Germany Before the First World War

Before 1871, Germany wasn't even a single country - it was made up of separate states with Prussia being the most powerful. Prussia was absolutely obsessed with militarism, believing that having a strong army was everything. When Germany finally unified in 1871, it was basically Prussia that took charge of the whole show.

The Kaiser ruled over all the German states like an emperor. He had advisors called the Bundesrat and a chief minister called the Chancellor. There was also the Reichstag, which was like parliament where men over 25 could vote on laws. The problem? The Kaiser could completely ignore everyone's advice and make decisions on his own, especially about the army and foreign policy.

In 1888, 29-year-old Kaiser Wilhelm II took power. This guy was Queen Victoria's grandson and had massive ambitions to make Germany as powerful as Britain. He was energetic and charming but also impatient and rude - if ministers didn't do what he wanted, he'd just sack them. Wilhelm spent most of his youth in the army and was obsessed with military tactics and building up Germany's power.

Remember: The Kaiser had almost complete control over Germany, especially military decisions - this would prove crucial when war broke out.

Parliamentary Government and Growth of Socialism

Germany's industrialisation under Wilhelm II was incredibly successful. By 1913, Germany was producing more iron and steel than Britain and dominated industries like electronics and chemicals. Landowners, businessmen and farmers became seriously wealthy and had massive influence with the Kaiser.

But here's the thing - whilst the rich got richer, factory workers were absolutely miserable. They earned terrible wages, worked in awful conditions, and food was expensive. More and more workers joined trade unions and went on strike, hoping to force improvements to their lives.

Many German workers started voting for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which believed in socialism - the idea that power and wealth should be shared equally among people. Around one in three Germans voted for the SPD! Some extreme socialists even wanted to start a revolution against the Kaiser and have workers' councils run cities and towns.

The rise of socialism became one of the biggest headaches for the German government. Meanwhile, Kaiser Wilhelm wanted Germany to have a global empire like other European powers - this policy was called Weltpolitik (world policy). He massively expanded the German navy to rival Britain's, but this cost huge amounts of money and left Germany in serious debt.

Key Point: Germany's industrial success created a massive gap between rich and poor, leading to growing socialist movements that threatened the Kaiser's power.

Germany and the First World War

When World War One kicked off in August 1914, Germans were initially buzzing with excitement. Young, patriotic Germans thought it would be over quickly and Germany would win easily. How wrong they were! The next four years would completely destroy German society.

Germany at war was brutal. Britain used its massive navy to block supply ships from reaching Germany, causing severe shortages of food, medicine, and clothing. By 1915, 500 women were protesting outside parliament demanding their husbands back from the trenches. A year later, 10,000 workers marched through Berlin shouting "Down with war, down with the government!"

By 1918, Germany was on its knees. People were surviving on turnips and bread whilst a deadly flu epidemic killed thousands who were already weak from starvation. In October, General Ludendorff told German politicians they could never win the war and advised the Kaiser to become more democratic to get better treatment from the Allies.

The Kaiser reluctantly shared some power with the Reichstag, but it was too little, too late. On 28th October 1918, German sailors at Kiel refused orders to attack British ships. This mutiny spread like wildfire - workers and soldiers took over cities across Germany, setting up councils to run them. The Kaiser had completely lost control.

Turning Point: The naval mutiny at Kiel sparked the revolution that brought down the Kaiser and ended the war.

End of the War and Impact on Germany

Within six days of the Kiel mutiny, workers' and soldiers' councils were running major German cities like Hamburg and Munich. The country was in complete chaos and the Kaiser's army generals had turned against him. On 9th November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled Germany, never to return.

Friedrich Ebert, leader of the SPD, temporarily took over as Germany's leader. He promised elections so Germans could choose their leader democratically and, most importantly, he ended the war. On 11th November 1918, Germany surrendered - World War One was finally over.

