After World War 1, Germany went through the Weimar period, which was from 1919 to 1933. During this period of time Germany’s social, cultural, and economic landscape encounter a major paradigm shift.
The paradigm shift of the social class went from sophisticate with normal gender roles to exact reversal. A major example of this was the creation of Cabret culture, which is the german version of a brothel. With the Weimar Cabaret, there were two types: There were the ones with the larger halls or theaters, where crowds of all ages and classes came together to witness a variety of shows which usually consisted of singers, dancers, acrobats, and comedians. The second type of Cabaret is the ones that were smaller clubs where the audiences consisted was usually middle and upper class, younger and middle aged adults, and the songs were political and social satire. The more self-ruling
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The majority of Germany’s economic problems were caused by the unfair punishments from the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles hurt Germany’s economics because the Allies forced Germany to pay them 33 billion in Reichsmark in reparation over 30 years. Since Germany was already economically weaken due to World War 1, this punishment impaired the German economy even further. This led to Germany experiencing hyperinflation, which reduced the value of prices into basically worth nothing. This hyperinflation was so terrible that it would take a wheelbarrow full of food to buy a single loaf of bread. Hyperinflation and the extreme amount of deaths caused by World War 1 was also caused most of the businesses to be shut down, leaving a large portion of German Citizens unemployed. These conditions left the German people weak and tremendously angry at the other Europeans countries. The early radical right-wing party used this anger and desperation to manipulate the citizens of Germany to get Hitler in
First, the defeat of WWI was not just the beginning of the Weimar Republic but could be considered a catalyst to its downfall as well. During the later stages of WWI
Hitler also brought his country out of an economic depression. The German depression was caused mainly by the Treaty of Versailles, and its detrimental economic impact on Germany. Basically, Germany was forced to pay for all damages caused by the First World War. Hitler’s policies that helped the German economy were part of his Third Reich. Hitler’s Third Reich led to one of the greatest expansions of industrial production and civil improvement in German history. This success was mainly due to the expansion of the military and the expansion of the money supply through deficit spending.
The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for the losses France experienced in World War I. The treaty required Germany to pay for these losses. Germany was required to pay France 132 billion marks in reparations. This fine was excessive in order to show that Germany was weak and to further weaken the German government. This caused inflation. The German government inflated the amount of money so much that it became so worthless that people used
During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people’s life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler’s ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full employment, convinced Germany, in a state of disillusionment, to support the nazi party. The Weimar’s instability contributed to the collapse of the Weimar republic provided perfect conditions for the nazi party to rise to power.
This depression occurred when the Wall Street Crash sent America's industries and businesses into a crisis; due to America's large trade industries, this depression spread to a lot of other countries. This made the unemployment rate in Germany sky high but for the Nazi's this benefitted them because they earned more votes which were the push Hitler needed to get into power. This depression helped Hitler prey on people's fear of communism so he promised the people of Germany that he would get rid of unemployment. This promise strengthened their support to vote for the Nazi's and was a major factor for Hitler to gain domination. The Reichstag fire was also a big help to get Hitler in power because the communists were blamed for the fire that occurred which then helped the Nazi's win the 1933 election. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles only made Hitler rise to make Germany better and
When Hitler came to power, many things changed. After World War I, the German economy was very unstable. This was when
After World War I, Germany was in bad shape economically, politically, and socially. The Weimar Republic
Germany lost World War I, and Germany was subject to the peace terms of the victorious Allies. It was only right that the Allies enforce peace demands, that would weaken Germany. They had just spent 4 years fighting a war, and had lost 5.5 million men to it. They wanted to make sure that such devastation didn’t happen again. The Allies, however did not have the right to enforce the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. 440 articles of the Treaty of Versailles were dedicated to punishing Germany. The Treaty has several other clauses that limited Germany’s economy, required provisions of land to Poland, and embarrassed the German people. The crippled economy left many Germans unemployed, and led to a Depression. The German people searched
As previously studied, the day Germany was born it was considered a powerhouse. This feeling of superiority and domination was demolished after World War One. After being humiliated on an international level, having a crippling economy, and being harshly punished by the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was ready for immediate change. The issue was deciding which changes were to be made, as people had varying opinions of where instability originated. Some people of Germany felt the Republic and its democratic ways were factors of instability within the distressed Weimar Republic. Others felt communism and revolution created possibility of another war, with war being viewed as very unstable. Nonetheless, other felt fascism and its aggressive outlooks
The Weimar Republic started and ended as a society filled with violence and turmoil. The creation of a new government after the abdication of the Kaiser Wilhelm II was due to a large amount of international pressure and influence from leaders such as President Woodrow Wilson. This new German government became a democracy without any democrats. However, stating that the Weimar Republic could have survived had it’s own presidents not undermined it, is not a fair statement. Although the presidents made several poor choices in the way that they decided to run Germany, the overall collapse of the Weimar Republic can only be blamed on a combination of several factors. The instability of the Weimar constitution created a society in which over 6 years
The Weimar Republic and Germany’s response which followed it are both stages of Germany’s intricate history that cannot be understood on their own. Both periods of Germany’s history have a commonality in their being brought on by the rippling effects of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty was imposed on the German Empire at the final stages of the first World War. In an irregular way, considering the weight of the treaty, the Treaty of Versailles was signed among a group of national leaders which lacked German representation; this non-German group of people, in a single day, wrongly castrated Germany.
As the end of World War One, Germany was required to pay a large sum of money to the Allies consequently resulting in a Great Depression. The sum Germany had to pay was set after the Treaty of Versailles at approximately six billion, six hundred million – twenty-two billion pounds. The large amount of reparations that Germany had to pay resulted in a depression and angered the Germans as they thought it was too much to pay. The Germans hatred of the Treaty of Versailles crippled Germany and was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power. Germany could not pay their reparations and was forced into a
When Hitler came to power in 1934 conditions in Germany were poor. The Treaty of Versailles meant that Germany lost territory, money and armaments, and the German people hated it. There was also the Wall Street Crash that caused the Great Depression in 1929. Hitler blamed the Weimar politicians and promised he would unite the country, destroy the Treaty of Versailles, jobs, security, profit, prosperity, protection and that he would crush the hazardous Communists. During Nazi rule between 1933 and 1939, there were many positives such as the repudiation of the treaty of Versailles, improved economy, a fall in unemployment and national pride, but there were also many negatives such as the establishment of a police state, persecution of minorities,
The years following 1918 were highly turbulent for post-World War I Germany, undergoing multiple crises that greatly hindered the authority of the Weimar Republic. In this, several incidents threatened the state’s legitimacy, specifically the hyperinflation of the German mark, the recurrence of workers’ strikes and uprisings, and the ongoing factionalism between political parties. Furthermore, while each major crisis contributed to either the outbreak or the effects of one another, all are ultimately able to find an underlying cause in the Treaty of Versailles and the general defeat of Germany in World War I. Moreover, such incidents not only undermined the political power of the Weimar Republic but also, allowed for greater radicalization
The Nazi regime’s economic successes meant that Nazi Germany remained popular and supported by many Germans who were willing to overlook the negatives of what the party employed, however some remained true to what they believed in, meaning opposition to Nazism in Germany between 1918 and 1939 existed. A number of groups formed within this time frame, however were largely unsuccessful, due to one smothering issue; Hitler’s enormous amount of power enabled by The Enabling Act 1933. Each group, including the Social Democratic Party, the youth of Germany and a number of churches each had their own specific issues with Hitler’s regime, however all had one common factor among them… They were seen as a threat and because Nazi Germany was a totalitarian