Germany: Democracy to Dictatorship 1890-1945

• was a constitutional monarchy

• before unification of Germany in 1871, Prussia was the most powerful German state → militarism v important to them (had good army + weaponry)

• when Germany was unified, Prussian army formed basis of new German army

form of government where the monarch is head of state, but the law-making process is undertaken by an elected government

• federal council (representatives from each German state)

• introduced laws to the Bundestag and power to approve them

• 1888-1918 (abdicated)

• dreamed of making Germany as great as Britain (large empire)

  • began building Germany’s industry → industrialisation

  • by 1913 → making as much steel + coal as Britain

• frequently changed his mind + unpredictable

• hurried + reckless decisions

• v competitive with Britain

• success of German industry made some very rich but many workers were unhappy because their wages were low, working conditions were bad + food was £££ → many people joined trade unions

• SDP (socialism) grew as workers wanted equal power + wealth

  • ~ 1 in 3 Germans voted for the SDP

• some people more extreme → wanted to rebel against kaiser

• rise for support of SDP troubled the kaiser + others

• Bismarck introduced several liberal reforms to reduce support for the SPD + pushed through laws to weaken their influence

• however a number of social reforms were also passed to improve workers’ lives + keep them happy:

  • 1891 - the Social Law banned Sunday working and the employment of children under 13

  • 1900 - the length of time accident insurance could be claimed for was increased

  • 1901 - industrial arbitration courts were introduced to settle disputes between workers and employers

  • 1903 - health insurance was extended and further restrictions were placed on child labour

• kaiser wanted an empire abroad + to transform Germany into a global power

  • late 1800s → Germany took over other nations, mostly Africa

  • wanted ‘a place in the sun’

• chancellor had to stay in the kaiser's good books → could be dismissed

• 25 individual states controlled income tax → central govt struggled to raise enough tax to cover spending

• poor living + working conditions ignored

• army was led by Prussian officers, who reported directly to the Emperor

• Prussia provided 17 out of 58 representatives in the Bundesrat → 14 votes needed to veto any laws passed by the Bundestag

• Germany’s legal system, civil service and diplomatic corps were dominated by powerful Prussian noble landholders, known as the Junkers

• poor workers’ conditions bc of industrialisation

• made more people support SDP

• is dismissed as the kaiser thinks he is too powerful

• appoints ‘yes men’ → agree with everything he says → not the best decision as he does not get good advice

• passed 5 naval laws from 1888-1914, 38 battle ships by 1900

  • did this to turn Germany into a world power by building an overseas empire

• pleased the kaiser, who was determined that Germany would become a world power

• increased support for the kaiser and his government by appealing to German people’s sense of patriotism

  • won the govt support from a majority of deputies in the Reichstag

• German government’s budget went into deficit as it spent more money on the army, the navy and its new colonies → national debt grew to 490 billion marks by 1913

  • taxes increased to pay for development of navy

• threatened Britain’s navy → started an arms race with them as both sides built massive dreadnought battleships → worse relationship

• increased opposition from socialists → thought it was a waste of money

while life was hard, people were hopeful that they would win the war → made defeat hard to accept for German soldiers → blamed democratic politicians, communists + Jews for having stabbed Germany in the back

• British used their large navy to stop supply ships getting to Germany → terrible shortages of food, medicines and clothing → people grew weary and tired of it (war weariness)

• 1918 → surviving on turnips + bread

• 1915 → 500 women gathered in front of the German parliament buildings and said that they wanted their men back from the trenches

• 1916 → 10,000 workers assembled in Berlin to shout, ‘Down with war, down with the government!’. The police quickly moved in to make arrests and calm the situation

• Germany were in debt + needed money for the naval ships

• 1918 → deadly flu epidemic, killing 1000s who were already weak from a poor diet

• made worse bc of blockade → lack of food + medicine

• in early 1918, Germany were given a chance to surrender by America → kaiser rejected this

  • oct 1918 → sailors at Kiel mutinied, refusing to follow orders to attack British ships → some soldiers supported this

  • 1918 → kaiser forced to abdicate as support for his govt collapsed

• govt debt

• families w/o fathers faced poverty → 60,000 war widows + 2 million children w/o fathers

