The Depression which began in 1929 was a great mean for Hitler to come to his power. During the Depression (1929-33), the Weimar Republic was seriously undermined by the social and economic conditions, which were also exploited by the Nazi Party. The Nazi ideologies appealed to those people who had seen no hope on the Republic. The Party promised people jobs, money, and homes, plus, they also wanted to abolish the Treaty of Versailles so there wouldn’t be huge reparations. That’s what German people want; they liked to be reminded of the humiliation caused by the War, and they wanted to get it back from the Republic.
This was humiliating to Russia because not only did they never surrender; they lost countries that were contained 2/3 of Russia’s grain produce and 90% of its coal and a quarter of its population. Lenin was forced to accept this because he promised the people he would. This decision was risky but Lenin didn’t think Germany would win the war
He was quite satisfied with the treaty. In front of his people, as a member of parliament, he needed the support of the public to succeed in elections and if he came across as being soft on Germany, he would have been voted out. The British people wanted revenge and Lloyd George's public image reflected this mood. "Hang the Kaiser" and "Make Germany Pay" were two very common calls in the era immediately after the end of the war. However, in private Lloyd George thought that the treaty was probably too harsh and he predicted that history would repeat itself, saying ‘‘We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years’ time.’’ the economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that reparations would ruin the economy of Europe.
Russia’s role in World War I quickly led Russia’s people to the strong dislike of their Provisional Government and further into economic downfall which continued to upset the citizens of Russia. The Bolsheviks, a left-wing political party that were socialists, began to grow in popularity among the peasants and industrial workers whose pay was very low and in most cases among the industrial workers; their working conditions were very poor and unsafe. The Bolsheviks then instigated a revolution, resulting in Bolshevik power of Russia. Bolshevik power led to further unhappiness. The months before and during the Bolshevik revolution, as well as the signing of the peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk cause turmoil among the socialists and brought Russia into civil war.
Unionists were also upset that if they decided to opt out, a boundary commission would be set up to redraw the border between North and South, this means that they might lose territories that had nationalist majority to the south. James Craig eventually went to London to protest but was assured by Lloyd George that it would only tidy up the border. After the establishment of Northern Ireland and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, violence escalated between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, and especially in border areas where the proposal of a boundary commission would redraw the border. To solve this violence Collins and Craig decided to meet in January and in March 1922. They made an agreement, Collins promised to cease the boycotting of Belfast goods and in exchange Craig promised to protect Catholics and
Therefore Liberals wanted constitutional reform and more power to be given to the Reichstag. Whereas socialists demanded social reform and power to the workers and trade unions. However conservatives, such as Bismarck wanted to conserve to the Junkers – the elite class. To do this he proposed the Anti-Socialist Law in 1879 and also passed the Tariff Law, which appeased the liberals. The years leading up to the war the German people were dreading it, there were protests in Berlin in July 1914.
The strikes origins can be seen to stem from tensions between the government and the unions, particular the NUM. The Ridley Plan, drawn up by rightist Conservative MP Nicolas Ridley, detailed suggestions how the government should go about defeating another miner’s strike on the scale of the 1972 Coal Miner’s Strike which seriously damaged the Conservative’s image, destroying their overall majority in parliament in the General Election of February 1974, in which the Labour party came out with a minority government, until the October election of the same year, which really did cement the Labour government by handing them a majority of three seats. It was out of this that the Ridley Plan was born, seeking to ‘cut off the money supply to the strikers and make the union finance them' and to having failsafe plans in place to avoid the three day week introduced on January 1st and ran until March 7th, which showed and emphasised the power of the worker. A strike nearly occurred in 1981, when the government had a similar plan as it had had in 1974 to close 23 pits, but the threat of a strike was then enough to force the government to back down. It was widely believed that a confrontation had been averted only for the short term, and the Yorkshire miners passed a resolution that a strike
Homework Past Question Explain how the Nazis increased their control over Germany from 1933-4. Hitler had become Chancellor of the Weimar Republic on 30th January 1933 but this was still a weak position and was under threat from the Reichstag, President Hindenburg and the army. All of them could prevent his rise to power. Each of these would have to be dealt with in turn if he was to set up a successful dictatorship. He was also under threat from other groups especially the Communist Party.
Explain why Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor in January 1933: Hitler became chancellor on the 30th of January 1933, when Hindenburg, the president of Germany appoints him. But a common question is why he was appointed in the first place? Well firstly because of the political schemes that occurred in 1929 till 1932 (which meant that it was the end of parliamentary democracy) Hitler at first wasn't very popular with his ideas of how Germany should be ran, however he was determined to strengthen his power. He targeted a variation of people such as the "Mittlesland" or the middle-class promising them protection from Communism which a lot of people were scared of because of the revolution that occurred in Russia 1917 (this was when autocracy had banished in the empire and Russia became a communist country)- many feared that it would spread in Germany, and restoration of law and order; the upper class were promised Reprisal for the Treaty of Versailles, and the creation of a strong government; important business people that he would suspend trade unions from protesting for more demands; the working class were promised jobs and protection from their work, ordinary civilians who lived in the countryside were promised an increase in the price of agricultural products and finally, most importantly women, who were promised equality and proper family morals which most women of the 1930's thought were important. Hindenburg couldn't oppose against the public's choice otherwise he would be going against the democratic ‘Weimar republic’ regulation of including the people’s views.
History-Lenin Lenin’s Leadership was the single most important factor in the October revolution however there were others. Lenin was important as he constantly appealed to the Bolsheviks to prepare for immediate overthrow of Provisional Government stating that ‘history will not forgive us if we do not assume power.’ Without him the Bolsheviks would have continued to work with the government so they would not have lead a revolution making it significant as it changed the party’s direction. Lenin’s leadership was significant as his return to Petrograd stiffened the Bolshevik’s spine. Without his return they may not have had the determination to carry it out so it is important. His return also meant that he was able to persuade the central committee to agree to an armed uprising on the 10th October.