German History 1918-33 Trivia Quiz

Answer: German Reich (Deutsches Reich)

The term "Weimar Republic", though widely used by historians, has always been a nickname. For a brief period in late 1918 and early 1919, the name "Deutsche Republic" was used, but German Nationalists and other conservatives had a horror of the term "Republic", which for them implied Bolshevism, subversion, socialism and democracy, which they generally equated with mob rule.

More generally, conservatives in Continental Europe regarded republics as politically deviant: hardline right-wing régimes in Europe shunned the word throughout the period c. 1918-45.

Answer: The radical left

The Spartacist uprising began as a demonstration called by the Independent Social Democrats (USPD), supported by the newly founded Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The demonstration soon developed into an uprising. It was suppressed with maximum force by units of the German Army and by volunteers. Three days after the end of the fighting Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, both founding members of the KPD, were assassinated by a unit of the Prussian Guards.

There was a second left-wing uprising in Berlin in March 1919, which was also put down with massive force.

Answer: Weimar

Hence the informal name, the "Weimar Republic". Given the unrest in Berlin, it was thought unwise for the new constitution to be worked out there. If, as is sometimes said, the choice of Weimar as the venue was intended to remind the Allies of the cosmopolitan Germany of Goether and Schiller, the attempt failed.

Answer: It made it easy to rule by decree

In view of the fact that it was drawn up soon after the two Spartacist uprisings it is not suprising that provision was made for states of emergency. However, the Weimar Constitution allowed for the indefinite suspension of democractic processes without safeguards, and there were frequent (though brief) recourses to temporary rule by decree in the 1920s. From 1930 onwards it became a standing feature of German political life.

Answer: Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles made Germany accept legal responsibility for starting World War I and thus imposed heavy reparations, that is payments, on Germany. In addition, Germany's armed forces were reduced, and Germany lost territory. It was extremely unpopular in Germany.

The fact that it had been signed, under duress, by Germany's first ever democratically elected government soon after coming to office played a part in undermining support for democracy itself in Germany.

Answer: Kapp-Putsch

The Kapp-Putsch collapsed because of popular resistance and a general strike in Berlin, and because the civil service refused to take orders from the 'putschists'. (Kapp himself was a mere figure-head; the key leaders were elements of the Army, the mercenaries and German Nationalists).

After the collapse of the Kapp-Putsch, civil war erupted in the Ruhr, the Northern Rhineland and in the industrial areas of Saxony.

Answer: November 1923

The currency was finally stabilized at 1 (German) billion marks to one. Much of the credit for this goes to the controversial Hjalmar Schacht.

Answer: Munich 1923

It was this failed putsch that resulted in Hitler being imprisoned. It also provided the Nazis with an object lesson in how NOT to try to gain power ... Hitler decided to gain power by electoral means, though he and his Party had no hesitation about using violence when it suited them.

Answer: Gropius

The 'Bauhaus' and Gropius were highly influential throughout Europe and further afield in the field of architecture and design. Their work, which favored simplicity, contributed significantly to 'modernism' in these areas. His work was later (1937 onwards) continued in the USA.

Answer: Marlene Dietrich

The film "The Blue Angel" is based on the bitingly satirical novel by Heinrich Mann "Professor Unrat" (literally "Professor Filth").

Answer: Stresemann

He had been a German Nationalist, but by 1923 had become a cool-headed realist who had considerable success in rehabiliating Germany's international standing.

Answer: 1932

Hitler had been born an Austrian citizen. He obtained German citizenship when the state of Brunswick (Braunschweig), which was under Nazi control, employed him for a couple of months in 1932 as a civil servant. (Civil servants had an almost automatic right to citizenship).

Answer: Munich

In the early years, support for the Nazis was particularly strong in Southern Bavaria and some adjoining areas of Austria and of the Sudetenland (in Czechoslovakia). When the Nazis gave various German cities fancy names, Munich became the 'Stadt der Bewegung' ('City of the [National Socialist] Movement.'

Answer: False

Until quite recently, some popular history books gave the Great Inflation as one of the causes of the Nazis' rise to power. However, the currency had been stabilized in 1923, and in the early 1930s prices were falling in Germany.

The longer term political effects of the inflation were more diffuse. It further undermined confidence in the Weimar Republic (and in democracy). Moreover, when confronting the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the inflation made some obvious remedies, such as devaluing the currency, politically extremely difficult.

Answer: Hindenburg

On Hindenburg's death in 1934 the presidency was left vacant and Hitler assumed the title of Führer of the German Reich instead. (He was already Führer of the NSDAP).