Germany – AS essay plans: section A and section
Section A
Weimar
To what extent did the Weimar constitution overcome challenges to the constitution?
Introduction
Paragraph 1 – didn’t overcome challenges = liberal constitution
- after the provisional government set up on 10 th Nov elections were fixed for 19th Jan 1919
- SPD didn’t get majority with 37.9% so made coalition with Centre Party and DDP
- Ebert became president of the Republic on the 11 th Feb
- Weimar constitution passed by the National Assembly on 31 st July – with the new consistency new laws created
- method of proportional representation – people voted for a party in 1/35 electoral areas, their representative in the
Reichstag was then chosen from the party list
- 60,000 votes to gain a seat – allowed more smaller parties to gain a representation i.e. NSDAP, KPD
- made it impossible to gain a majority with there being 9 coalitions between 1919 and 1923
- making the government link weak – people may strengthen their view from the stab in the back myth and gave the
government inherent weaknesses
- counter (did overcome challenges) = effort was made by Ebert to prevent there from being inherent weaknesses
- Ebert-Groener agreement 10th Nov = army would support the government as long as the government opposed the
more left-wing ideas of parties in Reichstag
- gave them support in political extremism – helped in the left uprisings by the KPD in March 1919 and March 1920
- the army only offered to help in the right wing as well as the Freikorps used regularly who have 200 paramilitary units
– problem for extreme events on the other side Munich Putsch – key event leading to Hitler gaining power
- meant the government failed to start the new government properly – the public expressed a negative view
Paragraph 2 – overcame challenges = economy ‘’golden years’’
- due to Stresemann between 1924 and 1929 the German economy recovered and Germany reached agreements with
other countries that began to restore its position aboard
- in the hyperinflation – it costed more to print a note that it was worth
- for example Stresemann = Dawes Plan 1924 – for the first 5 years fixed payments in accordance with Germany’s ability
to pay and provision of loans from the US
- as economy improved, social conditions improved and political violence slowed down
- shown with May 1928 having the highest level of support for parties pro-Weimar = Muller’s government 1928 last
coalition to be run on support of the government
- counter
- Dawes Plan didn’t reduce overall bill
- overall
Paragraph 3 – didn’t overcome challenges = political extremism
- the government experienced political extremism from both sides of the party
- Munich Putsch Nov 1923
- Hitler’s aim was to create an independent state of Bavaria
- Hitler stormed into Munich Beer Hall and took control of a large rally
- counter = government effectively dealt with the problem with the Bavarian Police – Hitler arrested and 14 killed
- mainly failed due to the lack of leadership and co-operation rather than due to the government’s actions
, - Lossow and Kahr pulled out a week before the putsch as realised the force would be too difficult to resist – no
leadership and co-operation with only Hitler
- overall the government faced extremism – the resolution of these wasn’t due to government but external factors
Conclusion
- created inherent weaknesses which were never recovered
To what extent was their greater threat from the right than the left in Weimar Republic?
To what extent was the great hyperinflation caused by the Treaty of Versailles?
Introduction
- the great hyperinflation occurred in 1923
- prices in the great hyperinflation – an egg was 0.08 in 1913 to 80,000,000,000 in November 1923
- a cause would be the event that caused the hyperinflation to happen as a direct result
Paragraph 1 – the great hyperinflation was caused by the Treaty of Versailles
- the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the November Criminals on the 28 th June 1919
- gave economic consequences – reparations of £6,600 million which had to be paid in hard currency
- tried to print more money making the situation worse as the mark declined against the dollar
- thought they were going to win and would be paid by other countries – opposite result
- allowed an increase in national debt – in 1914 was 5000 million marks and in 1919 it was 144,000 million
- counter = the Treaty of Versailles mainly had psychological damage rather than economic damage
- reinforced the stab in the back myth – people felt hatred towards the government
- gave potential for the economy to grow – nobody saw as too caught up in the psychological damage from the treaty
- appeared relatively moderate to the severity of the terms imposed by the Germans on the Russians at the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk 1918
- overall = didn’t cause the hyperinflation as weakened the economy and the treaty gave Germany the potential which
they didn’t follow – the government to be blamed rather than the treaty
Paragraph 2 – policy of Weimar governments caused hyperinflation
- the finance minister Erzberger and the Weimar Republic adopted a policy of deficit financing i.e. to cover the cost of
healthcare
- policy of deficit financing means planning to increase nation’s debt by reducing taxation to give people more money
- thought it would allow them to overcome the demobilisation – act of changing from a war basis to a peace basis
- tax wasn’t increased as they thought it would lead to social and political difficulties
- the government had less money to help pay back the reparations
- after the government started to become in debt they escalated the situation by printing more marks
- by 1923 it costed more to print a note than it was worse
- could be argued the inherent weaknesses came from the Treaty of Versailles
- policy of Weimar governments most crucial factor – if they dealt appropriately with the situation the economy could
have slowly recovered
Paragraph 3 – policies of Second Reich caused hyperinflation
- during wartime – 16% of money raised through taxation and 84% borrowed from the public
- borrowed massive sums by selling war bonds to the public
- allowed the national debt to grow and gave the patriotic members a lack of money
- this money was concentrated on military weapons – didn’t satisfy civilian customers
- victory would have allowed them to settle
- counter – a better policy by the Weimar would have allowed them to settle this
Conclusion
- underlying argument = the Treaty of Versailles gave the economy inherent weaknesses but the events of the policy of
the Weimar arguments caused the event
Section A
Weimar
To what extent did the Weimar constitution overcome challenges to the constitution?
