new
shapes and new associations. New
forms must be molded with blood, and
power must be seized with a hard fist. .
...
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• War, the Father of all things, is also
our father. he hammered us, chiselled
us, hardened us into that which we now
are. And forever, as long as the wheel
of life still turns in us,
Ernst Jünger:
“Storm of Steel”
• War will be the axis on which it
revolves. He trained us for war, and
warriors we will remain as long as we
draw the breath of life." (Waite 23, 26,
28, 22)
The Freikorps
• The chief sources of recruits were the
Stormtroop battalions from the War
and idealistic university students.
Units brought over from the
Stormtroop battalions their Imperial
insignia:
The Freikorps
• the most common were acorns and
oakleaves (Germanic symbols for
courage and loyalty) and the death's
head (taken from Blücher's hussars in
1814 and adopted by Himmler's SS).
The Freikorps
• The colors adopted were the Imperial
black-white-red rather than the blackred-gold of the Revolution of 1848 and
the Weimar Republic
The Freikorps
• (note that Hitler very carefully chose
black, white, and red for the Nazi flag:
the black swastika on a white field to
tie the Nazis to the Germanic past, the
red field to symbolize revolution)
The Freikorps
• The "Ehrhardt Song" of one of the
largest, most famous, and most
ferocious Freikorps is illustrative:
The Freikorps
•
•
•
•
Stolz tragen wir die Sterne
Und unsern Totenkopf,
Wikingersschiff am Ärmel,
Kaiserkron im Knopf.
The Freikorps
The Freikorps
The Freikorps
•
•
•
•
Hakenkreuz am Stahlhelm,
Schwarzweissrot das Band,
Die Brigade Ehrhardt
Werden wir genannt.
•
•
•
•
Proudly we wear the stars,
And our death's head, too,
Viking ship on the sleeves,
Emperor's crown on the buttons.
The Freikorps
•
•
•
•
Swastika on our steel helmets,
Black, white, red our ribbon
The Brigade of Ehrhardt
That is our name. (Carsten 87)
The Spartacist Revolt: 1/6/19
• The Spartacists, led by Liebknecht and
Luxemburg, quite deliberately set out
to destroy the government by agitation,
strikes, and armed bands.
The Spartacist Revolt: 1/6/19
• When Germany was severely torn by
civil war, then the Spartakists could
take over. The Spartakists attempt
their coup d'etat on January 6, 1919 in
Berlin.
The Spartakist Revolt
• The beginning was a huge
demonstration of workers, which was
addressed by Karl Liebknecht, Georg
Lebedour of the Independent
Socialists, and Ernst Däumig of the
Revolutionary Shop Stewards.
The Spartakist Revolt
• They form a coalition and call for a
general strike to overthrow Ebert's
government and place Germany "in the
vanguard of the international
proletarian revolution." (Watt 256)
The Spartakist Revolt
• The situation in Berlin appeared to be
very similar to Petrograd in October
1917.
The Spartakist Revolt
• Workers seize most newspapers, the
train stations, place riflemen on the
Brandenburger Tor and attack the
Reichstag. In Bremen, a soviet
republic is proclaimed. There are
uprisings in Brunswick, Düsseldorf,
Hamburg, and Nuremburg.
The Spartakist Revolt
• Ebert is convinced that no
reconciliation with the far left
Socialists is possible. He believes that
the first duty of his government was to
survive. Noske escapes the city to
Dahlem, where he begins collecting
Freikorps. Ebert calls in the Reinhard
Brigade.
The Spartakist Revolt
• On January 9-10, the Freikorps begin
the reconquest of Berlin at the chief
Socialist newspaper.
The Spartakist Revolt
• .The night before, the Freikorps
commander disguised himslef and
walked into the building to reconnoiter
its defenses.
The Spartakist Revolt
• .Using mortars, howitzers, flame
throwers, machine guns and tanks the
Freikorps storm (what as left of) the
building. The defenders attempted to
surrender.
