Look at these two flags. Can you identify them?

Look at these two flags. Can you identify them?

German Empire up until 1918. Weimar republic up until the Nazi regime.

How did Germany emerge from defeat in the First World

War?By the end of the lesson you will:1. Know the problems facing the Weimar

government in the 1920s2. Explain and analyse how those problems

helped Hitler and the Nazis to come to power

3. Weigh up which problems are most significant

Principalities and areas contributing to the German

Empire

Languages spoken in Germany before WW1

The religious situation in the German Empire about 1895. Tan, red and pink areas are predominantly Protestant, blue areas predominantly

Catholic.

Who led Germany until 1918?

• This is Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was ruler of the German empire, a grandson of Queen Victoria, he married Augusta Victoria, Princess of Schleswig-Holstein, and they had seven children.

What kind of leadership did Wilhelm II give to Germany before WW1?

A difficult birth left Wilhelm with a withered arm, which he always tried to conceal. Source A - BBC Historic Figures

He gained a reputation as a swaggering militarist through his speeches and ill-advised newspaper interviews. While Wilhelm did not actively seek war, and tried to hold back his generals from mobilizing the German army in the summer of 1914, his verbal outbursts and his open enjoyment of the title of Supreme War Lord helped bolster the case of those who blamed him for the conflict. His role in the conduct of the war as well as his responsibility for its outbreak is still controversial. Some historians maintain that Wilhelm was controlled by his generals, while others argue that he retained considerable political power.Source B - www.history.com

Source C – an Italian cartoon

From 1897 Germany was run as a "functioning monarchy" with power concentrated in the hands of one man (thought by many who knew him to be mad) and that, as a result, "the Kaiser, the royal family, the Kaiser's circle of friends, the [imperial entourage and the court form[ed] the heart of this system on which the very highest officials of the Reich and state bureaucracy (as well as the leaders of the army and the navy) were psychologically dependent." Source D - John Röhl

1. What can you learn about Kaiser Wilhelm from Source B?

2. What is the purpose of Source C?

3. How far do Sources A, B and D suggest that Wilhelm was an autocratic leader?

Sum up Germany before WW1

• Before WW1 Germany was ……..

Use the information on the next slide to sum up the impact of WW1 on Germany

Polit

ical

EconomicSo

cial

National income was about one third of what it had been in 1913

Industrial production was about two thirds of what it had been in 1913

Germany was virtually bankrupt

War left 600,000 widows and 2 million children without fathers – by 1925 the state was spending about one third of its budget in war pensions

The war had deepened divisions in German society

Germany had a revolution and became an unstable democratic republic

Stresses of war led to a revolution in October – November 1918

Many ex soldiers and civilians despised the new democratic leaders and came to believe that the heroic leader Field Marshall Hindenburg had been betrayed by weak politicians

During the war women were called up to work in the factories. Many saw this as damaging to traditional family values and society as a whole

There were huge gaps between the living standards of the rich and the poor

Many German workers were bitter at restrictions placed on their earnings during the war while the factory owners made vast fortunes from the war

Can the issues facing Weimar Germany be sorted from most to least

significant?Very significant Has some significance Not very significant

• How would these problems help an extremist like Hitler to come to power?

• Which problems are the most significant and therefore the most likely to help Hitler come to power?

How did Germany emerge from defeat in the First World

War?By the end of the lesson you will:1. Know the problems facing the Weimar

government in the 1920s2. Explain and analyse how those problems

helped Hitler and the Nazis to come to power

3. Weigh up which problems are most significant

Write down one word to sum up Germany after WW1