Jana Hrabcova žserious problems as the consequences of the war: •Economic depression, high reparation payments •restrictions of the area, lost of the colonies, •restrictions of army, navy and air force ž ž1919 – 1933 – Weimar Republic, parliamentary republic, federation of 16 states žthe first President – Friedrich Ebert (Social Democratic Party) ž1919 – the first elections žgeneral dissatisfaction ž1918 – Communist Party of Germany was founded (headed by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht) – rejected the parliamentary democracy žstrong revolutionary wave (strikes, rebellions etc.) •in Bavaria – Bavarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in October, defeated in April 1919 •March 1920 – right-wing monarchistic Kapp Putsch – former volunteers (Freikorps) •1923 – suppression of Hitler-Ludendorff Putsch in Munich, Hitler was arrested and wrote his programme book Mein Kampf, his political party NSDAP was banned ž ž weimar-republic-and-the-polish-issue.jpg ž1923 - Industrial territory around the River Ruhr was occupied by France (Germany was delayed with paying of reparation payments) ž1923 – the new government – Prime Minister (Chancellor) Gustav Stresemann – stabilization of Golden mark, succesful foreign policy ž1925 – the second President became Paul von Hindenburg žweak democracy – governments changes very often žsince 1929 – Great Depression – in Germany very serious effects (1932 – unemployment was 44,5 %), žthe growth of extreme nationalism and revanchism ža political crisis: the political parties represented in the Reichstag were unable to build a governing majority in the face of escalating extremism from the far right (the Nazis, NSDAP) and the far left (the Communists, KPD) ž1932 – NSDAP won the elections (over 30 %, the communists were third) ž ž ž ž ž ž1933 – Adolf Hitler was appointed as Chancellor ž1933 – Germany left the League of Nations ž1934 – Hitler became a Führer – the head of the state žThe Nazi regime restored economic prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy spending on the military, while suppressing labor unions and strikes → enourmous popularity žPolitical oposition was destroyed žSecret police – Gestapo (Heinrich Himmler) žConcentration camps žPropaganda – Joseph Goebbles ž1934 – The Night of the Long Knives – the top leaders of SA were killed – internal opposition in Nazi party was destroyed ž1935 – Nüremberg laws – anti-Semitism, the Jews excluded from political, economical and public life, had to wear a yellow star ž ž1935 – Germany introduced general military service and began to re-arm ž1935 – Germany won the Saar (was under the protection of the League of Nations) ž1936 – Germany occupied de-militarized zone in Rheinland žboth were breaching of Versailles Peace Treaty and of Rhineland Pact but only formal prostest of great powers succeded ž1936 – pact with fascist Italy headed by Benito Mussolini – Berlin-Rome Axis ž1936 – Anti-Commintern Pact against the communism – with Japan žMarch 1938 – Anschluss of Austria žSeptember 1938 – the Munich Agreement – the occupation of Sudetenland (borderland of Czechoslovakia) ž1938, November 9–10 – Crystal Night – great pogrom against Jews žSeptember 1, 1939 – attack on Poland – WW II started ž žPaul von Hindenburg žAdolf Hitler adolf-hitler.jpg 101PaulHindenburg_II.jpg žReadings: žKAES, Anton – JAY, Martin – DIMENDBERG, Edward, (eds.): The Weimar Republic sourcebook. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. žhttp://books.google.cz/books?id=J4A1gt4-VCsC&printsec=frontcover&hl=cs&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_es c=y#v=onepage&q&f=false ž ž ž ž1919–1934 – the Republic of Austria, first Chacellor Ignaz Siepel ž Austria's government was dominated by the Christian Social Party žthe country was unstable, severe economic consequences of the war žmany paramilitary forces had been formed during the early 1920s - Schutzbund (social democratic) X Heimwehr (rightist) žthe clash between right-wing and left-wing paramilitary forces is known as July Revolt of 1927 ž1932 – authoritarian regime of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, austrofascism, gravitagted to Italy (Austria felt threatened by German demands on Austria – Anschluss) žDollfuss was assassinated by Nazi agents who attempted coup d'état in 1934 – July Putch – unsuccessful žThe remaining Austrian Nazis started to make use of terrorist attacks against Austrian governmental institutions, causing a death toll of more than 800 between 1934 and 1938 ž ž ž žnew Chancellor – Kurt Schuschnigg – similar political course žBut still also an effort to keep Austria’s independence – focused on the history of Austria and opposed the absorption of Austria into the Third Reich, according to his philosophy the Austrians were „better Germans“ ževentually Schuschnigg gave up his anti-Nazi program and in July 1936 he signed the Austro-German Agreement, which, among other concessions, allowed the release of Nazis imprisoned in Austria and the inclusion of National Socialists in his Cabinet žStrenghtening of pro-German Nazis in Austria ž1938 – Anschluss – March 11 – German troops crossed Austrian frontiers and Austria was occupied by Germany žafter Anschluss in March 1938 (Fall Otto) Austria became a part of German territory žin April a plebiscite that confirmed annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany ž žThe official proclamation of democratic republic on November 16, 1918, Mihály Károlyi was named as the republic's Prime Minister žthe area of Hungary was of only one third of pre-war Hungary – dissatisfaction, attpemts to restore the Great Hungary žthe rapid rise of power of Hungarian Communist Party, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed on March 21, 1919 – an attpemt to restore the Great Hungary, the head of this republic was Béla Kun, Hungarian communists wanted to connect with Soviet Russia žCzechoslovakia and Rumania were threatened by Hungarian demands → their armies attacked Hungary and the Hungarian Soviet Republic was defeated žthe new Government – fascist party of Admiral Miklós Horthy ž1920 – the