• division between rich + poor → factory owners benefitted from production, workers had restrictions of wages

• support for communism → wanting equal wages

• allies met in 1919 at Versailles, Germany not invited but presented with a diktat → rejection of this would have re-started the war

• hoped for a fair treaty

• hoped that after the kaiser’s abdication, countries would want to treat the new democratic govt in Germany more fairly

• people were horrified at the terms

• Germany not allowed to join LoN

• France + Britain wanted to seriously weaken Germany

  • France had been devastated bc of trench warfare + wanted revenge

• most Germans did not blame the kaiser

  • blamed the new leaders of the Weimar Republic → called them November Criminals

Land

• overall, Germany lost 10% of it’s land, 13% of it’s population

• this included all of its overseas colonies (German empire)

• also lost 26% of its coal resources with this

Armed forces

• Germany not allowed any tanks, submarines or an air force

• navy could only have 6 battleships

• army reduced to 100,000 men

• conscription banned

this was mostly done to make other nations feel safer as Germany’s armed forces were previously seen as a major threat.

Money

• Germany forced to pay reparations → £6.6 billion

Blame

• ToV contained a ‘war guilt’ clause → Germany accepted full responsibility for all the damage + devastation caused during WW1

• 1919-1933 → voted into power

• all men and women over the age of 20 were able to vote

• German citizens elected the President and the Reichstag (Parliament)

  • Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government

• proportional representation → meant that extreme parties could still get into the Reichstag (nazis later on) + also since there were so many parties, it was difficult to agree on things

• article 48 → in an emergency, the President could take control of Germany and issue laws and decrees → would potentially allow for a dictatorship to develop

  • unstable govts since there were so many

• Rosa Luxemburg + Karl Liebnecht (from Spartacists: Germany’s communist party)

• tried to take over Berlin → wanted a communist revolution after the kaiser’s abdication

  • tried to organise mass strike

• not that much of a threat, poorly organised + failed

• crushed in 5 days by Freikorps (ex-WW1 soldiers paid by govt)

• extreme nationalist Dr Wolfgang Kapp, 5000 Freikorps → attempted revolution after ToV → hated November Criminals + democracy

• would have succeeded if it were not for the workers in Berlin going on strike + refusing to help the Freikorps

• Weimar Republic fled Berlin

• 60,000 French + Belgium troops marched into Ruhr to take goods such as coal

• seized control of mines, factories + railways

• Germans reacted with passive resistance → went on strike and refused to make the goods that the French + Belgium wanted

• quite a big threat

• worsened Germany’s already bad economy

• less support for the govt

• caused hyperinflation → govt printed more money to pay striking workers

• printed more money to pay workers

• prices rose massively

• jan 1919 → $1 = 9 marks

  nov 1923 → $1 = 200bn marks

• German mark became practically worthless

• large threat

• major food shortages → starvation

• crime increased

• middle class suffered greatly → lost all savings → resentment

• turned people away from govt

  • BUT Stresemann creates new currency (Rentenmark)

• Nazis, led by Hitler + army general Ludendorff held an important politician (von Kahr) at gunpoint + forced him to declare his support for the Nazis

• marched to centre of Munich expecting to take control of city → poorly planned, easily defeated → Hitler sentenced to 5 yrs in prison

• short term failure

• long term success

  • Hitler’s speech against corrupt + weak govt gained reputation → good publicity

  • used death of the 16 nazis as propaganda

  • sentence went down to 9 months

  • wrote Mein Kampf while in prison

  • Hitler reconsidered tactics → taking power legally

• quite a big threat in the long term

• NSDAP gained more votes

• 1924-28 → recovery of the Weimar republic

• Bauhaus movement gained international attention in architecture

• in cities, nightclubs + cabarets became popular

• shows criticised politicians + discussed sex → freedom of speech

• many (more traditional) people disapproved of the new open culture

• saw Berlin as sleazy, corrupt + sex-obsessed

• people who wanted more trad. German culture joined the Wandervogel movement → hikes + camping, simple way of life

• poor election results for communists + nazis → 1928, SDP joined a govt coalition with parties committed to the WR

  • showed middle class were not suspicious of socialists

• 1925 → Hindenburg criticised the WR → weak support

• huge instability, govts had to form coalitions to add together votes → could not make agreements