Introduction
Paragraph 1 – didn’t overcome challenges = liberal constitution
- after the provisional government set up on 10 th Nov elections were fixed for 19th Jan 1919
- SPD didn’t get majority with 37.9% so made coalition with Centre Party and DDP
- Ebert became president of the Republic on the 11 th Feb
- Weimar constitution passed by the National Assembly on 31 st July – with the new consistency new laws created
- method of proportional representation – people voted for a party in 1/35 electoral areas, their representative in the
Reichstag was then chosen from the party list
- 60,000 votes to gain a seat – allowed more smaller parties to gain a representation i.e. NSDAP, KPD
- made it impossible to gain a majority with there being 9 coalitions between 1919 and 1923
- making the government link weak – people may strengthen their view from the stab in the back myth and gave the
government inherent weaknesses
- counter (did overcome challenges) = effort was made by Ebert to prevent there from being inherent weaknesses
- Ebert-Groener agreement 10th Nov = army would support the government as long as the government opposed the
more left-wing ideas of parties in Reichstag
- gave them support in political extremism – helped in the left uprisings by the KPD in March 1919 and March 1920
- the army only offered to help in the right wing as well as the Freikorps used regularly who have 200 paramilitary units
– problem for extreme events on the other side Munich Putsch – key event leading to Hitler gaining power
- meant the government failed to start the new government properly – the public expressed a negative view
Paragraph 2 – overcame challenges = economy ‘’golden years’’
- due to Stresemann between 1924 and 1929 the German economy recovered and Germany reached agreements with
other countries that began to restore its position aboard
- in the hyperinflation – it costed more to print a note that it was worth
- for example Stresemann = Dawes Plan 1924 – for the first 5 years fixed payments in accordance with Germany’s ability
to pay and provision of loans from the US
- as economy improved, social conditions improved and political violence slowed down
- shown with May 1928 having the highest level of support for parties pro-Weimar = Muller’s government 1928 last
coalition to be run on support of the government
- counter
- Dawes Plan didn’t reduce overall bill
- overall
Paragraph 3 – didn’t overcome challenges = political extremism
- the government experienced political extremism from both sides of the party
- Munich Putsch Nov 1923
- Hitler’s aim was to create an independent state of Bavaria
- Hitler stormed into Munich Beer Hall and took control of a large rally
- counter = government effectively dealt with the problem with the Bavarian Police – Hitler arrested and 14 killed
- mainly failed due to the lack of leadership and co-operation rather than due to the government’s actions
, - Lossow and Kahr pulled out a week before the putsch as realised the force would be too difficult to resist – no
leadership and co-operation with only Hitler
- overall the government faced extremism – the resolution of these wasn’t due to government but external factors
Conclusion
- created inherent weaknesses which were never recovered
To what extent was their greater threat from the right than the left in Weimar Republic?
To what extent was the great hyperinflation caused by the Treaty of Versailles?
Introduction
- the great hyperinflation occurred in 1923
- prices in the great hyperinflation – an egg was 0.08 in 1913 to 80,000,000,000 in November 1923
- a cause would be the event that caused the hyperinflation to happen as a direct result
Paragraph 1 – the great hyperinflation was caused by the Treaty of Versailles
- the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the November Criminals on the 28 th June 1919
- gave economic consequences – reparations of £6,600 million which had to be paid in hard currency
- tried to print more money making the situation worse as the mark declined against the dollar
- thought they were going to win and would be paid by other countries – opposite result
- allowed an increase in national debt – in 1914 was 5000 million marks and in 1919 it was 144,000 million
- counter = the Treaty of Versailles mainly had psychological damage rather than economic damage
- reinforced the stab in the back myth – people felt hatred towards the government
- gave potential for the economy to grow – nobody saw as too caught up in the psychological damage from the treaty
- appeared relatively moderate to the severity of the terms imposed by the Germans on the Russians at the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk 1918
- overall = didn’t cause the hyperinflation as weakened the economy and the treaty gave Germany the potential which
they didn’t follow – the government to be blamed rather than the treaty
Paragraph 2 – policy of Weimar governments caused hyperinflation
- the finance minister Erzberger and the Weimar Republic adopted a policy of deficit financing i.e. to cover the cost of
healthcare
- policy of deficit financing means planning to increase nation’s debt by reducing taxation to give people more money
- thought it would allow them to overcome the demobilisation – act of changing from a war basis to a peace basis
- tax wasn’t increased as they thought it would lead to social and political difficulties
- the government had less money to help pay back the reparations
- after the government started to become in debt they escalated the situation by printing more marks
- by 1923 it costed more to print a note than it was worse
- could be argued the inherent weaknesses came from the Treaty of Versailles
- policy of Weimar governments most crucial factor – if they dealt appropriately with the situation the economy could
have slowly recovered
Paragraph 3 – policies of Second Reich caused hyperinflation
- during wartime – 16% of money raised through taxation and 84% borrowed from the public
- borrowed massive sums by selling war bonds to the public
- allowed the national debt to grow and gave the patriotic members a lack of money
- this money was concentrated on military weapons – didn’t satisfy civilian customers
- victory would have allowed them to settle
- counter – a better policy by the Weimar would have allowed them to settle this
Conclusion
- underlying argument = the Treaty of Versailles gave the economy inherent weaknesses but the events of the policy of
the Weimar arguments caused the event
