Germany before the Third Reich
THE FRAGILE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
The German Defeat in WWI
 The “stab in the back”
 Oct/Nov. 1918 = Naval mutiny @ Kiel
 November 1918 = new socialist gov’t
 January 1919 = Spartacus Uprising
 Rosa Luxembourg, Karl Liebknecht, and the KPD
 15 January 1919 = put down by Freikorps
The Weimar Republic
 11 August 1919 = est. Weimar Republic
 German military & SPD make a deal
 More direct democracy & civil rights
 But also Article 48
 President could rule w/o approval of Parliament
Violence Continues . . .
 March 1920 = Kapp Putsch
 Right-wing coup attempt
 Stopped by workers
 Political Assassinations:
 August 1921 = Matthias Erzberger
 June 1922 = attempt on Philipp Scheidemann
 June 1922 = Walter Rathenau
 1919-1922 = 376 political murders
General Discontentment
 No German “place in the sun”
 Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919)
 “War Guilt” clause
 Kaiser abdicates
 No more colonies
General Discontentment
 No German “place in the sun”
 Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919)
 “War Guilt” clause
 Kaiser abdicates
 No more colonies
 Reparations
 $33,000,000,000
 Discontent with democracy
Inflation
 Before WWI, 4 Marks = $1
 15 Sept. 1922, 1000 RM = 72 cents
 20 Feb. 1923, 20,000 RM = 86 cents
 21 August 1923, 5,000,000 RM = 91 cents
 2 Sept. 1923, 10,000,000 RM = 97 cents
 22 Oct. 1923, 20,000,000 RM = 50 cents
Reichsmark Bottoms Out
 20 Nov. 1923 = lowest point
 $1 = 4,210,000,000,000 RM
 Largest banknote printed . . .
 100,000,000,000,000 RM
The Effects of Hyperinflation
 Employed = okay
 On fixed income = not okay
 Wealthy = get even wealthier
The Beer Hall Putsch
 8 Nov. 1923 = Hitler kidnapped Bavarian PM
 Stormtroopers (SA) occupy gov’t buildings
 General Erich Ludendorff = new figure head
 9 Nov. 1923 = putsch starts to falter
 Desperate march on the Bavarian Defense Ministry
 Stopped by soldiers
 4 soldiers, 16 Nazis die
 Revolutionaries flee . . .
Trial & Prison
 Hitler uses trial as political forum
 Lots of speeches
 1 April 1924 = sentenced to
5 years in prison
 Released in December 1924
 Dictates Mein Kampf to
Rudolf Hess
 Published in 1925
After the Beer Hall Putsch
 Nazi Party was banned
 Two rival groups:
 The German Party (DP)
 The German Völkisch Freedom Party
 Hitler takes back control of DP
 NSDAP backs Ludendorff for 1925 presidency
 Gets less than 1% of vote
 April 1925 = Paul von Hindenburg becomes
President of Germany
Summary
 German generals denied military defeat
 Lackluster support for German republic
 Lots of violence in first years of Weimar regime
 Hyperinflation
 1923 = Nazi coup (failed)
 Prison allowed Hitler a chance to strategize