The Spartakist Revolt
• When one commander asked what he
should do with the prisoners, the reply
was “Have you run out of
ammunition?”
• The Freikorps shot 300 prisoners
down. (Watt 262)
The Spartacist Revolt: 1/6/19
• Liebknecht and Luxemburg are
captured and murdered. One legacy of
the Spartacist Week is that the Socialist
government is now permanently
compromised in the eyes of the radical
Left
The Spartakist Revolt
• Noske systematically uses the
Freikorps to stamp out revolution in
Bremen, Hamburg, Halle, Leipzig,
Thuringia, Brunswick, and the Ruhr.
(Holborn 531)
The Spartakist Revolt
• The seaports are particularly important
to the country, sicne food shipments
could enter only through them. Savage
scenes on both sides occur. However,
the Freikorps are much more ruthless
and proficient.
The Spartakist Revolt
• Heavily outnumbered by the
revolutionary militias, they are
nevertheless successful everywhere,
and their victory is usually
accompanied by a vicious White
Terror.
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• April 1918
• Kurt Eisner was assassinated by an
extreme right wing nationalist.
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• Munich dissolves in shambles. Three
groups jockey for position: the
Majority Socialists, led by Adolf
Hoffmann, the Coffeehouse Anarchists,
led by the poet Ernst Toller,
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• and the Communists, led by the
Russian agents Towia Axelrod, Max
Levien, and Eugen Leviné, along
with the German Rudolf Egelhofer, a
psychotic.
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• A "government" of the Coffeehouse
Anarchists is established. The
Coffeehouse Anarchists are eccentric,
to say the least.
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• Their Commissar for Foreign Affairs
was a lunatic. (He complained in a
wire to Lenin that his predicessor had
absconded with the key to his toilet)
They last 6 days..
The Bavarian Counterrevolution
• The Communists then take over. A
Red Terror ensues. The Weimar
Socialists sent in the Freikorps, who
brutally crush the Communists.
The Munich Red Terror
• Axelrod, Levien, and Leviné are
Russian born and Russian agents.
Axelrod is a Russian diplomat. Levien
quite consciously wants to copy Lenin,
right down to the use of the Red Terror.
The Munich Red Terror
• A Red Terror ensues. The Red Army
organized by Egelhofer plundered the
city. It is one of the best paid armies in
history, not to mention free food,
liquor, and prostitutes. It numbers
about 20,000.
The Munich Red Terror
• Among the nationalists whom the Red
Army tries to arrest is Corporal Adolf
Hitler.
• After this was over, he certainly
became an informer on his fellow
soldiers. A number were executed on
his testimony.
The Munich White Terror
• The Social Democrats appealed for
help. They get it, in the form of some
of the toughest, most ruthless of the
Freikorps, including the von Epp and
Ehrhardt brigades.
Red resistance quickly collapses before
these professionals
The Munich White Terror
• Egelhofer orders the execution of his
hostages. Some 20 prominent
Münchner citizens are brutally
murdered and mutilated.
The Munich White Terror
• The Freikorps begin "cleansing" the
city
• Egelhofer is shot on the spot.
• Leviné is shot
The Munich White Terror
The Coffeehouse Anarchist Gustav
Landauer is sadistically murdered-beaten, shot twice, and kicked to death
(they quit shooting him because the
bullets were ricocheting up off the
cobblestones)
The Munich White Terror
30 members of the St. Joseph's Society, a
Catholic religious group, were
executed. The Freikorps were not too
choosy about their victims.
• Over 1,000 prsons wre executed within
6 days.
General Elections January 1919
• There were to be 423 deputies.
• .The Majority Socialists won 38% of
the vote. This is a big victory for
Ebert.
• .The Independent Socialists received
8% of the vote.
General Elections January 1919
• .The Communists boycotted the
election.
General Elections January 1919
• ..The Catholic Centre Party received
about 20% of the vote.