  • 25 govts in 14 years

Locarno Treaty, 1925

• Stresemann accepted Germany’s western (not eastern) borders

• all countries decided to renounce the use of invasion and force, except in self-defence

• reassured France about its borders and Germany about any French invasion/occupation, as had happened in 1923

Joining the LoN, 1926

• Stresemann steered Germany into LoN

• status as great power recognised + was given a permanent seat on the League’s Council → had power to veto decisions

Young Plan, 1929 → better economic growth

• payments reduced from £6.6bn to £2bn

• length of time Germany had to pay was extended to 59 years

• reparations reduced to 37,000 million marks

• Germany had to pay ⅓ of the amount required each year as part of a compulsory agreement – about $157 million

• other ⅔ only had to be paid if Germany could afford to do so in a manner that would not harm her economic development

• some people wanted to completely get rid of the ToV, not just have it revised

• Locarno Pact made permanent the land that was lost under the Treaty of Versailles

• number of troops were still limited, therefore Germany still felt weak and defenceless

• Dawes Plan, 1924 → Germany was lent 800 million marks by USA to help economy recover

• economic growth → 1928, industrial production surpassed pr-WW1 levels

  • 1930 → Germany was one of the world’s leading exporters of manufactured goods

• Dawes Plan → Germany’s economy became dependent on the loans from USA, they could be withdrawn at any time

• unemployment

• some sectors in trouble, e.g. farming

• extremes of wealth + poverty

• concentration of power in hands of few industrialists who ran more than half of Germany’s industry

• wall street crash 1929 → US banks recall loans → German firms go bankrupt (dependency on Dawes Plan) → unemployment rises → less money to spend → demand for German goods fall

• wall street crash → foreign countries do not want to invest in businesses → decline in world trade → demand for German goods fall

• Weimar dealt with it badly → raised taxes + refused to print more money

6 million Germans unemployed by 1933

• Hitler’s leadership + order

  • decisive leader, skilled at creating simple messages

  • Munich putsch speech famous → trust in Hitler

  • Nazi rallies well planned + ran smoothly

• Nazi opposition to communism

  • Nazi SAs broke up communist meetings and attacked their offices

  • gained support as many were worried about rising support for communism

• Nazi scapegoating minority groups

  • blamed Jews, November criminals + communists

  • most people accepted this as it was easy to put blame onto other people + also were worried about communism

• Nazis were traditional

  • rejected new Weimar culture + USA influence

  • agreed with conservative Germans who thought foreign ideas were influencing German culture too much

• Nazi propaganda + campaigning won them votes

  • Hitler travelled widely + Goebbels exploited new tech to spread Nazi views

  • Nazis owned 120 daily or weekly newspapers

  • Hitler also made speeches at mass rallies + on radio

• Nazis promised they would make Germany great again

  • said they would overturn the ToV + invade lebensraum in the east

  • people hated having to pay reparations when they were already poor → Weimar had betrayed people ‘November Criminals’

• won support due to depression

  • promised ‘work and bread’

  • 1928: 12 seats

    1932: 230 seats

  • planned to create jobs

• problems with Weimar democracy

  • proportional representation = weak coalition governments → no party strong enough to challenge Nazis

  • Nazis promised strong leadership

  • President Hindenburg had to start running Germany using Article 48 (emergency powers) which was unpopular → Nazis organised + strong

• marched through rallies → appeared organised + disciplined

• violence against opposition (e.g. communists)

Fear of communism

Leadership

Opposition weakness

Propaganda

Political deal

Economic problems

Depression

April - Presidential election → Hitler came second to Hindenburg, who won 53 per cent of the vote to Hitler’s 36.8 per cent.

May - Brüning’s government became very unpopular and he resigned → Hindenburg appointed von Papen

July - Reichstag elections → Nazis became largest single party w/ 230 seats, still did not have a majority → Hitler demanded to be made Chancellor but von Papen remained

November - von Papen forced to call another Reichstag election to win a majority in parliament.

• Nazis lost 34 seats but remained the largest party with 196 seats.

