THE IMPACT OF VERSAILLES HITLER GAINS POWER THE MAKING OF A CHANCELLOR & THE BEGINNING

WWI ARMISTICE SIGNING AT COMPIEGNE, FRANCE MARSHALL FOCH, (AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE) 2 ND FROM R

OBJECTIVES STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO… 1. Learn the motives and aims of the Treaty of Versailles 2. Understand the terms that the Treaty imposed on Germany 3. Learn about Germany's reaction to the Treaty of Versailles 4. Discuss whether the terms of the Treaty were fair 5. Discuss whether the Treaty contributed to the rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany 6. Understand Hitler’s rise to power and the plight of the German people under his influence 7. Analyze the ultimate effects of Germany’s situation upon the U.S.

COPY OF VERSAILLES TREATY, SIGNED 28 JUNE 1919

(L to R) David Lloyd George (Britain), Vittorio Orlando (Italy), Georges Clemenceau (France), Woodrow Wilson (USA)

SIGNING IN THE HALL OF MIRRORS AT VERSAILLES PALACE

MASS DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF REICHSTAG (GERMAN PARLIAMENT) AGAINST TREATY OF VERSAILLES

 ALMOST TOTALLY DISARMED INDEFINITELY  ARMY NO MORE 100,000  6 WARSHIPS GREATER 10,000 TONS  NO SUBMARINES  NO MILITARY AIRCRAFT  GERMAN WEST BANK OF RHINE OCCUPIED BY ALLIED TROOPS  PAY REPARATIONS – WAR DEBTS

 GERMANY LOST LARGE AMTS. TERRITORY AND POPULATION  POLAND MADE INDEPENDENT STATE  DANZIG – FREE CITY INSIDE GERMANY  ALSACE-LORRAINE – RETURNED TO FRANCE  SAARLAND (SAAR BASIN) OCCUPIED BY ALLIES 15 YEARS  LOST COLONIES IN AFRICA, PACIFIC, CHINA

 13% PREWAR TERRITORY  10% POPULATION  75% IRON ORE  25% BEST QUALITY COAL  EFFECTS…RESENTMENT AND HATRED VERSAILLES TREATY… “A DOCUMENT OF HATRED AND DELUSION” “A PEACE OF VIOLENCE”

 GERMAN POLITICS…  LEFT – HARDLY EXISTED, NOT INFLUENTIAL    CENTRAL – THOSE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE, IN FAVOR OF A REPUBLIC RIGHT – MILITARISTS, NATIONALISTS IN FAVOR OF GERMANY AT THE COST OF ALL OTHERS – NAZIS RIGHT-WINGERS BLAMED GERMANY’S PROBLEMS ON VERSAILLES TREATY AND “WEIMAR REPUBLIC”

 FRANCE – GIVEN BURDEN OF ENFORCING VERSAILLES TREATY  TOO WEAK, NO HELP, RE-BUILDING FROM WAR

 TOTAL REPARATIONS DECIDED APRIL 1921 - $40 BILLION U.S.

 ANSWER – GERMAN GOVT. PRINTS MORE $...CREATED INFLATION    BEFORE WAR: 4 MARKS – 1 DOLLAR 1922: 162 MARKS – 1 DOLLAR END 1922: 7000 MARKS – 1 DOLLAR  ANSWER – PRINT STILL MORE $  END 1923 – 4,200,000 MARKS – 1 DOLLAR

BRITISH PREMIER DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

“I CANNOT CONCEIVE OF ANY GREATER COURSE OF FUTURE WAR, THAN THAT THE GERMAN PEOPLE, WHO HAVE CERTAINLY PROVED THEMSELVES ONE OF THE MOST VIGOROUS AND POWERFUL RACES IN THE WORLD SHOULD BE SURROUNDED BY A NUMBER OF SMALL STATES (COUNTRIES), MANY OF THEM CONSISTING OF PEOPLE WHO NEVER PREVIOUSLY SET UP A STABLE GOVERNMENT FOR THEMSELVES, BUT EACH OF THEM CONTAINING LARGE MASSES OF GERMANS CLAMORING FOR RE-UNION WITH THEIR NATIVE LAND” --PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

BLEAK SITUATION SHOWS SIGNS OF HOPE    BUSINESSES BANKRUPT PEOPLE OUT OF WORK LIFETIME SAVINGS WIPED OUT  SMALL RECOVERY IN LATE 1920S  NEW CHANCELLOR STARTED CURRENCY REFORM      INFLATION DROPPED BUSINESSES BEGAN TO PROSPER AGAIN UNEMPLOYMENT FELL U.S. LOANS 190 MILLION TO GERMANY TO AID IN RECOVERY 1929 SYSTEM OF REPRATION PAYMENTS WAS CHANGED

 1925 CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN POWERS, GERMANY INVITED  IMPORTANT    BORDERS TO EAST WERE CONSIDERED “NEGOTIABLE” GERMANY HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO “PULL TO THE EAST” DRANG NACH OSTEN ALL CREATES HOPE IN GERMANY

 OCTOBER 1929 WORLD’S FINANCIAL MARKETS COLLAPSE  GERMANY TOO FRAGILE, ECONOMY CRASHED W/ REST OF WORLD  HOPE REPLACED W/ DEVASTATION  THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN BEING MIRRED IN BAD TIMES, HAVING HOPE AND THEN HAVING IT DISAPPEAR AGAIN  ALL TIME LOW IN GERMANY

     DO YOU AGREE W/ THE PUNISHMENTS INFLICTED UPON GERMANY AFTER WWI? WHY OR WHY NOT?

