Download Paper 1 B5: Germany 1918-45 – Revision Framework

Paper 1 — Option B5: Development of Dictatorship: Germany, 1918-45
Key themes and contents coverage
The establishment of the Weimar Republic and its early problems

The German Revolution of 1918
o The impact of WW1: economic, political, psychological
o The impact of military defeat on the western front
o Revolution from below: the popular uprising and the establishment
of Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Workers’ Councils
o Revolution from above: the establishment of a civilian government,
the SPD takeover, the Kaiser’s abdication
o The deal done between Ebert and the army

The strengths and weaknesses of the new Constitution.
o PR
o Number of parties, weakness of right wing parties; coalition
governments
o Article 48
o Lack of support from the army, civil service and the old right

Reactions to the Treaty of Versailles.
o Why the Weimar government had to sign
o Why Versailles seemed so harsh: German expectations (14 points,
democracy in Germany); the way the treaty was imposed; terms of
the treaty
o How the treaty led to revival of the Right: the 1920 election; the far
right (see below)

The threat from the extreme right and left
o The Spartacist Rising; Munich; the Ruhr; Saxony
o The Freikorps; the Kapp Putsch; the campaign of political
assassinations; the Munich Putsch

The Crises of 1923
o French occupation of the Ruhr.
o Causes and effects of hyperinflation; who benefitted and who lost;
long term impact on the Weimar Republic
Other useful names
o
o
o
o
o
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Ebert
Hindenburg
Ludendorff
Luxemburg and
Leibknecht
Other useful terms


the stab in the back
diktat

DNVP, DVP, DDP,
Centre Party, SDP,
Communists

Spartacists,
Independent
Socialists

Organisation Consul
(the Feme)
Issues



Why was there a
revolution in 1918?
Why was the
survival of the
Weimar republic
under threat 191923?
Why did the Weimar
Republic survive
1919-23?
Key themes and contents coverage
Other useful names
The recovery of Germany, 1924-29
The Stresemann era.
 Economic Recovery? The Rentenmark, Dawes and Young Plans and the
recovery of the German economy; reliance on US loans and investement



Other useful terms
o Fulfilment
o
Diplomatic normalization? League of Nations, Locarno Treaties and KelloggBriand Pact.
Political Recovery? The role of Stresemann, the election of Hindenburg, the
1928 election
Weimar Germany’s Golden Years? Weimar Culture, the rise of Berlin,
opposition to Weimar decadence
The rise of Hitler and the Nazis to 1928

Hitler and the German Workers’ Party: the impact and aftermath of the war
and the far right in Munich

Changes to the party 1920-22: the 25 point programme, Hitler’s leadership,
creation of the SA and the growth of the party in Munich

Causes, events and results of Munich Putsch, 1923.

Reorganisation of the Party, 1924-28; ‘legality’, Mein Kampf, the Nazis as
leaders of the extreme Right, failure in the 1928 election

Nazi ideology

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

Drexler
Goebbels
Göring
Röhm

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
The Nazi Rise to Power 1929-33

Impact of Wall Street Crash and Great Depression:
o
Economic Impact: withdrawal of US loans and investments; collapse
of economy and rise in unemployment; banking crisis of 1931; how
Brüning made things worse
o Impact of unemployment
o Political impact: death of Stresemann, collapse of the Big Coalition,
appointment of Brüning; 1930 election, dependence on Article 48,
Brüning’s failure to tackle the Great Depression


Oskar von
Hindenburg
Otto Meisner

Gregor Strasser
 The Hindenburg cabal
 Cabinet of barons
 The 1929 campaign
against the Young Plan
 ‘We have hired him’

Rise of Nazi vote
o
1930 election, 1932 elections: the Nazi vote, the negative majority
o
Who voted Nazi?
o
Nazi messages
o
Nazi methods: electoral methods and machine, role of the SA, role
of Hugenburg and big business
Issues
o
Grossdeutchland
Lebensraum
Volksgemeinschaft
Master Race
Untermenschen
National Socialism
Führerprinzip
 ‘Hitler, Our Last Hope’
 ‘Politics of anxiety’
 Flight over Germany
 Mittelstand
 North German Plain