But the war had absolutely wrecked Germany. Some factory owners had made fortunes during the war whilst workers had their wages restricted. Many Germans felt betrayed by the politicians (nicknamed the "November Criminals") who they believed had surrendered when Germany could still have won.

Germany was virtually bankrupt. They'd borrowed massive amounts of money from countries like the USA to pay for the war, leaving 600,000 war widows and 2 million children without fathers. The government faced huge bills for war pensions, and German factories were only producing weapons instead of goods they could sell abroad.

Remember: The war didn't just end - it completely transformed German society and left the country politically unstable and financially ruined.

Revolution in Germany and the Weimar Republic

When the Kaiser fled, Germany was left with riots and rebellion everywhere. Friedrich Ebert had to act fast as the temporary leader. His first move was signing the armistice to end the war, then he promised to improve working conditions, help the unemployed, and provide better housing and food supplies.

Ebert declared that Germany would become a democratic republic with no more Kaisers - Germans would choose their own leaders. But not everyone was pleased with this idea. The Spartacus League, named after the Roman gladiator who led a slave rebellion, believed in communism and wanted Germany run by workers' and soldiers' councils, not parliament.

On 6th January 1919, the Spartacists tried to take over Berlin. Thousands of them roamed the streets, firing guns and trying to capture important buildings. Ebert's response was brutal - he sent 2,000 ex-soldiers called the Free Corps to attack them. After three days of savage street fighting, the Free Corps murdered the Spartacist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

In late January 1919, Ebert held the promised election and his SPD won the most votes, making him Germany's first elected president. Due to the recent violence in Berlin, the new politicians met in the town of Weimar on 11th February 1919 to discuss how to run Germany - this was the birth of the Weimar Republic.

Key Point: The Weimar Republic was born out of violence and compromise, with communist and right-wing extremists threatening it from the start.

What Was the Weimar Republic?

In 1919, German politicians created the Weimar Constitution - a formal set of rules for governing Germany. This made Germany one of the most democratic countries in the world, much more democratic than when the Kaiser ruled. Women over 20 could vote (more progressive than Britain, which only allowed women over 28 to vote!).

But the new system had serious weaknesses. Proportional representation meant that sometimes over 20 different political parties argued in the Reichstag, making it incredibly difficult to pass new laws. Between 1919 and 1933, no party ever won more than half the votes, so the leading party always had to make deals with smaller groups - this made governing painfully slow.

Many Germans absolutely hated the new democratic system. Older army generals, judges, upper-class families, rich factory owners, and university professors longed for the "good old days" when the Kaiser ruled. They linked the new government to Germany's surrender in 1918 and blamed the "November Criminals" for both losing the war and changing how the country was run.

The Weimar Constitution had a President (elected every 7 years) who controlled the armed forces and could rule alone during crises using Article 48 emergency powers. The Chancellor ran day-to-day government, and the Reichstag made laws with MPs elected every 4 years through proportional representation.

Weakness Alert: Proportional representation meant coalition governments and slow decision-making, whilst many powerful Germans wanted the old system back.

Why Did Germans Hate the Treaty of Versailles?

After World War One ended, the winning countries (France, Great Britain, and the USA) met at the Palace of Versailles near Paris to decide what to do with Germany. In March 1919, they announced their decision - and Germans were absolutely furious about it.

The Treaty of Versailles was basically a massive list of punishments for Germany. It stated that the war was entirely Germany's fault, so they had to pay the full cost - later set at 6.6 billion pounds in reparations to be paid until 1988! Germany's army was limited to just 100,000 soldiers, with only 6 battleships and no submarines, tanks, or air force allowed.

Germany had to hand over all their overseas colonies and give up large areas of German land to create new countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia. They were banned from uniting with Austria ever again, and no German soldiers could enter the Rhineland near France. The worst part? Germany wasn't even allowed to discuss these terms - they were simply told to sign or face invasion.

