WEIMAR GERMANY AND THE RISE OF HITLER 1919-1933. You will learn….. Why Germany’s new government had so many problems after WWI How Germany recovered

WEIMAR WEIMAR GERMANYGERMANY

ANDANDTHE RISE OF THE RISE OF

HITLERHITLER1919-19331919-1933

You will learn…..You will learn…..

Why Germany’s new government had so many problems after WWI

How Germany recovered from some of these problems from 1924 to 1929

How events after 1929 led to the collapse of this government

What Nazism means Why Hitler and his National Socialist Party

came to power by 1933

Bad state of economy made things worse Raw materials were under foreign control, Saar

and Alsace-Loraine CENTRES OF IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION

Production in mines and factories reduced Led to massive unemployment Shopkeepers and traders suffered as people

had less to spend Soldiers were jobless and ended up begging

THE TROUBLED YEARS 1919 - THE TROUBLED YEARS 1919 - 19231923

Thus did not have enough money to pay for reparations

France was angry and decided to invade the Ruhr, an area in western Germany – centre of the country’s heavy industries COALMINES, IRON AND STEEL WORKS

Aggravated the situation. How?


German workers went on strike, silently encouraged by the WR

Factories stopped producing goods Prices went up Price increase went out of control; value of

money fell Govt response : Print more money Money became worthless - hyperinflationhyperinflation People’s savings wiped out Standard of living dropped drastically


Many Germans suffered and turned very bitter Many blamed the government Led to support for extreme parties from both

the right and the left wing It was during this Ruhr crisis of 1923 that Hitler

staged his attempted putsch in Munich


““Beer Hall” PutschBeer Hall” Putsch Took place in a large beer hall in Munich 3,000 Germans gathered there to listen to a speech by the state

commissioner of Bavaria Hitler jumped on a chair and proclaimed, “The national revolution

had broken out.” The Nazis then held a demonstration march to the centre of Munich Clashed with the police Hitler escaped but was later arrested Sentenced to 5 years jail for treason Served 9 months in jail before he was released


Price of egg , which was just 1.6 marks in 1921 went up to 320,000,000,000 marks

by Nov 1923

Price of bread, 163.15 marks in 1922, went

up to 201,000,000,000

marks in 1923

HYPERINFLATIOHYPERINFLATIONN

Weimar Republic, 500,000,000 Mark Note, Series of 1923Probably the largest denomination banknote ever printed.

Source : http://www.intrepid.net/sabre/ephemera.html

YEARS OF RECOVERY 1924-1929YEARS OF RECOVERY 1924-1929

Economy began to recover in mid-1920s

Thanks to Gustav Stresemann

Who was he? What did he do?


Gustav Stresemann First as Chancellor (Prime Minister), then as

Foreign Minister for much of 1923-29 Wanted Germany to be prosperous again Sought better relations with other countries One of his first achievements – persuade the

French to withdraw their troops from the Ruhr

Helped to get factories producing again People could find more work


France agreed provided Germany paid reparations REASON WHY THEY WERE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE

Streseman agreed but tried to buy time for payment

Made a deal with US – Germany would not fall back behind its payments if given more time and loans to help economy recover

At the same time, he resolved the currency problem

Withdrew all the old money (mark) and replaced it with a new currency (rentenmark) which had proper financial backing

Boost people’s confidence in the new currency


Stresemann’s greatest interest was in foreign affairs

Aimed to make Germany the strongest country in Europe again

Plan was to get on better terms with other countries and convince them to trust Germany again

His hope was to recover some of the lands and rights that Germany had lost at the Treaty of Versailles

Stresemann’s successes in Stresemann’s successes in foreign affairsforeign affairs

Treaty of Locarno Signed with Germany’s wartime enemies in 1925 WR agreed not to try and recover any of its lost lands

in western Germany Helped make Britain, France and Italy less suspicious

Getting Germany into the League of Nations League of Nations – again controlled by Germany’s

wartime enemies By joining them in Sep 1926, indicate that they were

on better terms Bitter feelings aroused by war subsided


Persuading Allies to withdraw their troops from the Rhineland in 1929 5 years ahead of the schedule laid down in the

Treaty of Versailles Showed that Stresemann’s policy of gaining trust

among other countries worked


Getting the USA to agree to an even better deal about reparation payments The Dawes Plan 1924 in which USA would invest 40

million pounds in Germany Followed by the Young Plan, made in 1929 In return for promising that it would continue to pay

reparations, the amount that Germany had to pay was greatly reduced

From 6,600 million pounds to 1,850 million pounds Spread over 59 annual payments

Effects of Wall Street Crash on Effects of Wall Street Crash on GermanyGermany

Wall Street Crash 1929 Brought Germany’s prosperity to a sudden end. How? Germany had come to rely almost totally on US loans

and investments US economy collapsed in Oct 1929 American bankers demanded that German loans be

repaid American businessmen withdrew their investments USA and other countries had less money to buy German

goods Factories closed, leading to unemployment A vicious cycle; worse than in early 1920s German economy collapsed totally

Effects of Wall Street Crash on Effects of Wall Street Crash on GermanyGermany

Banks closed and inflation was back More people were out of jobs – 2 million in

1929 to 6 million in 1932 As in the years after 1919, the people blamed

the government again Started supporting extremist parties Especially the National Socialist party and their

leader Hitler

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WEIMAR GERMANY AND THE RISE OF HITLER 1919-1933. You will learn….. Why Germany’s new government had so many problems after WWI How Germany recovered