Chalenges facing Ebert when he took over Germany in 1918

Social Challenges

• Germany has a revolution that made Germany a democratic republic - The Weimar Republic.
• Woman were called up to work, many people saw this as damaging to the traditional family values and society as a whole.
• There was a major gap between the rich and the poor.

Economic challenges

• Huge gaps between the rich and the poor.
• national income was 1/3 was it used to be.
• factories were becoming rich off of the war while families would suffer because the husband would die in the war leaving the wife to look after many children.

Political challenges

• Kaiser was abdicated
• most politisions were unenthusiastic about the changes in the government.

The impact of the war

• Germany was virtually bankrupt.
• The war had deepened divisions in german society.
• Million could not support themselves or their own kids because of dead family members.

Homework 09/27

1. Germans were not aware of the situation in 1919.
Germany thought that they only agreed to a ceasefire. Germany thought that if it was to be considered a defeat then they would have been at the Paris Peace Conference to negotiate peace. Germany did not have a choice to deny or accept the harsh treaty.

2. War guilt and reparations
Germany did not like that they were blamed and fined for all of the consequences of the war. Germany was willing to take a lot of the blame for starting the war but did not feel that it was fair for the League of Nations to say that every bit of the war was Germany's fault and that they must pay billions in reparations including loss of land and a major part of its army.

3. Disarmament
This angered Germany because it meant that it's number of troops could not be above 100,000 which is very small for the size of the country.


4. German territories
Germany was forced to give up a huge portion of its land. Some was given to France and made a no-fire zone and other parts were mad into other countries such as Poland.

5. Fourteen Points and League
Germany felt that the Treaty was not sticking to Wilson's 14 points. Germany was also very insulted by the fact that they were not invited into the League of Nations.


6. Double Standards?

Germany felt that the treaty was too harsh but most people felt that all of the issues Germany would list explaining why it was too harsh were mostly self-inflicted.

HW 09/26

Georges Clemenceau (France)

Attitude towards Germany:

• believed that Germany was responsible for the war and should be punished
• saw Germany as a huge threat because of its larger numbers

Main Aim:
Wanted Germany broken up into many different states so that it would be harder for Germany to start another war.



How he felt about the treaty
He felt like the treaty was a great way to make Germany suffer for what Germany did and so it can never try attacking France again.

Woodrow Wilson (United States)

Attitude towards Germany:

• He sees Germany as a country that once strong again would want revenge
• He thinks that Germany should pay for what it did but doesn't want the treaty to be too harsh
  

Main Aim:
To build a better and more peaceful world from the ruins of the great war


How he felt about the treaty
He wanted to punish Germany but at the same time didn't want the treaty to be to harsh


David Lloyd George (Great Britain)

Attitude towards Germany:

• believed that Germany was responsible for the war and should be punished
• Believed that Germany should lose it's Navy
• Doesn't want the country to want revenge
  

Main Aim:
He wants Germany to understand that what it did was wrong and that it should be punished but at the same times fears that if Germany's punishment is to harsh then Germany will be more likely to want revenge once it gains power again.



How he felt about the treaty:
He is about in the middle. He thinks that Germany should be punished but fears of what might happen in the future if the treaty is to harsh.


Main Terms of the Treaty of Versailles against Germany

2. Read pages 18 - 19. Summarize the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles:

War Guilt: Germany having to accept the fact the the war was it's own fault.



Reparations: A fine that had to be paid by Germany to cover the costs of supplies buildings and lost troops.



German Territories and Colonies: Germany's oversea empire had been taken away. Former German colonies were controlled by the League of Nations.



Germany's Armed Forces: The size of Germany's army was a huge concern to most of the other countries. The treaty made it so Germany's number of troops was greatly lower then it was before.



League of Nations:
The League of Nations was basically the world police.

IBHL History HW P.S. i posted this to the wrong blog yesterday by accident

1. Using the documents in Chapter 1 as evidence, list the ways in which conditions in Germany worsened during the war.

• Higher food prices
• German soldiers started a mutiny
• Soldiers didn't agree with the war

2. Give two reasons why the war caused such bad conditions for German civilians.

• Food was scarce because most of the food was sent to feed the soldiers that were fighting for Germany. This caused many illegal anti-war protests.
• Food prices spiked making food harder to purchase especially for the woman who didn't work and their husbands were fighting in the was

3. After reading Chapter 2, give two reasons why Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 10, 1918.

• Nobody would listen to his orders.
• Soldiers, workers and sailors were starting to revolt against him and the only way to stop it was to step down.

