Impact of WWI on Germany

Make a list of the challenges facing Friedrich Ebert when he became the leader of Germany following the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on Nov. 9, 1918.

Organize the challenges as follows:

Political Challenges

Became an unstable democratic republic
despised new democratic leaders


Social Challenges

deepend divisions in german society

women worked in factories


Economic Challenges


virtually bankrupt
Economic chaos

Germans React Angrily to the Treaty

Under each of the following six points briefly explain why Germany reacted so angrily to the Treaty of Versailles.

1. Germans were no aware of the situation in 1919.

• They thought that the German government had simply agreed to cease fire and that Germany should have been at the Paris Peace Conference
• Angry that the government was not represented at the talks and that they were forced to accept a harsh treaty.

2. War guilt and reparations

• Germans felt that the blame should be shared
• They feared the reparations would cripple them

3. Disarmament

• An army of 100,000 was small for Germany's size plus the army was a symbol of German pride
• None of the allies were disarmed to the extent that Germany was

4. German territories

• Germany lost alot of territory
• It was a major blow to German pride and it's economy
• Lost important industrial areas
• Britain and France was increasing their empires

5. Fourteen Points and League

• Treatment of Germany was not keeping up with Wilson's 14 points
• Divided by the terms forbidding Anschlus with Austria or hived off into new countries such as Czechoslovakia to be ruled by non Germans
• Felt insulted

6. Double Standards?

• Many people felt that the Germans were themselves operating a double standard
• Their call for fairer treatment did not square with the way that they treated Russia in the Treaty of of Brest-Litovsk in 1918- Versailes was much less harsh than Brest-Litovsk
• Germany's economic problems were partially self inflicted
• Other states had raised taxes to pay for war- Kaiser's government planned to pay war debts by extracting reparations from defeated states

Germany is "Punished" by the Big Three at Versailles

1.       Using information and sources on pages 14 - 17, summarize the aims of the three leaders at the Paris Peace Conference.
Georges Clemenceau (France)
Attitude towards Germany:
Powerful and threatening, Did not like Germany

Main Aim:
To cripple Germany, demanded a treaty to weaken Germany as much as possible.

How he felt about the treaty
Felt strongly about the treaty, he demanded it
Woodrow Wilson (United States)
Attitude towards Germany:
didn’t like Germany, wanted to punish Germany but didn’t want the treaty to be too harsh


Main Aim:
He wanted to strengthen Democracy in Germany so the people wouldn’t let the leaders start another war

How he felt about the treaty
He wanted it but he didn’t want it too harsh so that Germany wouldn’t want revenge
David Lloyd George (Great Britain)
Attitude towards Germany:
He wanted to make amends with Germany



Main Aim:
to make amends with Germany  and for Germany to lose its navy and colonies

How he felt about the treaty:
he wanted it but again he didn’t want it to be too harsh so Germany wouldn’t seek revengeMain Terms of the Treaty of Versailles against Germany

2. Read pages 18 - 19. Summarize the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles:
War Guilt:
Germans had to accept the blame for starting the war

Reparations:
Germany had to pay 6,600 million for war damages

German Territories and Colonies:
Germany’s over sea territory was taken away, colonies became mandates controlled by the League of Nations

Germany's Armed Forces:
limited to 100,000 men

2.       Soldiers had to be volunteers

3.       No armored vehicles, submarines, or aircrafts

4.       Only six battleships allowed

5.       No German troops allowed in Rhineland

League of Nations:set up as an international police force, Germany wasn’t allowed in until it proved it was a peace-loving country

The German Revolution

1. Using the documents in Chapter 1 as evidence, list the ways in which conditions in Germany worsened during the war.
protests broke out
famish
crops failed


2. Give two reasons why the war caused such bad conditions for German civilians.
they were fed up with war, protests
3. After reading Chapter 2, give two reasons why Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 10, 1918.
Two reasons he abdicated were the mutiny and the lack of the support of his generals.
4. Using the information you have read in this chapter, give evidence to support the statement that there was "revolution all over Germany."
The mutiny started on a ship and spread inland

5. Study the information about the German Socialists in Chapter 2, page 5. What did the three Socialist groups have in common?
To improve workers' conditions and to give democratic rights to all Germans
6. In what ways were the Socialist groups different.
One group wanted to support the government the other two wanted to overthrow the government.

