1. Get Started! Go to the blog and follow directions

2. Directions Please turn in the chart you completed for homework.
Then take out a piece of paper and something to write with.

3. Quiz 1. Write down one success of the League of Nations in the 1920s
2. Write down one failure in the 1920s
3. Write down one international agreement of the 1920s and say whether or not the League was involved.

4. International Agreements of the 1920s
1921- Washington Conference: USA, Britain, France, Japan agree to limit navies
Rapallo Treaty: USSR & Germany re-establish diplomatic relations
The Dawes Plan: To avert economic crisis in Germany, the USA lent $ to Germany to help it pay reparations
Locarno Treaties: Germany accepts Western borders as set by Treaty of Versailles
Kellogg-Briand Pact: Nations condemn war. 65 nations agreed not to use force to settle disputes. This is also known as the Pact of Paris.
Young Plan: reduced Germany reparations payments

5. Optimism in Mid 1920s
After difficult days in early 20s, economies now improving
Dawe’s Plan helped sort out German $.
Also British & French
Recovery of trading relationships reduced tension
Locarno “honeymoon” = felt problems leftover from WWI were solved and new hope for world peace
German goodwill to France
Germany on way to joining League
Kellogg-Briand Pact = high-point of international relations in the 1920s
greeted as a “turning point” in history; any observer would have argued that the world was a safer place

6. But underneath, there were Problems...
“Behind the facade of public fellowship the real spirit ... was one of bitter confrontation between a fearful France and a bitter Germany.” - Marks
“[The Agreements] represented no more than the hopes of decent men.” - Watson
Germany accepted borders to the West, but Czechoslovakia and Poland worried about what this meant for the East.
Very little progress of disarmament

7. What’s next
Before we move on from the 1920s, let’s take a deeper look at Germany’s development after WWI. We want to understand how the League’s action (or inaction) led to the rise of Hitler and the start of WWII.

8. German Depth STudy
The Weimar Republic

9. Objectives
Investigate the problems facing the Weimar government in the 1920s
Discover how those problems helped Hitler and the Nazis to take power in 1933

10. Background Germany in 1914 Germans had been a proud people
Country led by Kaiser Wilhelm II (a dictator) who was celebrated for his achievements
Army was the finest in the world
Prospering businesses
well educated and well fed workforce

11. The impact of the First World War on Germany was devastating
The impact of the First World War on Germany was devastating. The Treaty of Versailles made the country’s problems even worse. The Weimar government struggled from crisis to crisis. Out of this conflict Adolf Hitler and the Nazis emerged as the most powerful group in Germany.

12. After the First World War
Proud German army defeated
Germany people surviving on little food (mixed with sawdust!)
Flu epidemic was killing thousands of people already weakened by rations
5 years later the situation was the same if not worse

13. The birth of the Weimar republic
Allies offered Germany peace under strict conditions: “Become more democratic
Freidrich Ebert = new leader
Signed an armistice with the Allies
Ebert announced that the new Republic was giving them freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and better working conditions
A new constitution was drawn up

14. The Weimar Constitution
Attempted to set up the most democratic system in the world where no individual could gain too much power

15. A new government
Success depended on the German people accepting an almost instant change from the traditional, autocratic system of government
Reaction = not good
Ebert face opposition from both right and left wing.
But, Germany held its very first free election took place in 1919 and Ebert became President of the Weimar Republic

16. What was he facing?

17. What was he Facing? Germany was virtually bankrupt
War left 600,000 widows and 2 million children without fathers (by 1925 state was spending 1/3 of its budget in war pensions
National income was about 1/3 of what it had been in 1913
Industrial production was about 2/3 what it had been in 1913
Germany had a revolution and became an unstable democratic republic
Many ex-soldiers and civilians despised the new democratic leaders
The war had deepened divisions in society
There were huge gaps between the rich and poor living standards
Many German workers were bitter about restrictions place on their earning during the war while the factory owners made a fortune
DUring the war women were called to work. Many people saw this as damaging to traditional family values and society.

18. Individual Investigation
Grab a big book and open it to page Use pages to take notes with this packet.

19. Threat from the Left
Spartacists - Communists who felt that Germany was ready to follow Russia’s example of Communist Revolution.

20. Exit Slip
Explain why people might agree with HItler that a dictatorship would solve Germany’s problems.