4. Using the information you have read in this chapter, give evidence to support the statement that there was "revolution all over Germany."

The soldiers, workers and sailors refused to listen to Kaiser and wouldn't work or follow orders until something changed or Kaiser stepped down.


5. Study the information about the German Socialists in Chapter 2, page 5. What did the three Socialist groups have in common?
They all wanted to increase workers' conditions.



6. In what ways were the Socialist groups different.
The social democratic party wanted to get it's point across by supporting the government. The Independent socialists wanted to do the same by opposing the government and the Spartacists want to get their point across by revolting against the government.



7. After reading Chapter 3 make a time chart of the events of the German Revolution from Nov. 10, 1918 to Jan. 15, 1919. You should be able to find six events.
11/10/1918- Governor was changed from kaiser to Friedrich Ebert
12/23/1918- Ebert was held hostage by gunpoint by 1000 hungry and underpaid sailors

12/31/1918- the Spartacists changed their name to German Communist Party

1/06/1919- the Spartacists started their revolution
1/10/1919- 2000 ex-soldiers attacked the spartacists
1/15/1919- Rosa Luxemberg and her fellow leader Karl Liebknecht were arrested
8. At what time would you say the Communists had their best chance of seizing power? Explain your answer.

When almost every German civilian, soldier and sailor started to revolt would have been the best time for communism to take over because the idea of equal food and wealth seems like it would very much appeal to the Germans at the time.

Hw

1. Define "The West." Make sure you could identify several countries as examples.

The term given to the capitalist countries of western and north America during the cold war.

2. Explain the differences in the economicideology between the West and the USSR.
In the west the people there are different classes based on how much money a person makes for themselfs and family. In the USSR there is one class supported by everyone in the country.

3. Explain the differences in the politicalideology between the West and the USSR.
In the west the public gets many rights, such as the freedome of religion. In the ussr everyone is the same with no need for different political parties.

4. What was the Comintern (Communist International) and why did it concern the West.
It was to aid the rise in comunism and aid the calapse of capitalism. This would obviously be considered a threat to any capitalist country

5. What occurred during the Russian Civil War (1918-21) that solidified the opposition between the West and the Communists? (Be specific and use key details.)

The whites wished to prevent the establishment of Bolshevik. The west was alao very hostil tawards the idea of comunism and contemplated military action whenever possible.

homework 09/06/11

1. List the general goals of the:

a. socialists
create a classless society to stop the suffering of the workers and peasants. To take the "means of production" from the owners and make them state-run.
b. liberal reformers
believed that they could take the western constitutional practices and the "rule of law" to solve Russia's problems.

2. List three characteristics of serfs' lives.
a. they live in small villages
b. in poverty
c. Farmer's

3. List four reforms of Tsar Alexander II.
1. millions of serf's were liberated
2.the land that belonged to the ex-serf-holder's was allotted to peasant communities
3.the serf's were granted personal freedom
4. a new system of land transference was established

4. Why did the populists go "to the people" in 1873-1874?
To convince them to start a revolution telling them that it for for their down trotted family


5. List two consequences of the famine of 1891.
it effected 36 million peasants.
the Russian economy was dependent on foreign currency

6. Why was Karl Marx important to Russian intellectuals?
they were attracted by it's "sociological and economical optimism".


7. What were the Goals and Methods of the following political groups in early twentieth century Russia? (see page 8 of the reading)
a. Liberal Democrats
Valued individual liberty
They used support of workers and peasants to start a revolution.


b. Socialist Revolutionaries
slogan was "land and liberty"
socialized all land and transferred it into communes

c. Social Democrats
wanted to form a radical party to start a revolution

8. How did Bloody Sunday change people's attitudes toward the Tsar?
he was no longer considered a "benevolent protector"


9. List four reforms in Tsar Nicholas's October Manifesto.
An expansion of civil liberties
A limited monarchy
A legislature elected by universal suffrage

and legalization or trade unions and political parties.