Germany after the War

BGS History GCSE Revision Tests Germany afterthe War

1) What was Germany called after the war? The Weimar Republic

2) Explain why it got this new name? [2] WEIMAR – Because Germany’s capital (Berlin) was too unsafe to meet in, so they met in Weimar instead. REPUBLIC – Because it now had an elected leader (a President) instead of a King or KAISER. The Kaiser had run off to Holland at the end of the war!

3) When did the war end? 11th NOVEMBER 1918

4) Which word is used for the official end of the war? ARMISTICE

5) What did many Germans believe their leaders had done to them by ending the war? STABBED THEM IN THE BACK!!

6) What nickname was given to Germany’s leaders who had agreed to end the war (the armistice)? THE NOVEMBER CRIMINALS

7) What was the Reichstag? German Parliament

8) What does democracy mean? One person = One vote

BGS History GCSE Revision Tests The Treatyof Versailles

9) When was this treaty signed? July 1919

10) What kind of treaty were the Germans hoping for? A fair treaty

11) Why did they expect this kind of treaty? The American President had been talking about how important it was to be fair. He’d been talking about “PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY”, a treaty that looked forward not back.

11A) What’s a good way of remembering the key terms of the treaty? L A M B LAND ARMY MONEY BLAME

12) In terms of land, list two of the key terms. Germany lost 13% of its land (and about 6 million people who lived there). Germany was split in two to give Poland access to the sea (the Polish Corridor).

13) What size of army was Germany allowed? 100,000 soldiers

14) Who did the treaty blame for starting the war? Germany

15) What was the name of the massive fines Germany had to pay as a result? REPARATIONS

16) How much did Germany have to pay in total? £6,600 million!!

17) Why did Germany have no choice but to accept the treaty? She would be invaded if she didn’t accept the terms.

BGS History GCSE Revision Tests Politics inWeimar Germany

18) What do LEFT-WING people want to happen? They want CHANGE!!! They want the gap between rich and poor to be made much smaller – workers should be looked after better and paid more.

19) What do RIGHT-WING people want? They want things to stay the SAME!!! Basically they’re happy to keep things as they are – allow rich people to stay rich, and keep paying the workers the same.

20) Communism is a left-wing idea: true or false? TRUE Communism is the most extreme left-wing ideaEVERYBODY SHOULD BE EQUAL!! This will happen through a REVOLUTION!!!

21) Who were the Freikorps? Soldiers who had fought in the First World War, who now joined together. They hated the new democratic Weimar Republic – they saw democracy as weak. BUT THEY HATED COMMUNISM MORE!

22) Were they left-wing or right-wing? RIGHT-WING!!! [They hated democracy, and wanted the strong leadership of the Kaiser back]

23) Which group tried to take power in 1919? Were they extreme left-wing or extreme right-wing? SPARTACISTS They were a LEFT-WING, COMMUNIST group.

24) Which group stopped them? Were they extreme left-wing or extreme right-wing? THE FREIKORPS!!! They were RIGHT-WING [They hated democracy, and wanted the strong leadership of the Kaiser back]

25) Was the ‘Red Rising of the Ruhr’ in 1920 started by the Communists or the right-wing? COMMUNISTS!!!

26) Which group tried to take power in the 1920 Kapp Putsch? THE FREIKORPS!!! They thought that the Weimar Republic was so weak that it would be easy to take over. Led by Dr Kapp.

27) How was the Kapp Putsch by the Freikorps stopped? A strike by Berlin’s workers.

BGS History GCSE Revision Tests 1923- The yearof crisis

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!28) Why did the French invade the Ruhr in 1923? Because Germany had not paid any reparations in 1922, and under the terms of Versailles France was allowed to invade and help herself to what she wanted from Germany.

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!29) How did the Germans react to the French invasion? PASSIVE RESISTANCE The Germans couldn’t fight the French – small army and too weak after the war, so they everyone in the Ruhr went on strike instead = Passive Resistance.

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!30) What economic problem did Passive Resistance lead to? 1923!!! - HYPERINFLATION!!! – 1923!!! The German government had told all its workers to stop working, but it still had to pay them! It did this by printing loads of money, but this meant that money lost all its value!!

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!31) Give examples of how Hyperinflation made life difficult for Germans. Money lost all its value – at one stage an egg cost 80 million marks. People had to carry money around in wheelbarrows. By the time you got to the front of a queue the price of what you were buying had doubled.

1923 – YEAROF CRISIS!32) Give two groups of people who really suffered from Hyperinflation? 1) Pensioners – they were on a fixed income. There was no way this could keep up with the crazy prices. 2) People with savings in the bank. Their savings had lost all their value.

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!33) Which man solved Hyperinflation, and how did he do it? [2 key measures] STRESEMANN Ended Passive Resistance Introduced a new currency – the Rentenmark

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!34) Why was ending Passive Resistance so unpopular with right-wing extremists like the Nazis? It was like “giving in” to the French. It was as if Stresemann was saying the Treaty of Versailles was fair, and that Germany should be paying reparations.

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!35) What did the Nazis do at the end of 1923 which showed how angry they were? The Munich Putsch Hitler and the Nazis tried to start a national revolution in Munich. It failed.

1923 - YEAR OF CRISIS!36) Why did the Munich Putsch fail? Hitler had assumed the army and police would support him and join in. They did not.

1923- YEAR OF CRISIS!37) What important lesson did Hitler learn from the failure of the Munich Putsch? That he would have to take power legally, and GET VOTED IN TO POWER. He had tried a violent revolution and it had failed.

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!38) What is the correct order of the following 5 events of 1923? Ending of Passive Resistance Hyperinflation Munich Putsch Invasion of the Ruhr Passive Resistance

1923 – YEAR OF CRISIS!Correct order of events: 1) Invasion of the Ruhr 2) Passive Resistance 3) Hyperinflation 4) Ending of Passive Resistance 5) Munich Putsch

BGS History GCSE Revision Tests Stresemann &the golden years

39) Name the two jobs that Stresemann did in the German government. Chancellor Foreign Minister

40) What two things did Stresemann do to end the crisis of hyperinflation? Introduce a new currency – the RENTENMARK Called off passive resistance

41) What is the name of the policy linked with Stresemann? FULFILMENT!

42) Explain how this theory was meant to work. Germany would fulfil, or agree to, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles

43) What happened in 1924 that showed that the theory was working. How did it help Germany? The DAWES PLAN gave Germany longer to pay the Allies and the US lent them 800 million marks! It helped Germany because they could then improve housing, hospitals, schools and roads

Germany after the War