Germans hated the treaty for three main reasons. First, they felt it was ridiculously harsh, taking away land, factories, and mines whilst demanding huge payments that left them feeling humiliated. Second, it was forced on them without any discussion - they called it the "diktat" (dictated peace). Third, many Germans believed they never actually lost the war but were "stabbed in the back" by politicians who betrayed the country.

Remember: The Treaty of Versailles created lasting resentment in Germany that extremist political parties would later exploit.

1923: The Weimar Republic in Crisis

Imagine if a loaf of bread cost £4 in December 2021, then £1.5 million in September 2023, then £201 billion by November 2023. That's exactly what happened to Germany in 1923 - the year everything went completely mental with prices.

It all started with reparations. In 1921, Germany was told they owed 132 billion gold marks to be paid over 66 years. They scraped together the first payment of 2 billion marks to France and Belgium (the countries most affected by the war), paying mostly in gold but also coal, iron, and wood.

But in 1922, Germany announced they couldn't make the next payment. France and Belgium didn't believe them and decided to take what they were owed by force. In January 1923, 60,000 French and Belgian soldiers marched into the Ruhr - Germany's richest industrial region - and took control of every factory, mine, and railway.

The German government ordered workers in the Ruhr to go on strike and not help the foreign soldiers - this was called passive resistance. The soldiers got tough with the strikers, killing over 100 people and throwing 15,000 from their homes. Germany promised to keep paying the striking workers, but this created a massive problem - they were running out of money because the Ruhr wasn't producing anything.

Crisis Point: The invasion of the Ruhr triggered a chain reaction that led to Germany's worst economic disaster since the war.

Hyperinflation Disaster

To pay the striking workers, the German government made a catastrophic decision - they started printing massive amounts of money. This triggered hyperinflation, one of the most extreme economic disasters in history.

Here's how it spiralled out of control: striking workers were being paid to not work, so they spent their money quickly. Shopkeepers responded by putting prices up. The government printed more money to help people buy things, but the faster they printed money, the faster prices went up. Soon people were being paid twice a day and carrying their wages in wheelbarrows - money that still wasn't enough to buy a meal!

Prices rose so fast that they'd increase between joining the back of a queue and reaching the front. By 1923, German money was literally worthless - people used banknotes to light fires and make paper planes for their kids. Many Germans blamed the government for this mess since it was their decision to call the strike and print so much money.

The impact of hyperinflation was devastating but unequal. People with savings were the biggest losers - a lifetime's savings of 100 marks wouldn't buy a loaf of bread. Elderly people on fixed pensions couldn't afford basic necessities, and many small businesses collapsed. However, people who had borrowed money found it incredibly easy to pay off their debts - a 10,000 mark loan from 1920 could now be paid off with one worthless banknote!

Economic Catastrophe: Hyperinflation destroyed the savings of millions of Germans, creating lasting distrust of the Weimar Republic.

Political Extremism and the Kapp Putsch

By 1923, Germany was facing attacks from both left-wing and right-wing extremist groups who wanted to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Understanding the difference between these groups is crucial for grasping what happened next.

Left-wing groups like the communists believed workers should rule the country through workers' councils. They wanted equality with no class differences, welcomed change, and were anti-right-wing. Right-wing groups believed in strong leaders ruling the country, accepted major differences between people and races, wanted Germany to be a powerful empire, hated change, and were violently anti-left-wing.

One of the first major right-wing attempts to seize power was the Kapp Putsch, led by Wolfgang Kapp. Right-wing groups like the Free Corps $those ex-soldiers who had crushed the Spartacist uprising$ blamed left-wing groups for Germany's problems. They argued that communist troublemakers had weakened Germany during the war, causing their defeat.

The Free Corps had already crushed several communist uprisings, including one in Bavaria in May 1919 and another in the Ruhr in March 1920. These violent ex-soldiers hated the new democratic system and wanted to return to the old days of strong, authoritarian rule. They represented a serious threat to the Weimar Republic from the right, just as the communists threatened it from the left.

Political Extremism: The Weimar Republic was constantly under attack from both communist and right-wing groups, making stable government nearly impossible.