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Modern Germany

Modern Germany. Lecture 7: Democracy amid Debris: The Origins of Weimar Germany. Max Beckmann, “The Night” (1918). Kathe Kollwitz, “The Survivors” (1923). Otto Dix, “Metropolis” (1927). An Eventful Year (August 1918 – August 1919). Defeat in war Change in government

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Modern Germany

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  1. Modern Germany Lecture 7: Democracy amid Debris: The Origins of Weimar Germany

  2. Max Beckmann, “The Night” (1918)

  3. Kathe Kollwitz, “The Survivors” (1923)

  4. Otto Dix, “Metropolis” (1927)

  5. An Eventful Year (August 1918 – August 1919) • Defeat in war • Change in government • Violent uprisings (Spartacus Uprising, etc.) • Splits in the SPD (KPD versus SPD) • Government crackdown with mobilized soldiers (Freikorps) • Treaty of Versailles (ratified by National Assembly June 22, 1919; signed June 28, 1919) • Constitution (ratified August 11, 1919) (Article 48)

  6. Adolf Hitler in his younger years

  7. Weimar and the Origins of the Nazis • Nazis weak in 1919 • Reds (Communists) strong in industrial regions • Leftist uprisings strong up to 1922 • Origins in Bavaria (Bolshevik government April-May 1919) • Bavarian Soviet alienates Germans • Right-wing groups emerge • Army has political informers joining such groups • Adolf Hitler and the German Workers’ Party

  8. Germans and the Political Right • Why attracted to the political right? • Repudiated Treaty of Versailles • Gave sense of order • Political left alienated many • Inflation undermined support for political center (SPD, Progressives)

  9. Kapp Putsch soldiers spreading leaflets in front of Chancellor’s building (Berlin, March 9, 1920)

  10. Kapp Putsch (March 9, 1920) • Wolfgang Kapp (Fatherland Party) • Civil servants and military officers • Government flees to Stuttgart • Army refuses to fire on putsch participants (Hans von Seekt) • Fails due to SPD-led general strike • Weimar government looks weak

  11. German marks as wallpaper

  12. Reparations and Hyperinflation • Walter Rathenau (1867-1922) and the Versailles Treaty • Matthias Erzberger (1875-1921) and reparations • Wartime inflation becomes hyperinflation • Occupation of the Ruhr (1923) • Hyperinflation intensifies (4.2 trillion marks to the U.S. dollar 1923)

  13. “Hands off the Rhine!” (1923)

  14. Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929)

  15. Ending Hyperinflation (1923-1924) • Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929) • New currency printed • Dawes Plan (1924)

  16. Political Parties in Weimar Germany LEFT CENTER RIGHT DVP (People’s Party) DNVP (Nationalists) KPD SPD DDP Z (Center) - Rosa Luxemburg + - Friedrich Ebert - Eduard Bernstein - Hugo Preuss - Albert Einstein - Constantin Fehrenbach - Franz von Papen - Heinrich Brüning - Gustav Stresemann • Alfred • Hugenberg USPD

  17. Friedrich Ebert (1871-1925)

  18. Weimar Republic and Legitimacy • Loses legitimacy over the 1920s • What makes a government legitimate?

  19. Max Weber (1864-1920)

  20. Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation” (1919) • Tradition • Charismatic leadership • Bureaucracy

  21. The Legitimacy Test Tradition (Customs) Charisma (Leadership) Bureaucracy (Rules) German Empire YES YES YES Weimar Republic NO NO NO

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