– .Its leader is Mathias Erzberger
General Elections January 1919
.The party was committed to private
property, but favored large-scle social
legislation and was critical of liberal
capitalism. Their position was rigid on
school and church questions. It is the
only party to cross social class lines.
General Elections January 1919
• .The German Democratic Party
included the liberals, and won 19%
General Elections January 1919
• .The German People's Party
represented the right wing of German
liberals. They would tolerate a
republic but preferred a constitutional
monarchy. They remianed suspicious
of the Social Democrats. They are led
by Gustav Stresemann. They win
only 4%
General Elections January 1919
• .The German National People's Party
was composed of traditional
conservatives. It included the large
industrialists and landowners. They
wanted a restoration of the monarchy.
General Elections January 1919
• They poll 10%. Its most important
leader is Alfred Hugenberg, an
extremely wealthy reactionary who
will help bankroll several right wing
groups, including the Nazis. (Holborn
533-39, Watt 275-77)
General Elections January 1919
• .The results of the voting meant that no
government could be formed without
the Majority Socialists, but Ebert
would have to form coalitions with the
Catholic Centre and German People's
Party. A thorough-going Socialist
program is out of the question.
The Weimar Government
• The new government elects Friedrich
Ebert President.
• Philipp Scheidemann becomes
Chancellor with 7 Social Democrat, 4
Catholic and 4 Democratic ministers.
The Weimar Government
• The two key tasks for the new
government are:
• .writing a new constitution
• .the peace treaty.
The Weimar Constitution
• A strong President is created, with
power to veto laws and submit them to
referendum. The President also
appointed and dismissed the
Chancellor.
The Weimar Constitution
• Article 48 gave the President the
power to suspend some civil rights,
dissolve Parliament, and govern by
decree in times of national emergency.
• The abuse of Article 48 paved the way
for Hitler's seizure of power.
The Treaty of Versailles
• The Germans believed (with
considerable justice) that the armistice
had been on the basis of the Fourteen
Points.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Furthermore, they believed that they
would have an opportunity to negotiate
with the victors. To compound
matters, on the issue of colonies and
eastern borders, the Germans deluded
themselves.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Instead, they were handed a Diktat, a
"Carthaginian Peace." Not only
the German government but the
German people felt a profound sense of
outrage at the Treaty.
The Treaty of Versailles
• It is my view that the Treaty of
Versailles made another war inevitable.
It can also be argued that forcing the
Republic to sign the Treaty, the Allies
gravely weakened the cause of
democracy.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Northern Schleswig is granted to
Denmark after a plebescite.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Alsace-Lorraine is given back to
France (Point 8). Although 2/3s of the
population was German speaking, the
population clearly preferred to be
French.
• Belgium is granted the districts of
Eupen and Malmedy.
The Treaty of Versailles
• France is given control over the coalrich Saar valley for 15 years, at which
time a plebescite would determine if
the Saar were to return to Germany, be
independent, or join France.
The Treaty of Versailles
• The Saar had a population of 650,000
and 25% of Germany's coal reserves
(more than France). France had at first
demanded outright cession of the Saar,
despite the fact that historically it had
always been German.
The Treaty of Versailles
• France's motives were both economic
and military. Under these terms, the
bulk of the coal would go to France,
French troops would police the district,
and France hoped to manipulate the
plebescite to at least gain Saar
independence from Germany (as a
French client state, of course)
The Treaty of Versailles
• The Rhineland, with 6.5 million
Germans and its heavy industry, is
likewise placed under French
administration for 15 years, with
withdrawal contingent upon fulfillment
of reparations payments, and is to be
permanently demilitarized.
The Treaty of Versailles
• France had originally demanded
outright cession (with Alsace and the
Saar, this would give them a
continuous border along the Rhine
River).
The Treaty of Versailles
• Wilson had flatly refused to go along;
French acquisition of the Rhineland
would be an Alsace in reverse.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Clemenceau got all that Wilson would
accept, but Foch and Poincaré are
outraged and plotted to seize the
Rhineland anyway.