7. After reading Chapter 3 make a time chart of the events of the German Revolution from Nov. 10, 1918 to Jan. 15, 1919. You should be able to find six events.

1. Ebert's Socialist government
2. The Spartacist revolt
3. The Free Corps
4. new laws
5. weirmer republic
6. sailors revolt

8. At what time would you say the Communists had their best chance of seizing power? Explain your answer.

When the sparticists began their reveloution because they were a communist group.

Contenders & Issues

1) the key issues were, leadership, the NEP, power, and policies
2) Alexei Rykov would b most hindered by the leadaership issue
3) it would effect jobs, food supply and and how the problem would be dealt with
4)I think that Permanent Revolution would most appeal to party members after so many years of conflict. It would help Trotsky the most

Russia, 1861-1905

1. List the general goals of the:

a. socialistsGoals- create a classless society that would end the exploitation and suffering of the peasants and workers


b. liberal reformersGoals- to put western constitutional practices and the rule of law to solve Russia’s problems and correct the injustices of the past

2. List three characteristics of serfs' lives.
Characteristics- farmed the land

paid rent to their landlords in the form of cash, produce, or labor.
lived in misery, struggled through hard times and periodic famines
3. List four reforms of Tsar Alexander II.
Emancipation of serfs
jury trials
relaxed censorship
elected assembalies

4. Why did the populists go "to the people" in 1873-1874? They were motivated by the desire to establish personal

Connections with the downtrodden peasantry.

5. List two consequences of the famine of 1891.

Many communities staged small-scale revolts and land seizures.

half a millionpeasants perished from famine and disease

6. Why was Karl Marx important to Russian intellectuals?
   
   He was important because the book he wrote was overlooked by the Russian censors. Marx's ideas explained the cause of the famine was another reason.
The intellectuals were attracted by his sociological and economic optimism.

7. What were the Goals and Methods of the following political groups in early twentieth century Russia? (see page 8 of the reading)
a. Liberal Democrats
      Goals- rights and liberties protected by government
     
      Methods- supported a type of government as used in western Europe
b. Socialist Revolutionaries
      Goals- socializing all land and transferring it to the
                 communes, and replacing the monarchy with
                 a democratic republic
         
         Methods- assassinations and terrorism

c. Social Democrats 
      Goals- building a stronger sense of working-class consciousness among workers
         
      Methods- focusing on the working class instead of peasents
 
8. How did Bloody Sunday change people's attitudes toward the Tsar?

   The Tsar was no longer a the protector of the people after ordering the military to fire upon the innocent.

9. List four reforms in Tsar Nicholas's October Manifesto.
   
 expansion of civil liberties
 a limited monarchy
      a legislature elected by universal suffrage
 and legalization of trade unions and political parties

The Seeds of Conflict

1. Define "The West." Make sure you could identify several countries as examples.
The West is a term used to define the capitalist countries of western Europe and North America during the Cold War.

2. Explain the differences in the economic ideology between the West and the USSR.
The differences in the economic ideology between the West and the USSR is that the comminists believed that the goods created by the economy should be divided equally between the people. The capitalists however believed that people have the freedon to own businesses  and keep a majority of the profit.

3. Explain the differences in the political ideology between the West and the USSR.
The differences in the political ideology between the West and the USSR is that the communists were a one party state, ruling on behalf of the people. The capitalists however believed in liberal Democracies where people had freedom to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and a free press.

4. What was the Comintern (Communist International) and why did it concern the West.
The Comintern was an organization in 1919, to facilitate contacts between communist groups throughout the world. The West feared it was being used to undermine capitalism and spread communism.

5. What occurred during the Russian Civil War (1918-21) that solidified the opposition between the West and the Communists? (Be specific and use key details.)