monarchy was restored in Hungary but no king žHorthy ruled over it as a regent 1921–1931 – the Prime Minister was István Bethlen (till 1931) ž žHungary's signing of the Treaty of Trianon on June 4, 1920, ratified the country's dismemberment, limited the size of its armed forces, and required reparations payments ž1920s – the white terror - led to the imprisonment, torture, and execution without trial of communists, socialists, Jews, leftist intellectuals, sympathizers with the Károlyi and Kun regimes, and others who threatened the traditional Hungarian political order that the officers sought to reestablish žthe former Austrian Emperor, Charles I, unsuccessfully attempted to retake Hungary's throne in March 1921 žNo democracy – the suffrage – only 29 % of population, public vote ž ž1932–1936 – the Prime Minister was Guyla Gömbös - the radical right's ascendancy in Hungarian politics ž1938 – territorial gains – from Czechoslovakia, žLater also from Rumania and Yugoslavia (1941) žhungarian nazism ž1939 – Arrow Cross Party (Hungarian Equivalent of Nazi Party) won the elections ž1940 – Hungary joined the Tripartite Pact (Germany, Italy and Japan) ž1940 - joined Axis Berlin – Rome – Tokyo ž1941 – Hungary participated on the invasions of Yugoslavia and of the Soviet Union ž 04.jpg 800px-TeritorialGainsHungary1920-41.svg.png žthe Republic of Poland was reestablished in 1918 žseveral regional conflicts: ž1918 – 1919 – Polish – Ukrainian War – žborder conflicts with Czechoslovakia - Juanuary 1919 – Seven day war broke out ža new demarcation line – the western part of the disputed territory was given to Czechoslovakia while Poland received the eastern part ž1919 – 1921 – Polish-Soviet War – Poles attacked Russia – they wanted to use Russian civil war to ensure their eastern borders, but later Soviet counteroffensive – they wanted to establish Soviet Republic in Poland žAugust 1920 – the battle of Warsaw - the Soviet troops were defeated žthe Peace Treaty of Riga – Poland got parts of Belarus and Ukraine ž1922 – annexation of Vilnius Region from Lithuania ž1926 – the May Coup d´État – leftist politician and a popular Marshall Jozef Piłsudski, žhe became most influential politician in Poland and became its de facto a dictator till his death in 1935 though he was not a president but only a Minister of defence ž1932 – non-agression pact with Soviet Union žOctober 1938: annexation of Zaolzie, Górna Orawa, Jaworzyna from Czechoslovakia žMarch 31, 1939: military guarantees from United Kingdom and France žAugust 23, 1939: non-aggression pact between Soviet Union and Germany: Ribbentrop-Molotow Pact with a secret military alliance protocol targeting Poland žSeptember 1 – October 6, 1939: Invasion of Poland ž Polska-ww1-nation.png žin Czechoslovakia numerous German minortity, Sudeten German Party with the leader Konrad Henlein žApril 1938 – Karlsbader Decrees demanding the authonomy for Sudeten Germans and the freedom to profess Nazi ideology, Sudeten Germans expected that President Beneš will refuse their exaggerated requirments žCzechoslovak government was forced to coclude an agreement with Henlein but he refused all their suggestions according to Hitler’s instructions žseveral negotiations on Czechoslovakia between Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain during September 1938 •15th September – Berchtesgaden – Great powers were putting pressure on Czechoslovak government to accept Hilter´s requirments – he wanted Sudeten, firstly Czechoslovak government refused British and French pressure but on 21st September was forced to accept Hitler´s requirments •22nd September – Bad Godesberg – new Hitler´s requirments – he wanted to occupy Czechoslovak fortification and some border areas for Poland and Hungary ž ž žHitler announced that he will attack Czechoslovakia on 28th September (according to the Fall Grün prepared already in April 1938) žchange of the government in Czechoslovakia – Prime Minister General Syrový ž23rd September – general mobilization in Czechoslovakia ž ž29th to 30th September – negotioations of four Great powers in Munich (Germany – Hitler, Italy – Mussolini, Great Britain – Chamberlain, France – Daladier) – about Czechoslovak frontiers and German requirments but without Czechoslovakia – France and Great Britain were Czechoslovak allies but they signed the agreement with the enemy: žthe Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia(Czechoslovak troops) had to evacuate Sudeten and cede it to Germany, žthe USSR did not reply for the Czechoslovak application for the help žfrom 1st to 10th October Czechoslovak borderland was occupied by German troops and annexed to Germany, Poland got the area around Těšín and Spiš, Hungary got Carpathian Ruthenia and southern parts of Slovakia ž ž 800px-Czechoslovakia_1939.SVG.png žCzechoslovakia lost 1/3 of its area, 1/3 of light industry, in southern Slovakia fertile soil important for agriculture was lost žthe First Czechoslovak republic was dissoluted, žso called Second Czecho-Slovak Republic was proclaimed - till March 1939 – President Emil Hácha, no parliamentary democracy anymore ž7th October – autonomy of Slovakia was proclaimed – Czecho–Slovakia ž ž ž13th March 1939 – Slovak Prime Minister Jozef Tiso was invited into Berlin – he was made to enforce the separation of Slovakia ž14th March 1939 – Slovak State separated from Czecho-Slovakia, formally independent but really the satelite of Nazi Germany ž14th March 1939 – President Hácha and Foreign Minister Chvalkovský invited to Berlin – Hitler threatened with bombing of Prague – they were forced to sign the document asking Germany for protection what was in fact forced capitulations ž15th March 1939 – German army occupied Bohemia and Moravia – dissolution of Second Czechoslovak Republic ž16th March 1939 – the occupants proclaimed Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – žit was part of German Reich, formaly autonomous state with so called State President Emil Hácha and Prime Minister Rudolf Beran žbut the real power was in hands of Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath and later Reinhard Heydrich