Why did the
Stresemann era see
a recovery in
Germany?
How far was there a
recovery in the
Stresemann era?
Why did the Nazis
become the most
prominent of the
parties on the
extreme Right?
 Why did the Great
Depression transform
German politics?
 Why did the Nazis
become the largest
party in the Reichstag
in 1932?
 Why did Hitler become
Chancellor in 1933?
REMEMBER! The Great
Depression (1930
onwards) was NOT the
same thing as hyperinflation(1923)
Key themes and contents coverage
Other useful names
Other useful terms
‘Helped into power’: the events of 1932 to January 1933, including:
o
1932 Presidential election, Brüning’s sacking and the von Papen
government
o
July 1932 election, Hitler’s ‘all or nothing’ demands, fall of von
Papen
o
Von Schleicher’s government, how Hindenburg was persuaded to
make Hitler chancellor
Life in Nazi Germany

Setting up the Nazi dictatorship

There were only three Nazis in the Cabinet; Hitler’s aim of an Enabling
Law freeing him from reliance on Article 48; how Hitler was still
vulnerable to Hindenburg, the army and the Old Right

The Reichstag Fire

Enabling Act

Gleichschaltung: the creation of a one-party state; coordination of the
state machine and legal system; Nazification of German life and
institutions

creation of a police state and the role of the SS

Goebbels and propaganda

Night of the Long Knives; Hindenburg’s death and Hitler as Führer

Nazi policies towards:

Women

the young: Hitler Youth; education system

the Jews: including early discrimination (such as the boycott),
Nuremberg Laws, radicalization from 1937 and Kristallnacht

the Churches: including the Concordat and increasing persecution of the
Cathloic Church, the German Christians, the German Faith Movement,
the Confessional Church

Nazi economic policies (The New Plan, Göring’s Four Year Plan)

Recovery and reducing unemployment: public works, Reich Labour
Service, rearmament and conscription.

Rearmament (the failure to achieve a war economy)

Were Germans better or worse off under the Nazis?

How the Nazis wanted to help the mittelstand and rural Germany, but
actually helped big business

The Nazis and the workers: living standards and real wages, the DAF and
closer control, Strength through Joy (KdF), labour shortage by 1938
Issues
REMEMBER! The Nazis
never won a majority,
their peak vote was
never higher than 37%






Himmler
Heydrich
Baldur von Schriach
Robert Ley
Hjamlmar Schacht
 Reichstag Fire Decree
(Decree for the
Protection of the
People and State);
‘protective custody’
 Minister President of
Prussia (Göring)
 Day of Potsdam
 Law for the
Restoration of a
Professional Civil
Service
 Law Against the
Formation of Parties
 Reichstathalter
 Ein Volk, ein Reich,
ein Führer
 Ministry of Propaganda
 People’s Receiver
 Nuremberg rallies
 Reich chamber of
Culture
 Triumph of the Will
 Berlin Olympics
 autobahns
 Gestapo and the SD
 Concentration Camps
 BDM; Nazi Women’s
League
Understand how Hitler
was able to remove
opposition and establish
a dictatorship of the
Nazi Party in the years
1933-34.
Understand the changes
brought about by the
Nazis in the lifestyles of
the young, women and
the Jews and in the
position of the
Protestant and Roman
Catholic Churches.
Key themes and contents coverage
The impact of the Second World War on Germany

Nazi policies towards the Jews: how the conquest of Poland and the war in
the East radicalized Nazi policy towards Jews, including ghettos and the
Einsatzgruppen; the Final Solution

Nazi persecution and murder of other minorities and nationalities, including
gypsies, untermenschen, Poles and Soviet citizens

The German Home Front: the initial failure to create a war economy and the
move to total war in 1943; slave labour; impact of Stalingrad and looming
defeat; allied air raids; impact on women; the flight from the east and defeat
in 1945

The growth of opposition to Hitler: Swing Youth, Edelweiss Pirates, White
Rose group; individual acts of opposition (eg Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cardinal
Galen); the July Bomb Plot, 1944. Lack of other resistance, how Germany
fought to the very end

Defeat and Hitler’s death.
Other useful names



Eichmann
Höss
Speer

Von Stauffenberg


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

Other useful terms
Issues
Warsaw Ghetto
Wannsee Conference
Babi Yar
Death camps: eg
Chelmno, Treblinka
Auschwitz
Belsen
Holocaust
Aktion T-4
Zyklon B
Jewish resitance: the
Warsaw Ghetto,
Auschwitz
To know the effects of
the Second World War on
Nazi policies towards the
Jews and on the home
front in Germany.
 Hamburg 1943,
Dresden 1945
 Volkssturm
 The Wolf’s Lair
 The Berlin bunker
To identify the reasons
for Hitler’s downfall and
death.