The Treaty of Versailles
• An independent Poland with access to
the sea (Point 13) is created. Poland is
granted Upper Silesia (despite a
plebescite that went German), the
province of Posen,
The Treaty of Versailles
• parts of East Prussia, and West Prussia,
which gave it access to the sea, and
separated East Prussia from the rest of
Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles
• The city of Danzig, which was 90%
German, was made a free city under
Polish administration. 2,000,000
Germans were thus incorporated in the
Polish state.
The Treaty of Versailles
• An Anschluß, the unification of
Austria with Germany, was specifically
banned. (Technically, this was part of
the Treaty of Saint Germain with
Austria) Germans noted (with justice)
that the principle of self-determination
was used only when it hurt Germany
The Treaty of Versailles
• Germany gave up all colonies, which
are acquired by the victors, technically
under League of Nations mandate.
• Almost the entire German merchant
marine was confiscated.
The Treaty of Versailles
• At the time of the signing of the treaty,
the Allies had not agreed on a figure.
Germany was therefore required to
sign a blank check.
The Treaty of Versailles
• .In 1921, the bill was assessed at 216
billion gold marks (at the 1914
exchange rate of 4.2 gold marks /
dollar, or $51.42 billion, which was
several times as large as Germany's
total national income. (Fest 138, Flood
178, 184)
The Treaty of Versailles
• John Maynard Keynes left the
conference and wrote The Economic
Consequences of the Peace which
all-too accurately predicted that
attempting to make Germany pay
the full cost of the war would lead
to Germany's economic collapse,
The Treaty of Versailles
• which in turn would lead to the
collapse of the Central European
economy. This in turn would
damage the Allies' economy and
politically destabilize Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Article 231 stated "the Allied
Governments affirm and Germanyu
accepts the responsibility of Germany
and her allies for causing all the loss
and damage [suffered by the Allies] as
a consequence of the war imposed
upon them by the aggression of
Germany and its allies." (Passant 156)
The Treaty of Versailles
• This is the single most hated, and most
disputed part of the entire treaty.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Germany's army was reduced to
100,000 men, less than the police force
of Imperial Germany. The German
General Staff was outlawed. Seeckt
simply changed the job titles and
carried on.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Germany was denied an air force.
Germany used civil aviation-Lufthansa-- as a basis for a future air
force. Well before the Nazis, the
Germans were clandestinely
developing new aircraft and theories.
The Nazis simply accelerated the
process.
The Treaty of Versailles
• The German navy is confiscated, and
further construction virtually banned.
• Germany was denied possession of
heavy artillery, tanks, or submarines.
The Kapp Putsch May 1919
• The Freikorps, under the “leadership”
of a bureaucrat named Wolfgang Kapp,
staged a putsch in Berlin. The Army
refuses to defend the government,
The Kapp Putsch May 1919
• so the Socialists call for a general
strike, which topples Kapp in 4 days.
The aftermath of the putsch involved
civil war and bitter fighting around the
country.
The Kapp Putsch
• There were Communist risings in the
Ruhr and in Saxony and Thuringia.
The forces involved in the "Army of
the Ruhr" were substantial--about
50,000 armed workers. reconquer the
districts, amid atrocities on both sides.
The Kapp Putsch
• The uprising was aimed both at the
right-wing nationalists and the Social
Democrats. (Flood 125-7, Fest 131)
The Kapp Putsch
• (this deep ideological division within
the ranks of Socialism is an important
reason for the failure of the Left to
prevent the Nazi seizure of power.
Toeing the Bolshevik line, the KPD
fought the Social Democrats
ferociously;
The Kapp Putsch
• Stalin branded the SDP as "social
fascists;" cooperation against the
Nazis was precluded--indeed, at times,
the KPD cooperated with the Nazis
against the Republic)
The Kapp Putsch
• An example of the attitudes is a letter
sent home(!) by a young member of
the Von Epp Free Corps: ". . . we
staged our first attack . . . . No
pardon is given. We shoot even
the wounded. . . .
