HIST 2509 A History of Germany Lecture W3-1 Defeat, Revolution, and the Early Republic

TA Office Hours Meaghan Harris (L-Z 2% applied to final grade) Paterson Hall Tuesday January 17 11:30-1:00 Friday January 20 1:00-2:30 Tuesday January 24 11:30-1:00

TA Office Hours Margaret Watts (A-G 2% not applied -- I will do this on spreadsheet, no worries!) Dunton Tower Wednesday January 18, pm Friday January 20, am

Today’s Main Themes promises made, promises kept? total war at home and away truly a stab in the back? postwar chaos =understanding the weaknesses of Weimar

I. Peace in the Castle? a.total war on the home/front -from mythic victories early on (Tannenburg, Masurian Lakes 1914) -to Langemarck 1914 and the slaughter of 1916 (Verdun, Somme, Jutland, and the Brusilov Offensive)

I. Peace in the Castle? a.total war on the home/front -to Langemarck 1914 and the slaughter of 1916 (Verdun, Somme, Jutland, and the Brusilov Offensive) FROM REINHARD DITHMAR, DER LANGEMARCK-MYTHOS IN DICHTUNG UND UNTERRICHT (Neuwied Luchterhand, 1992). This image of a singing student volunteer appeared in a Nazi-era book.

I. Peace in the Castle? a.total war on the home/front -Hindenburg Programme industrial refashioning -scarcity and urban unrest "Wir lassen uns nicht aushungern!” Verein für Kindervolksküchen und Kinderhorte, 1915

I. Peace in the Castle? -"Turnip Winter 1916/17 -Ersatzbrot; newspaper nappiesErsatzbrot -750,000 die due to starvation alone

I. Peace in the Castle? b. new fault lines to contend with -despite initial support for the war, the 1915 Manifesto -hatred by 1916, from the left but meandering to the centre -Kaiser's 1917 Easter Speech and promised reforms -last-ditch offensive, mutiny, and finally defeat

Armistice Graphic depiction after 1918 of Matthias Erzberger in Compiegne France with Ferdinand Foch

II. The Face of Defeat a. 1918/19 Revolution and temporary government -from Brest-Litovsk -to the streets of Berlin -worker's, soldier's, sailor's councilsworker's, soldier's, sailor's councils -abdication of the Kaiser -general strike -revolution At the dutch border

II. The Face of Defeat Philipp Scheidemann proclaims a republic in Berlin November 9, 1918 DHM Photo So does Karl Liebknecht -- A socialist republic at the Berlin Palace Reichstag

Warp Ahead: the Stadtschloss 1945 The Liebknecht Portal

Palast der Republik

Battleground Berlin FreikorpsCommunist soldiers

The Landwehrkanal murders

Post-murder celebrations January 15, 1919, Eden Hotel Berlin

Postwar Commemoration Freikorps paraphernalia Liebknecht, Luxemburg and Thaelmann: GDR’s martyrs

II. The Face of Defeat b. the Weimar Constitution – the Basic Law -finally, a solution to the German Question? -women’s suffrage -universal manhood suffrage c. the Versailles Diktat -Wilson’s 14 points -the dictated peace -reparations -John Maynard Keynes

September 1, 1923

A woman feeds a stovepipe with RM From the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Archive

III. The Unsung Republic a. putsches and coups b. assassinations c. inflation d. reparations and Ruhr occupation e. gradual international acceptance at least for a time

-Kapp-Putsch 1920, Luettzow Putsch -Beer Hall Thuringia and Saxony a. putsches and coups Kapp-Putschists spreading leaflets in front of Reichs Chancellery in Berlin DHM Berlin, 13. März 1920

b. assassinations EnzenbergerRathenau Eisner

-passive resistance -Rhineland BastardsRhineland Bastards Hands off the Ruhr! Anti-French placard by Theo Matejko from 1923 DHM c. inflation 1923 d. reparations and Ruhr and Rhineland Occupation

-the infirm -600,000 war widows -2.7 million veterans -6 million children lost one or both parents -rift between l and r gone? e. stabilization and acceptance f. integration: healing of past wounds? From the series, Victims of the First World War, 1933