 Hello and welcome to our video summarizing Weimar Germany in a nutshell. My name is Barbara and in this video we'll examine this interesting period in German history. This period does tend to get overshadowed by the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. However, in this video, we'll summarise Weimar Germany in a nutshell with key dates, events and important politicians to remember. This summary is really useful if you're studying this topic for your history coursework or exams, but make sure you also check out our more detailed video summary on key issues and events during this time period, as this is just a top line run through. So to begin, what is Weimar Germany? Now Weimar Germany or the Weimar Republic refers to the period after the First World War in 1918, when Germany underwent a revolution and shifted from being a monarchy to being a republic. This period lasted from 1918 to 1933 and it ended when Adolf Hitler ascended through the Reichstag, which is essentially the German parliament, became chancellor and ultimately in 1934 became the de facto leader and dictator, also known as Führer, and in this period an ushering in Nazi Germany and this is obviously Germany under Hitler's rule. However, we're focused mainly on Weimar Germany in this video and so it's really important to understand what are the key events that really happened during this time frame. Now let's start with 1914 to 1918. This is essentially a time during which World War I happened and effectively Germany at this time was a monarchy. The Kaiser, who was the leader, entered the war to support Austro-Hungary, which had a very close relationship with Germany. In 1918, the Kaiser abdicates. Following on from this, in 1918 December and 1919 January, Germany essentially undergoes a revolution and changes from being a monarchy to a republic. It's called Weimar Germany, as the council held to make this change was in Weimar as Berlin was far too dangerous to meet. SPD, which is essentially the Socialist Democratic Party, leads this new government and Abert becomes president. Another important thing is 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles is formally signed and it ends the war. Of course, technically speaking, however, just remember that First World War ended in 1918. 1919 just essentially made the paperwork official. Other important events that happened in 1919 was firstly the Spartacists' Purge. So, as previously mentioned, the SPD, which is the Socialist Democratic Party, was leading. However, there were the moderate left. There was a more extreme left group called the KDP, who felt that SPD was not making enough changes in the government in Germany. And so they attempted a revolt, which was unsuccessful. In the same year, there was also a communist leadership called led by, rather, Levine and Levine. And they declared Bavaria in Germany a Soviet republic. In 1920, the extreme right, primarily under the Freikorps, which is essentially the demilitarized and demobilized army generals as well as army militia, who were led by Wolfgang Kapp, attempted their own revolt, which is called the Kapp Putsch. In 1923, Hitler, and this is how he became really known and he came to the fore in terms of German politics, attempted a Putsch as well. And this was known as the Munich Putsch because it started in Munich. However, ultimately, it was unsuccessful and Hitler was jailed. And of course, in jail, he wrote, or rather, he dictated on somebody else wrote for him, Mein Kampf, which was, of course, his infamous manifesto, that essentially was used by Nazis to rally around the cause. In 1923 as well, there were two major crises. Firstly, Germany suffered hyperinflation. Essentially, the German Papier mark, which was the currency at the time, lost its value. This is because the German government, because it was unable to keep up with its very high debt payments as part of its reparations under the Treaty of Versailles, decided in a panic to print more money. But what tends to happen from an economic standpoint is when too much money is printed, the money loses its value. And so, of course, this is what happened in Germany and this caused hyperinflation. Lots of people became poor and people were very upset about this. The other major crisis that hit Weimar Germany is the French occupation of the rule. So, of course, the German government was printing all of this extra money because it was afraid of not being able to keep up with its reparation payments. However, of course, it also missed its reparation payment. And so, France decided to occupy a very rich industrial city called, or rather an industrial region, called the rule. And they occupied it, which further caused a further spiral downwards for Germany. However, a man called Gustav Streismann changed this and turned this all around in the same year. So, he took over as Chancellor. And one thing that's important to note is Streismann actually wasn't a left-wing politician. He actually came from the right wing. However, he was very good economically. And he used to be the German foreign minister. However, he was made Chancellor for 103 days. And during this period, he fixed Germany's hyperinflation. So, he scrapped the previous currency and introduced the renter mark. And he also managed to convince France to leave the rule. In 1924, so this is after Gustav Streismann left as Chancellor, but he was still the foreign minister in the government. He negotiated the Doors Plan. So, this essentially reduced the reparation payments, which were very crushing for Germany to keep on paying. He reduced that overall number with the Allies. And also, he negotiated with the Allies. And of course, this includes France, Britain, USA. And he got them to promise that there would be no more occupations of Germany. Also, the US managed to loan Germany $5 billion in order to help rebuild its economy, as well as keep up with this reparation payments. In 1925, the Locano Pact, which is a series of agreements, were signed. And these were agreements between Germany, France, Belgium, UK and Italy not to fight each other. In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations. And in 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact essentially happened. Whereby, France, Germany and the US promised not to fight each other and to settle disputes peacefully. So, arguably, a lot of people call the period of 1924 up until 1928, Germany's golden years, because during this period, once Streismann had really helped turn these things around, Germany underwent an economic boom. There was a huge upsurge in democracy, a huge upsurge in culture, the arts, and people were far more prosperous, particularly the working classes. However, this comes to an abrupt end in 1929. This is because in the US, the Wall Street experiences a massive crash. So, in other words, the stock market in the USA crashes and this creates an economic depression not only in the US, but it has a reverberating effect globally. And of course, given that the US was loaning Germany so much money, not only to rebuild its economy, but also to repay back its debts, USA was unable to do this. And worse still, USA tried to recall some of its loans. So, of course, this meant that Germany itself underwent a sudden depression. Another major hit to Germany was the death of Gustav Streismann in the same year in 1929. Now, Germany then underwent another economic hardship. And this, of course, during most economic times, what people tend to do, especially when people are undergoing hardships, is they tend to support extreme groups that offer quick fixes to their solutions. So, of course, following the economic depression in 1929, in 1930s, this was a great time for the Nazis as they gained many seats in the Reichstag. And in 1933, Hitler became chancellor. And in 1934, Germany officially became Nazi Germany. And in the Weimar Republic, and of course, Hitler's dictatorship began as he became crowned the Fuhrer. So that's all. If you found this video useful, do give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel. Also, if you are looking for useful vision summaries, handouts, and worksheets that you can use as part of your studies, do visit our website, which is www.firstrate tutors.com. Thank you so much for listening.