Download Germany after the War

Germany after the War
Kaiser Gone
• Why?
German Revolution
• Began on 29th October 1918
• Sailors at Kiel refused to obey orders and
engage in battle with the British Navy
• The sailors in the German Navy mutinied and
set up councils based on the soviets in Russia
• Soviet – Russian word meaning Council
• By 6th November the revolution had spread to
the Western Front and all major cities and ports
in Germany.
Bavaria
• On 7th November,
1918, Kurt Eisner,
leader of the
Independent
Socialist Party,
declared Bavaria a
Socialist Republic
On 9th November, 1918
I am out of here!
Netherlands here I
come!!
• SPD for short
• Better chance of a fair
peace
• Democratic Republic
• No more Kaiser or
emperor
• The SPD were the
largest political party
Treaty of Versailles
• How did this cause problems for the new
Government?
Unfair
BLAME
Territory
Betrayed
Treaty
of
Versailles
Reparations
Insult
Hate
Feelings in Germany
• Humiliated
• Revenge
• ‘stab in the back’ theory meant that the
new democratic government was blamed
for the humiliation of Versailles
• Germans were horrified when they
discovered the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles
• “We didn’t start the war!”
• “why should we be blamed?”
• Many Germans were outraged when
Germany was not even represented at the
discussions to sort out a peace settlement
The disgraceful Treaty is being signed
today.
Don’t forget it!
We will never stop until we win back what
we deserve.
From Deutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper,
28 June 1919.
Questions
1. Who were the ‘November Criminals’?
2. What exactly was the ‘Stab in the back’
theory? Do you think the government
was used as a scapegoat? Give reasons
for your answer
3. Why were the German people so
resentful in the 1920s? – (discuss the
timing behind the Weimar Republic and
its principles).