The Kapp Putsch
• Anyone who falls into our hands
first gets the rifle butt and then is
finished off with a bullet. . .
The Kapp Putsch
• We even shot 10 Red Cross nurses
on sight because they were
carrying pistols. We shot those
little ladies with pleasure--how they
cried and pleaded with us to save
their lives. Nothing doing!
Anybody with a gun is our enemy . .
. " (Waite 182)
Hans von Seeckt
• Seeckt was a man of considerably
broader education than most generals,
and had distinguished himself in World
War I. He was a dedicated monarchist
who recognized that a restoration was
not possible, at least in the near future;
he had nothing but contempt for
democracy
Hans von Seeckt
• His intention is to create a cadre
army that would serve as the nucleus
for the expanded German army
which he knew would eventually be
created. The preservation of the
army is his first priority.
Hans von Seeckt
• He handpicks the 96,000 enlisted men
and 4,000 officers of the new
Reichswehr. He chooses them not only
for intelligence and character but also
for political reliability.
Hans von Seeckt
• Seeckt also institutes a meticulous
study of why Germany lost the war.
He rejects out of hand the "stab in the
back" theory, as did those staff officers
around him. The analysis conducted
under his supervision was thorough
and realistic.
Hans von Seeckt
• Lessons were drawn for the future,
and doctrine is hammered out.
Seeckt stresses fire and movement
and all-arms cooperation. He sets
about trying to evade the treaty ban
against tanks and aircraft.
Hans von Seeckt
• To this end, Seeckt will conduct a
foreign policy independent of (and
unknown by) the government with
respect to the Soviet Union.
Hans von Seeckt
• In 1922, Seeckt makes an agreement
with the Russians whereby the
Germans can build aircraft,
submarines, artillery and ammunition
and establish training schools for
aircraft, poison gas, and tanks.
Hans von Seeckt
• During this time, the Germans gained
hands-on experience with new
equipment and techniques, and in turn,
trained most of Tukhachevsky's
officers. This agreement was extensive
and clandestine, and benefitted the
military of both countries.
Hans von Seeckt
• Seeckt stressed technical knowledge
and systematic weapons development.
He provided Heinz Guderian with an
opportunity to develop his ideas of
Blitzkrieg.
Hans von Seeckt
• He laid the foundations of the
Luftwaffe, and provided an opportunity
for Messerschmitt, Dornier, Heinkel
and Junkers to develop new aircraft (all
of this illegally).
Hans von Seeckt
• He began building tanks on German
soil in 1928. He encouraged an
atmosphere within the staff of vigorous
debate on doctrine.
Hans von Seeckt
• Even though the General Staff was
technically disbanded, it still existed.
Seeckt placed the sections under
various covers (such as the Interior
Ministry--the Map Section became the
Reich Survey Office.
Hans von Seeckt
• Since the Reichswehr was too small to
actually defend Germany, Seeckt
cooperated generally with the
Freikorps. Technically, these had been
disbanded. In reality, they still existed,
and numbered probably as much as the
Reichswehr. Seeckt expected to
double the size of his army in a crisis.
Hans von Seeckt
• These troops were openly called the
"Black Reichswehr." They were
particularly important along the Polish
border (there was heavy fighting in
Silesia following a Polish coup just
before the plebiscite).
Paramilitary Organizations
• The Stahlhelm, an organization of
veterans is formed in 1918. It is
paramilitary, but not actually terrorist.
Membership was limited to soldiers
who had served at the front,
Hindenburg was its honorary
commander,
Paramilitary Organizations
• and it stressed comradeship and
soldierly virtues in addition to
implacable hatred of the Versailles
Treaty. It reaches a peak membership
of 1 million members in 1928.
Intensely nationalist and right-wing, it
will serve as an important vehicle for
discontent against the republic.