HOW WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IT DIFFERENTLY?

ARE (WORLDWIDE) LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE VERSAILLES TREATY?

IF GERMANY HAD WON THE FIRST WORLD WAR, WOULD THE SECOND WORLD WAR HAVE HAPPENED? WHY OR WHY NOT? DISCUSS WHAT HISTORICAL THEME APPLIES MOST IN RELATION TO GERMANY DURING THIS ERA.

  GERMANY IN CHAOS  LOAF OF BREAD 201,000,000 MARKS    STREETS FULL OF UNEMPLOYED MIDDLE CLASS DROPPED TO EXTREMELY POOR WHOLE COUNTRY CALLING FOR NEW GOVT.

MUSSOLINI TAKES OVER ITALY BY FORCE W/ A MARCH ON MILAN W/ BLACKSHIRTS (1922)

 MUNICH, 8 NOVEMBER 1923  HITLER’S FIRST PUSH FOR POWER  FOLLOWED BY MARCH ON BERLIN  HITLER NEARLY SHOT; FLED AND CAPTURED  SENTENCED TO JAIL 5 YEARS; SERVED 9 MONTHS  WROTE MEIN KEMPF (MY STRUGGLE)  HITLER LEARNED VALUABLE LESSONS IN DEFEAT  NEEDED SUPPORT OF ARMY/RICH PEOPLE  NEW STRATEGY: MORE “NORMAL” APPROACH

DEFENDENTS IN THE BEER HALL PUTSCH TRIAL

 1928- GERMAN ECONOMY IN RECOVERY  MANY FELT WEIMAR REPUBLIC UNSHAKABLE  NAZIS DID NOT DO WELL IN ELECTIONS AND WERE ON THE WAY OUT

   GERMAN UNEMPLOYMENT  1929 – 1.3 MILLION  1932 – 6 MILLION NAZI PARTY SEIZES OPPORTUNITY  BLAME PROBLEMS ON     COMMUNIST PARTY SOCIALISTS VERSAILLES CRIMINIALS JEWS 1931 ALLIANCE FORMED BETWEEN NAZI PARTY AND RIGHT-WING NATIONALIST PARTY  NATIONALIST PARTY BIG W/ SUPPORT OF    INDUSTRY, BIG BUSINESS ORGANIZED NEWSPAPER SUPPORT

 EARLY 1930s NATIONWIDE AUDIENCE  DESPERATE ECONOMIC TIMES  INCREASINGLY GAINED POWER IN REICHSTAG  BECAME NATIONAL MOVEMENT  OFFERED REVITALIZED WAY OF LIFE IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PERIL

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL, 1935 NUREMBERG NAZI RALLY 1928

        1932 – PRESIDENT HINDENBURG INVITES HITLER TO BE VICE-PRESIDENT; HITLER REFUSES 1933 – HITLER ACCEPTED CHANCELLORSHIP (WHAT HE WANTED) NAZI INFLUENCE MINIMAL IN REICHSTAG (3 OF 12 SEATS IN CABINET, NO MAJORITY IN REICHSTAG) HITLER CONVINCES HINDENBURG TO DISSOLVE REICHSTAG, CALL FOR NEW ELECTIONS VIOLENCE ON STREETS DURING ELECTIONS NAZIS WON 288 SEATS, NATIONAL PARTY 52-COMBINED THE TWO COMMUNISTS THROWN OUT, BLAMED FOR FIRE AT REICHSTAG ALL OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES DISSOLVED

       LEFT-WINGERS AND JEWS ARRESTED BY THOUSANDS 14 JULY 1933- HITLER MADE NAZI PARTY ONLY LEGAL PARTY IN GERMANY 1934 HINDENBERG DIED; HITLER COMBINED OFFICES OF PRESIDENT AND CHANCELLOR NOW IN FULL POWER!

GERMAN PEOPLE VOTED IN FAVOR OF THIS 38 MILLION FOR, 4 MILLION AGAINST HITLER WAS TRULY NOW DER FUHRER (THE LEADER) IN ONE DECADE, HE HAD GAINED TOTAL CONTROL OF GERMANY

 TOOK ADVANTAGE OF POOR ECONOMIC TIMES IN GERMANY  CREATED ENEMIES THAT UNITED GERMANS  CREATED POPULAR MOVEMENT, W/ SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE  DYNAMIC SPEAKER  HUMBLE BACKGROUND  WAR VETERAN  BRUTALLY HONEST

 ADOLF HITLER PROMISED   TO PROVIDE FINAL ANSWER TO “THE JEWISH PROBLEM” DELIVERANCE FROM POOR ECONOMIC TIMES    PROMISED LEBENSRAUM (LIVING SPACE) TO THE EAST SOCIAL SECURITY FOR ELDERLY SOMETHING FOR THE YOUTH, THE HITLER YOUTH ARMY

WOULD YOU HAVE SUPPORTED HITLER HAD YOU LIVED IN THAT DAY? WHY OR WHY NOT?