Chapter 3 - The Threats to Weimar 1919-23

For Dummies...

I have not personally used the 'For Dummies' range before, but I remember that my tutor/history teacher used to like them.

I decided to purchase the World War II for Dummies book, as a) it is a weak area in my subject knowledge, so will undoubtedly serve some use sometime, and b) it has a small amount looking at the causes of WWII which include the rise of Nazism, ect.

Here is a summary;

The War's Beginnings

• WWI left Germany to bear the brunt of the 'victor's vindictive peace agreement.'


• Germany nurse a huge grudge


• The victors were not happy with the outcome either


• The peace agreement created new nations (Poland, Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia)


• All nations had financial troubles following WWI - recovery came in Europe just before the U.S. market crash in 1929


• The rise of totalitarianism occurred when countries without a strong democracy became susceptible to the promises of stability and order by future tyrants - fledgling democracies gave way to dictatorships & totalitarian rule (Italy = Mussolini & Germany = Hitler)


• Fascism = political ideology in which the state is exalted above all else (freedom doesn't exist, only freedom to serve the state) - Nazism = Fascism, but with the race issue (Nazis believed that race was a fundamental trait and therefore a defining characteristic of a people)


• Hitler consolidated power by eliminating competition/opposition - he used propaganda as a tool to lull the German into believing what he told them was true - 'he had the ability to make the German people believe that by following him down the path to hell, they were fulfilling their destiny for greatness'

The End of One War and the Roots of Another

• Italy left the conference of the Treaty of Versailles because of its lack of spoils
• The League of Nations had little power other than moral indignation, could not control the growing threat of war in the 1930s
• The war changed the diplomatic/economic face of the world, creating instability/mistrust
• The Treaty created more problems than it solved - empty promises & sacrifice
• All involved nations had economic issues

Collapsing Economies: The Great Depression

• American loans were essentially supporting the European economies - with the economic downturn no European nation could provide the financial leadership to halt it
• In the midst of uncertainty, force seemed to be the answer
• Fascism's main ideas - the ruler as an embodiment of the state (supreme leader), the role of the individual (role of the citizen to serve the state), the role of the government (control over all institutions), the role of aggression (advocates violence against opponents)
• Blood & race was peculiar to Nazism - 'certain races are mean to lead and prosper'
• Hitler claimed that the Germans must control, subjugate & eliminate "inferior" races, eradicate liberal & socialist ideas & take their rightful place in the world
• The Germans bought Hitler's ideas of their own greatness after years of hardship & humiliating peace
• Hitler's ideas were based on Mussolini's - he could articulate the common German citizen's misery

Essentially, the start of this book describes how the Weimar Republic was broken & replaced by Hitlers dictatorship

In doing a web-search, it did not take long to discover the wonders of the BBC resources. I have always known of their useful documentaries and the BBC History Magazine (well since 2006), but it is only recently that I have become aware of the online resources. Just to provide a few examples;

• For use in classes, I have found http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/weimar-germany-1919-29-problems-and-solutions/2438.html. This specific page has a clip to show in class on 'Weimar Germany 1919-29 - problems and solutions', as well as hints on how to utilise it in a classroom situation.
• There is also GCSE bitesize, http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/, which has areas both to revise and to test students. This could be used as part of a lesson, set as homework, or even just be explained to the students to ensure that they know the resource is available.

Chapter 2 - Two Key Documents

ALas, I could not load an actual PowerPoint, so I've uploaded each slide as an image. This is the first presentation based on the eight chapters of Geoff Layton's Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany 1918-33. These are not intended to be used as teaching aids as they stand, however, they could be a basis for one, and primarily, they serve as a goo overview/prompt for me.

PowerPoint time

Having finally finished Layton's book (after making it my holiday reading), I have decided to try and reinforce these ideas by making a PowerPoint of the main ideas for each chapter. This will hopefully make the information clearer for me, as well as possibly creating a useful resource for the future. I plan to post these online, although I haven't done anything like before, so bear with me...

I also hope to post a few more useful online bits soon, when I have arranged it all and know what I've got.

Watch this space!

Well, I have now started Geoff Layton's Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany, 1918-33, after getting to grips roughly with Hitler and how he was able to gain the power that he did. Layton's book seems to provide a better and more secriptive breakdown of events, and I hope that it will strengthen earlier ideas

I have attempted to find a suitable syllabus online but so they have been too vague or hidden within the bowels of the majorly complex websites, but I will continue the search. Also, whilst searching online I have found a useful website for anyone looking at any area of history in relation to school work:

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/alevel.shtml

This is the a-level section specifcally, but it has useful breakdowns of a variety of areas and links to other resources.