Paramilitary Organizations
• Many people will not see too much
difference between the Stahlhelm and
the Nazis.
Paramilitary Organizations
• The Nazis create the Sturmabteilulng
(the SA), the storm troopers, as the shock
troops of the movement. Many Freikorps
leaders and soldiers end up in the SA.
• Others include the Communist Red
Veterans’ League and the SD’s
Reichsbanner
Feme Murders 1919-1922
• the Freikorps begin the Fememurders: political assassinations.
According to conservative official
estimates, some 354 political murders
were committed between 1919 and
1922.
Feme Murders 1919-1922
• Ernst Röhm reports in his autobiography
(titled significantly History of an
Archtraitor): "One day an alarmed
statesman went up to the Police President
and whispered in his ear, 'Herr President,
political murder organizations exist in
this country!' Pöhner replied, 'I know-but there are too few of them!'" (Waite
213)
Feme Murders 1919-1922
• Among those assassinated were
Mathias Erzberger and Walter
Rathenau (at the time, the Foreign
Minister)
• Hitler had a monument built for
Rathenau’s murderers.
The Treaty of Rapallo 1922
• Germany and the Soviet Union gave up
all economic claims against each other.
This led to the covert military
cooperation between them.
Occupation of the Ruhr
Jan. 11, 1923
• At the end of 1922, Germany fails to
deliver all of the coal and telephone
poles required. France declares
Germany in default of reparations
payments. French and Belgian troops
occupy the Ruhr industrial district.
Occupation of the Ruhr
Jan. 11, 1923
• The Weimar government calls for
passive resistence. The population
responds to the call with overwhelming
support. All reparations payments of
any kind are stopped. The French are
unable to exploit the economic assets.
Hyperinflation 1921-23
• The Weimar government promises to
support the Ruhr workers, and does so
by paying their salaries. However,
without access to the richest district in
the country, the only way the
government can do that is by printing
huge quantities of money.
Hyperinflation 1921-23
• In October 1921, the mark had stood at
M 200:$1;
• in October 1922 it was M4,500:$1;
• In January 1923, the mark has dropped
to M17,972:$1
Hyperinflation 1921-23
• In November 1923, the mark officially
stood at M 4,200,000,000,000:$1
(Flood 382, 392, Passant 192, 159);
• Middle class savings are completely
wiped out. These people are
"proletarianized,"
The Beer Hall Putsch
Nov. 8, 1923
• Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were among
a coaliton of rightest groups in Bavaria
who hoped to take advantage of the
confusion.
The Beer Hall Putsch
Nov. 8, 1923
• However, when the others failed to act,
Hitler impatiently tried to force the
issue and seize control of Munich by
force. The police fire upon the Nazis,
dispersing them.
The Beer Hall Putsch
Nov. 8, 1923
• Hitler is arrested, tried for treason, and
given a lenient sentence at Landsberg
prison, where he writes his
autobiography, Mein Kampf.
Currency Stabilization 1924
• Gustav Stresemann becomes
Chancellor and calls an end to the
passive resistance. Hjalmar Schacht
then implements
The Dawes Plan
January 1924
• Charles G. Dawes and Owen D.
Young headed a group that hoped
to place the reparations issue on a
sound economic footing. The plan
scaled down payments, calculating
that Germany could pay 2.5 billion
marks per year
The Dawes Plan
January 1924
• The plan provided large loans to
Germany, chiefly from the U.S., to
help the German economy recover.
Charles G. Dawes and Owen D.
Young headed a group that hoped
to place the reparations issue on a
sound economic footing.
The Dawes Plan
January 1924
• .The plan scaled down payments,
calculating that Germany could pay
2.5 billion marks per year.
• .The plan provided large loans to
Germany, chiefly from the U.S., to
help the German economy recover.
Election of Hindenburg as
President 1925
• Friedrich Ebert died, forcing new
elections for President. Paul von
Hindenburg, who is a hero to most
Germans, is elected in his place.
