In GCSE History students will look at Germany between the two World Wars, beginning with the hard years of the Weimar Republic in the aftermath of the Great War.
The Weimar Republic replaced the Imperial government of Germany after the Great War. Germany's new government faced revolutions from left and right, and a peace treaty that seemed to them grossly unfair. However, Germany was in no position to argue, having been defeated in the Great War and finding herself without allies.
Learn more about the hard, early years of the Weimar Republic in this quiz.
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You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Germany
Fearing a total breakdown of law and order at home and abandonment by their allies, the German military and political authorities signed a ceasefire with the Entente powers. They thus hoped for lenient terms after the expected negotiations towards an eventual peace treaty
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Britain was adamant that Germany's large fleet could not be retained by the defeated power
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Negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles dragged on from January to June 1919. A suitably grand venue was sought for the signing of the eventual treaty
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A small group of revolutionary Communists ("The Spartacus League") tried to take over the state by force, knowing that they would never achieve power in democratic elections
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Hitler joined a tiny extremist group, which violently opposed the Versailles Treaty
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Most Germans did not support the coup and the newly-proclaimed state lasted only two days before a General Strike was called, which toppled it
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A special commission was set up to report by May 1921 on the right level of payments that Germany should have to make for all of the loss and damage sustained throughout the Great War
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The USSR was also an international pariah, embarking on a Communist revolution from 1917, and pulling out of the Great War. It was not surprising, therefore, that she should team up with the other outcast in 1922
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Hitler needed respectable allies from the German military and political establishment. Who better, therefore, than a leader of the undefeated German army from 1914-18?
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Hitler tried to seize power in 1923, but even then the German economy was starting to expand, and a more stable political environment was beginning to emerge
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