• von Papen suggested abolishing the Weimar constitution → Kurt von Schleicher (Minister of Defence) persuading Hindenburg that if this happened there could be a civil war

December - von Papen resigned → von Schleicher made Chancellor + tried to split the Nazis by asking a leading Nazi called Gregor Strasser to be his Vice Chancellor, Hitler forced Strasser to decline.

• von Schleicher also could not get the majority in the reichstag

January 1933 - von Papen agreed a deal with Hitler (political scheming) and persuaded Hindenburg to allow a Hitler/Papen government to be formed

• Hitler appointed as Chancellor of Germany with von Papen as Vice Chancellor on 30th Jan 1933

• von Papen claimed that Hitler could be controlled as Chancellor

• both Hindenburg + von Papen underestimated Hitler

Political parties banned

Army oath

Night of the Long Knives

Trade unions banned

Hindenburg’s death

Enabling act

Reichstag fire

• July 1933

• Law Against the Formation of Parties banned any party other than the Nazis → impossible for the Nazis to lose power

  • this is a consequence of the Enabling Act

• August 1934

• allowed Hitler to use the army, which was much more organised + powerful than the SA to become führer

• agreed to stay out of politics + serve Hitler

• 100,000 army men vs 2.5million SA

• Hitler wanted the support of the army as they were better trained + disciplined → SA were working class + anti capitalist (opposite of army) → made the army suspicious of them + Nazis in general

• Hitler also feared Röhm’s control over the army + was worried they would get out of hand

• June 1934

• squads of SS men broke into the houses of Röhm + other leading figures + arrested them

• Hitler accused Röhm of conspiring against him → Röhm + 400 others executed

• army was satisfied → army oath

• used this opportunity to also kill critic von Schleicher

• May 1933

• meant that workers could not join together to oppose Nazis in a strike

• Länder (regional parliaments representing 18 different stats of Germany) also banned

• August 1934

• Hitler combined role of Chancellor + President and became supreme leader (Führer) of Germany

• March 1933

• promised to protect Catholic rights → Centre’s party leader advocated that the Catholic party should support Enabling bill

• however SDP planned to boycott votes for the EA to be passed by not showing up → President of the Reichstag Hermann Goering introduced a new procedure that any absent member would be in favour

• also a lot of intimidation in the small Opera House

• more votes in favour + Hindenburg also agreed to it

• gave full powers to the Cabinet, more specifically the Chancellor (Hitler) to enforce emergency powers w/o needing the consent of the Reichstag or the President

• July 1933 → signed Concordat with Pope → stopped political activity of German priests that may oppose Hitler in return for Hitler’s promise to protect the status of the Catholic Church in Germany

• February 1933

• news came that the Reichstag building had been set on fire → inside building, police found Dutch communist van der Lubbe → he was arrested

• allowed Hitler to use this as evidence that communists were plotting against his govt

• Goering’s Prussian police imprisoned 4000 communist leaders

• more people voted for the Nazis in march 1933 election BUT nazis still not the majority

• Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree, suspending all articles regarding freedom → gave police emergency powers to search houses, confiscate property + detain people → could round up political opponents + send them to CCs

• since the Reichstag building was gone, Hitler used the Kroll Opera House → small enough to make any SA presence look very menacing → intimidating Reichstag members

• creation of massive public work programmes → building of the autobahns (German motorways), schools, hospitals etc. → millions of men given jobs here although they were paid poorly

• RAD (National Labour Service) 1935 → men 18-25 made to join this for 6 months → did hard manual labour

  • armed forces increased from 100,000 → 1,400,000

• all workers joined the DAF (German Labour Front) →

  controlled workers + settled disputes between them and their employers → BUT no rights for workers (not strikes/protests)

• Beauty of Labour → to help Germans see that work was good + that everyone who could work should

  • encouraged factory owners to improve conditions for workers.

