WAR

POLITICAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC

 SOCIAL: GAP BETWEEN RICH
(FACTORY OWNERS) AND REST OF
SOCIETY WIDENS/DEMOBILISED
SOLDIERS COME BACK TO
GERMANY AND ARE JOBLESS.
 ECONOMIC: THE BRITISH BLOCKADE
STARVING OUT GERMANY/ MEN
WHO DIE IN COMBAT LEAVE
UNFATHERED FAMILIES (STATE MUST
PAY WAR PENSION TO WIDOWS).
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ARE
EXTREMELY COMPROMISED,
 Short video, equipment and food.
 BRITISH BLOCKADE/SOLDIERS EQUIPMENT
VIDEO.
 POLITICS: THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY
(KAISER) IS FORCED OUT. A NEW
GOVERNMENT ARISES WHOSE CONSTITUTION
IN SIGNED IN WEIMAR. THE NEW NAME OF
THIS GOVERNMENT WEIMAR REPUBLIC, ITS
PRESIDENT: EBERT.
KAISERS ABDICATION

REVOLUTION IN
GERMANY.
 GERMAN REVOLUTION 1918-1919: A YEAR
LONG PERIOD THAT OPENS UP AFTER THE
KAISER IS OUT AND GERMANY IS TRYING TO
DEFINE ITS NEW GOVERNMENT.
SO, THE WEIMAR GVT. IS THREATENED IN BY
BOTH THE LEFT WING AND THE RIGHT WING.
RIGHT LEFT

WEIMAR
 WHOS THE LEFT?
SPARTACISTS OR THE SPARTACIST LEAGUE (
Spartakus-Bund) PART OF THE GERMAN
COMMUNIST PARTY (K.P.D.)
THEY WANT TO IMPORT THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION AND SET SOVIETS IN GERMANY.
IN EARLY 1919 THEY START A REVOLUTION BUT
ARE CRASHED BY THE WEIMAR GOVERNMENT.
UNTIL 1920, THERE ARE OTHER COMMUNIST
REVOLUTIONS, ALSO CRUSHED BY EBERT.
LIEBKNECHT-LUXEMBURG. 1919
 WHOS THE RIGHT?
MAJOR FACTORY OWNERS WHO GREW RICH IN
THE WAR
GERMAN ARMY OFFICER CLASS/JUDGES, HIGH
RANKING POLICE AND STATE WORKERS.
DEMOBILISED AND UNEMPLOYED SOLDIERS JOIN
RIGHT WING PARAMILITARY GROUPS (CALLED
FREIKORPS -FREECORPS-.
RIGHT WING MAIN IDEA: GERMANY MUST BE A
GREAT POWER AND A MONARCHY AGAIN, THE
T.O.V WAS A BACKSTABBING MOVE BY
POLITICIANS, NOT THE ARMY.
 EBERT USED THE FREIKORPS TO CRUSH THE
COMMUNIST REVOLUTION, BUT:
THE RIGHT WINGERS MADE THEIR OWN
MOVES AGAINST THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC:
KAPP PUTSCH: 1920, HE USED FREIKORPS IN
BERLIN TO REMOVE EBERT, THE OFFENSIVE
WAS PARALIZED BY WORKERS WHO ORDERED
A GENERAL STRIKE (NO POWER, TRANSPORT,
WATER). KAPP FAILED.
 MUNICH PUTSCH: LED BY HITLER IN 1923. ITS
A REBELLION SEEKING TO TAKE POWER IN THE
CITY OF MUNICH RATHER THAN THE WHOLE
OF GERMANY. EASILY DEFEATED.
 WHILE IN AN EXTREMELY
COMPROMISED POLITICAL
SITUATION, THE NEW WEIMAR
GOVERNMENT IS INFORMED, IN
MAY 1919, THE TERMS OF THE
T.O.V.
 GERMANY HAS TO PAY
REPARATIONS, BUT WITH
STRONG LAND AND RESOURCE
REDUCTIONS, THEY CANT PAY.
SO 2 (TWO) THINGS HAPPEN.
 RUHR OCCUPATION (1923)
FRENCH AND BELGIANS OCCUPY THE
COAL/INDUSTRIAL REGION OF THE RUHR TO
TAKE IN MATERIAL WHAT WAS NOT BEIGN
PAYED TO THEM IN CASH.
WORKERS STOP WORKING, THEY WONT
WORK FOR THE FRENCH AND WEIMAR
SUPPORTS THIS. FRENCH REPRESS AND KILL
THE WORKERS.
 GERMANY IS NOT PRODUCING BECAUSE OF
THE RUHR CRISIS, SO THE GOVERNMENT
PRINTS MONEY TO PAY FOR FOREIGN
(REPARATIONS) AND DOMESTIC DEBT
(PENSIONS, INDUSTRIAL OWNERS)
MONEY LOSES VALUE, PRIZES SPIRAL UP.
HYPERINFLATION.
 ALL PEOPLE LOSE THEIR SAVINGS.
SALARY AND PENSIONS WORTHLESS.
ECONOMY DE-MONETISES. PEOPLE START TO
TRADE PHYSICAL GOODS.