Homework 13; term 1

Worksheet: "The Troubled Infancy of the Weimar Republic."

1. Give two reasons why the Germans resented the Treaty of Versailles.

-They could not accept that they were the losers of World War I.

-They thought that is was unfair and humiliating.

2. Name the three Germany's political parties that were instrumental in setting up the Weimar Republic.

-The social democratic party, the catholic center, and the German democratic party.

3. Describe the results of the election of 1920.

-The democratic parties' share of the vote shrank to less than 50 percent. Never again would the founding political coalition of the Weimar Republic receive more than 50 percent of the vote.

4. On whom did some Germans start to lay the blame for losing the war and being threatened by communism?

-Paul von Hindenburg

5. What was the Freikorps?

-These were the "free corps," which were organized to combat the political forces of the far left in Germany.

6. What are some things that Hitler and the NSDAP stood for? List three.

-Racism

-Anti-Semitism

-Germans were the master race.

7. "Hyperinflation produced winners and losers in Germany." Who were the winners and the losers?

-Middle class Germans, especially those in retirement were the losers. The winners were Germans who had borrowed money, because they could pay off their debts with currency that was only worth a tiny fraction of what they had originally borrowed.

8. Why did some Germans dislike the cultural changes that occurred in the 1920s?

-Many conservatives believed that the new freedoms for women were a challenge to their traditional, family-centered values. The new realism in literature offended those who favored writers that glorified the German past.

9. Who were the major supporters of the Center Party? Of the SPD?

-Center Party: Catholics

-SPD: workers

10. How did the American stock market crash affect Germany?

-Much of the prosperity in Germany has been fueled by loans from American banks. Germans used these loans to meet reparation payments to the Allies and to finance German industrial expansion.

11. Why do you think many Germans resorted to violence as the economic situation worsened?

-Because they had to protect what they had left, no matter how little it was.