• KDF (Strength through Joy) organisation set up to organise leisure time of workers → cheap theatre tickets, cruises, skiing holidays + saving up for VW Beetles → encouraged them to work harder

• Hitler wanted Germany to be completely self-sufficient → not relying on international trade w other countries for any raw materials

• created jobs

• huge increase in manufacturing arms + army

• created jobs

• decreased unemployment bc men forced to join military

• women + Jewish people fired

• control imports to try and make Germany more self-sufficient

• reduce unemployment by creating work

• mostly successful as unemployment reduced → HOWEVER in 1935, Hitler demanded an increase in speed of production → Schact (economist who introduced it) said this couldn’t be done w/o damaging economy → sacked + ended up in a CC

• implemented by Hermann Göring

• production of oil, rubber, textiles + fuel increased → industry more focused

• longer working hours + forced labour to achieve this

• somewhat successful → production of military goods increased, HOWEVER it was impossible to make Germany an autarky

• yes → 6 million unemployed to 0.5 million in 1939

• HOWEVER invisible unemployment:

  • Jewish people

  • women

• yes → production largely focused on weapons instead of consumer goods

• 1936 → ⅔ of govt spending went on rearmament

• no → measures introduced, such as tighter controls on imports and subsidies for farmers to produce more food, were not successful

• by the outbreak of WW2, Germany was still importing 20% of its food + 33% of its raw materials

• YES:

  • Big businesses - Rearmament from 1935 onwards boosted profits of big weapons companies + managers of the major industrial companies saw their incomes rise by 50% from 1933-1939

  • Farmers - 1937, agricultural prices had increased by 20% + agricultural wages rose more quickly than those in industry

• NO:

  • Small businesses - 20% of small business closed → many Jewish small businesses also forced to close

• for those not working in the rearmament sector, not really

• from 1933-39:

  • wages fell

  • number of hours worked rose by 15%

  • serious accidents in factories increased

  • workers could be blacklisted by employers for questioning their working conditions

methods of control:

• informers + block wardens

• SS + the Gestapo

• concentration camps

• police, judges + law courts

• each town divided into blocks

• block wardens (local Nazis) visited them weekly, checking up on them + collecting donations

• acted as eyes + ears of party

  • could report anyone doing the slightest ant-Nazi actions (e.g. not waving a Nazi flag on celebration day)

• network of informers

• children in Hitler Youth were expected to spy on parents + neighbours

• SS → Schutz-Staffel, protection squad

  • 5000 Aryan ‘supermen’

  • terrorising + intimidating into obedience

  • almost unlimited power

  • ran CCs

  • lead by Himmler

• Gestapo → state police

  • spying, arrested any opposition

  • could arrest at any time

• in 1933, were mainly used for prisons

  • 1941 onwards → were used as death camps

• some specialised in specific kinds of prisoners e.g. political

• questioning, torture, ‘re-education’, hard labour

• lied to families about prisoners’ deaths

• later became scenes of mass genocide

• especially for opponents

• took control of legal systems

• police under control of SS

• judges took an oath of loyalty to Hitler

• courts could be used by Nazis against opponents

• number of crimes punishable by death:

  • 1933: 3

  • 1943: 46

• many of their liberties during the Weimar period were lost → had to be modest, simple, feminine + motherly

• ‘mother’s cross’ → medal awarded for how many children they had

• smoking + drinking rejected for women.

• 1933-36 → married women banned from top professions

  • 15% of all teachers + female doctors + civil servants sacked

• Kinder, Küche, Kirche

• Lebensborn - women could ‘donate’ a baby to the Führer by becoming pregnant by racially pure SS men

• 1936 - 30%+ more births than in 1933

• 1939 - over 1 million live births

• Law for the Encouragement of Marriage - gave newlywed couples a loan of 1,000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had

• compulsory duty year → to help prepare for war

• women’s employment actually grew by 2.4million during 1933 and 1936 → cheaper labour, women still needed on the workforce

the idea that his 3rd Reich would last for 1000 years

• through indoctrination into Nazi ideology → taught about Aryan superiority + the inferior race (Jewish)

• changed education so children would be taught according to Nazi ideology

• raised young boys to be soldiers

• raised young girls to be mothers

• began in 1926

• gave children an opportunity to socialise + lead

• aim → to prepare German boys to be future soldiers

• boys wore military-style uniforms

• activities centred on physical exercise and rifle practice + political indoctrination

• began in 1930

• learned the basics of domestic life + child bearing skills

• taught at an early age that their place in society was to raise children + keep homes

• 1933 → 100,000 members

  • 1936 → 4 million members, BUT also became compulsory

• Hitler coming to power → youth movements abolished → HY grew quickly

• indoctrination of children

• occupied young peoples’ time