Election of Hindenburg as
President 1925
• He is 77 years old, a rather simple man
who is still a deeply committed
monarchist. He had never been an
especially intelligent man, and the
complexities of constitutional law,
politics and economics bewildered
him.
Election of Hindenburg as
President 1925
• He was wholly reliant on the advice of
others. By the 1930s, he is also quite
senile, and not able to fully understand
the government's policies.
Locarno Treaties 1925
• Gustav Stresemann and French Foreign
Minister Aristide Briand try to solve
their differences. Stresemann offers a
German guarantee to respect the
eastern borders of France and Belgium
as defined by the Treaty of Versailles,
Locarno Treaties 1925
• and proposed that the great powers
should join in guaranteeing the
inviolability of those borders. France
yielded all claims to invade German
soil in order to enforce treaties.
Locarno Treaties 1925
• Stresemann agrees to demilitarization
of the Rhineland, which is guaranteed
by Britain and Italy No agreement is
to take effect until Germany is
admitted to the League of Nations.
Locarno Treaties 1925
• The expression, "spirit of Locarno"
enters popular vocabulary.
Unfortunately, this is not the beginning
of a new era, but a high water mark.
The Young Plan 1929
• American banker Owen D. Young
played a key role in the
negotiations.The plan established a
schedule of payments until 1988. Each
payment averages 2.05 billion marks.
• The French began evacuation of the
Rhineland in Sept. 1929
The Great Depression in
Germany 1930
• Germany was extremely dependent
upon short term loans from US banks
to keep its economy going. The stock
market crash in the US dried up that
money,
The Great Depression in
Germany 1930
• The result was the failure of key
German banks, which brought the
Depression into central Europe. From
there, it spread, since the collapse of
the Central European economy
dragged everyone else down with it.
The Elections of 1930
• The elections are a disaster for
Parliamentary democracy.
• Stresemann's German People's Party
goes from 78 seats to 41
• .The National Liberals go from 45
seats to 30
The Elections of 1930
• .The Catholic Centre go from 16 seats
to 19
• .The Left Liberals go from 25seats to
20
• .The Social Democrats go from 153
seats to 143
The Elections of 1930
• .The Communists gain 23 seats, from
54 to 77
• .The National Socialists (Nazis) gain
95 seats, from 12 to 107
• A Parliament that had a democratic
majority is now replaced by one where
the second and third largest parties are
implacably opposed to parliamentary
democracy.
• The Chancellor, Dr. Heinrich Brüning
is determined to rule by decree.
Brüning's government therefore
marks the end of Parliamentary
democracy in Germany.
Hindenburg’s Re-election 1932
• Hitler decided to run for President
against Hindenburg, who is now senile
• Hindenburg won 46.6% of the vote to
Hitler's 30.1%,
• .Hindenburg wins the run-off by 53%
to Hitler's 36.8%
The von Papen and von
Schleicher Governments 1932
• First, Franz von Papen and then Gen.
Kurt von Schleicher attempt to form
aristocratic, rightist governments
without Nazi participation.
The von Papen and von
Schleicher Governments 1932
• Lacking a Reichstag majority, both will
have to govern by decree, using Article
48. Von Schleicher maneuvers to
discredit von Papen with Hindenburg,
and von Papen then returns the favor to
von Schleicher.
Hitler-von Papen Government
January 30, 1933
• The industrialists and landowners who
surrounded Hindenburg urged him
strongly to appoint a Hitler-Papen
government: a Harzburg government
of all the nationalist groups. The old
man finally agrees.
Hitler-von Papen Government
January 30, 1933
• The new cabinet includes only 3 Nazis,
Hitler himself, Wilhelm Frick as
Minister of the Interior (includes the
police) and Hermann Goering as
Minister Without Portfolio (also
Prussian Interior Minister).
Hitler-von Papen Government
January 30, 1933
• Papen and his people believe that they
can control Hitler. They are wrong; the
German Faust has made its pact with
Mephistopheles.
The End!