Speer’s significance can be perceived through his involvement in the Germania project, the prolongation of WWII due to his organisational efforts as Armaments Minister, and his rejection of the scorched earth policy. Hitler appointed Speer Chief Architect of the Nazi Party in 1932, where he played the highly influential role in redesigning of Berlin. Hitler’s aim in reconstructing Berlin into ‘Germania’ was to restore German pride following the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles and evidently Speer’s monumental designs, which were presented to the public on Jan 28th, 1938, had a great impact on the restoration of German confidence in German society. The re-establishment of Berlin entailed the destruction of 50, 000 inner-city apartments, many of which Jewish tenants had leased. The subsequent relocation of Jews conjoined with Anti-Semitic policies of the time, evoking ‘The Law Concerning the Rental Situation of Jews’ which was created by Speer’s office in Berlin.
Speer studied at the technical schools in Karlsruhe, Munich and Berlin, and graduated as an architect in 1927 at the Technical University of Berlin. Speer was persuaded by his students to attend a Nazi Party rally in a Berlin beer-hall in December 1930. As one of the many attending, he heard Hitler speak and was entranced by Hitler’s persuasion and firm visions as well as his charismatic and personal appearance. Speer eventually embarks on the path of Nationalist Socialism because of his fear of communism, fascination for Hitler and rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, with its imposition of German guilt for the First World War. In Albert Speer’s autobiography, ‘Inside the Third Reich’, he mentions that the
Several attempts from both the left and right sides of government tried to imbue the nationalistic beliefs that were embodied in Germany before they were destroyed by their humiliating defeat in WW1. These include the Spartacist uprising, the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. The disillusionment felt by the people and their need to restore pride in their nation influenced many factors that led to the failure of the democracy, and to the rise of the Nazi political party and its leader Adolf Hitler. In hindsight, a mixture of political, social and economic issues, combined with nationalistic goals give grounds to the reason that nationalism mainly brought about the fall of the democracy of the Weimar Republic in Germany. By the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914, Germany was well established as a major and prominent world power.
-Stresemann altered the policies with the introduction of Dawes plan and the young plan. - Germany was able to meet its reparation payments and the French left the area of Ruhr in 1924. The failures can be seen through the flaws in the constitution, political parties, economic failures the lack of support towards the republic. •The new parliament met in February 1919 and drew up a constitution that established Germany as a democracy. •It was a constitution that would preserve German democracy, liberties and rights of the people.
POLITICAL Successes: Creating a democracy out of the ashes of defeat and the threat of Revolution in 1918/19 Creating a modern democratic constitution with explicit freedoms, PR, female suffrage and an elected Presidency. Eyck called it “an experiment in liberal, parliamentary democracy” Surviving the revolutionary period of 1918-19 and the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. Creating the stability and foreign policy successes of the ‘Golden Years’ (1924-1929) Henig - remember how fractured German society was – social class, region, age Failures: The ‘Ersatz Kaiser’ - Article 48 gave the President emergency powers. This was used extensively by Hindenburg after 1930. PR allowed small parties like the NSDAP in the 1920s, to thrive.
Speer gained a reputation from this commission as not only a creative architect but also an efficient organiser. In July 1933, Speer was given the job as a decorator for the Nazi party Rally at Nuremburg. This job was when his work was recognised by Hitler and it reflected his view of the Nazi party through his propaganda. The Reich Chancellery that was built in 1938-39 was one of the most significant jobs Speer had done because there was a lot of work to be done with the time limit set; one year. However, Speer finished it within a year again proving his organisational and efficiency skills which led to his appointment as Reich Minister for Armaments in 1942.
The Bauhaus is one of the first colleges of design. It came into being from the joining of the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts. It was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and was closed in 1933 by the Nazis. In 1919, after delays caused by the destruction of World War I and a debate over who should head the institution and the socio-economic meanings of a reconciliation of the fine arts and the applied arts From 1919 to 1922 the school was changed by the pedagogical and aesthetic ideas of Johannes Itten, who taught the Vorkurs that was the introduction to the ideas of the Bauhaus. Itten was heavily influenced in his teaching by the ideas of Franz Cizek and Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel.
Finally in 1818, Prussia abandoned its domestic tariff system and due to the success as a result of the abandonment other German states followed the example of Prussia. The progress due to the abandonment of the domestic tariff system led to the establishment of the German Customs Union (or Zollverein) consisting of 18 states and 23 million people. The Zollverein continued to expand, by 1936 included 25 states with a population of 26 millions, but Austria refused to join the Zollverein, intent on remaining independent of other states in her industries and market. This led the Prussians to become dominate in economic terms in the Confederation. In 1848 Austria proposed to establish a union between Austria and the Zollverein, this was rejected.
According to Peter Vergo, a professor of art history and theory, Gustav is still "considered one of the greatest decorative painters of the 20th century." Perhaps Gustav’s title is due to the fact that in 1897, he was one of the founding members and first president of the Vienna Secession. As part of the secession, Klimt and his colleagues discussed traditional Viennese art such as historical themes, which was the most popular for the time. According to ArtAndCulture.com, the members of the Vienna Secession worked "to bring together Symbolists, creativity with use of gold and patterns in his paintings; hence, creating an exotic texture.” People started to notice his work of the femme fatale, which is a French phrase meaning fatal woman. Being part of the Vienna Secession helped Klimt develop his decorative woman.
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation stateofficially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German Empire after the French capitulation in the Franco-Prussian War. Unofficially, the transition of most of the German-speaking populations into a federated organization of states occurred over nearly a century of experimentation. Unification exposed several glaring religious, linguistic, social, and cultural differences between and among the inhabitants of the new nation, suggesting that 1871 only represents one moment in a continuum of the larger unification processes. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which had included more than 300 independent states, was effectively dissolved when Emperor Francis II abdicated (6 August 1806) during the War of the Third Coalition.