Welcome to AS 1: Germany 1919–1945
Welcome to your complete revision guide for CCEA AS History (Option 5: Germany 1919–1945)! This module forms part of your AS 1: Historical Investigations and Interpretations paper. Don't worry if this topic feels packed with dates and political names at first—we will break down the entire story into clear, logical steps so you can master both the core facts and the historical debates needed to score top marks.
Exam Focus Reminder: In the AS 1 exam, you must distinguish carefully between primary sources (contemporary evidence created at the time) and historical interpretations (views written later by historians). Examiners look for deep analysis rather than simple storytelling!
Section I: The Weimar Republic (1919–1929)
1. Foundations and the Weimar Constitution
In late 1918, Germany faced military defeat in World War I, leading to the 1918 Revolution and the abdication of the Kaiser. The newly formed democratic government, led by Friedrich Ebert, had to quickly restore stability.
• The Ebert-Groener Pact (1918): An agreement between Chancellor Ebert and General Groener ensuring the German military would support the new democratic government in exchange for the government protecting the military's authority and crushing left-wing uprisings.
• Proportional Representation (PR): Seats in the Reichstag (parliament) were allocated strictly according to the percentage of votes won. While fair, this led to dozens of small parties and unstable coalition governments.
• Article 48: The "emergency decree" clause. In a national crisis, the President could pass laws without parliamentary approval. While meant to protect the state, it later became a dangerous tool for authoritarian rule.
2. Early Threats from Left and Right (1919–1923)
The young republic faced violent opposition from both political extremes:
• The Spartacist Uprising (January 1919): A left-wing communist rebellion in Berlin led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. It was violently crushed by the army and the right-wing Freikorps (ex-soldiers).
• The Kapp Putsch (March 1920): A right-wing military coup led by Wolfgang Kapp attempting to overthrow the government. The army refused to fire on the rebels ("Troops do not fire on troops"), but a massive general strike by workers brought Berlin to a halt and defeated the putsch.
• The Munich Putsch (November 1923): Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party launched an armed uprising in Bavaria to seize power. It failed, leading to Hitler's trial and brief imprisonment, where he realized he needed to use legal, democratic means to achieve power.
3. The 1923 Crisis: Invasion and Hyperinflation
When Germany fell behind on war reparations payments, French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial Ruhr valley in January 1923. The German government ordered "passive resistance" (workers went on strike) and paid them by printing massive quantities of paper money. This triggered catastrophic hyperinflation: currency became virtually worthless overnight, destroying the savings of the middle classes.
4. The "Golden Age" (1924–1929)
Between 1924 and 1929, the Weimar Republic achieved relative political stability and economic recovery, largely under the guidance of Gustav Stresemann.
• Currency Reform: Stresemann introduced the Rentenmark in late 1923, stabilizing the German currency.
• The Dawes Plan (1924): Scaled down annual reparation payments and secured vital loans from the United States.
• The Young Plan (1929): Further reduced total reparations by roughly two-thirds.
• Foreign Policy Successes: The Locarno Pact (1925) guaranteed Germany's western borders, leading to Germany's entry into the League of Nations (1926).
Section I Key Takeaway: The Weimar Republic survived severe early crises (1919–1923) and experienced a period of stabilization under Stresemann (1924–1929), but its underlying constitutional weaknesses and reliance on US loans left it vulnerable.
Section II: The Rise of the Nazi Party and the Decline of Weimar (1929–1933)
1. The Great Depression (1929)
The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 triggered a global economic depression. American banks recalled their loans from Germany, causing business collapses, mass bankruptcies, and soaring unemployment that reached 6 million by 1932. This caused severe political polarization: moderate voters abandoned centrist parties to support either the Communist Party (KPD) or the Nazi Party (NSDAP).
2. Nazi Appeal and Growth
The Nazis capitalized on public anger through coordinated methods:
• Hitler’s Oratory: Dynamic public speaking offering simple solutions, strong leadership, and national pride.
• Propaganda: Directed by Joseph Goebbels, using modern technology (radio, aircraft, film) and tailoring messages to different social groups (farmers, workers, businessmen).
• The SA (Sturmabteilung / Brownshirts): Provided a visible impression of order and discipline on the streets while violently disrupting political opponents.
3. Political Maneuvering: The "Backstairs Intrigue" (1932–1933)
Hitler did not seize power through an armed revolution or by winning an outright majority. Instead, he was appointed through elite political maneuvering:
• Democratic government broke down, and Chancellors ruled via President Paul von Hindenburg’s Article 48 emergency decrees.
• Conservative politicians—notably Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher—believed they could "tame" and control Hitler.
• Von Papen persuaded President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in a coalition cabinet with conservative politicians.
• On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was officially appointed Chancellor of Germany.
Section II Key Takeaway: The Great Depression created mass desperation, but Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933 was ultimately made possible by backroom political intrigue among conservative elites.
Section III: Nazi Germany (1933–1939)
1. Creation of the Dictatorship: "Gleichschaltung" (1933–1934)
Gleichschaltung ("co-ordination") was the systematic process of bringing all German institutions under Nazi control.
• The Reichstag Fire (27 February 1933): Blamed on a communist plot, allowing Hitler to persuade Hindenburg to sign the Decree for the Protection of People and State, suspending basic civil rights and allowing the mass arrest of political opponents.
• The Enabling Act (March 1933): Passed by the Reichstag through intimidation, giving Hitler's cabinet the power to pass laws without parliamentary approval for four years. This legally established the dictatorship.
• The Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934): Hitler used the SS to execute SA leader Ernst Röhm and other potential rivals, eliminating the threat of a "second revolution" and securing the loyalty of the traditional German army.
• Death of President Hindenburg (August 1934): Hitler merged the offices of Chancellor and President, declaring himself Führer. The German armed forces swore an oath of personal loyalty directly to Hitler.
Examiner Tip: Keep the sequence clear! The Reichstag Fire gave emergency powers, the Enabling Act gave permanent legislative power, and the Night of the Long Knives secured military loyalty.
2. The Police and Terror State
• The SS (Schutzstaffel): Led by Heinrich Himmler, serving as the regime's ideological elite and racial police.
• The Gestapo: The secret state police, relying heavily on denunciations from ordinary citizens to identify political dissenters.
• Concentration Camps: The first camp opened at Dachau in 1933, initially used to imprison political opponents, communists, and trade unionists.
3. Economic Policies: Rearmament and Autarky
• Hjalmar Schacht’s "New Plan": Focused on reducing unemployment through public works (such as the Autobahn) and bilateral trade agreements.
• Hermann Göring’s "Four-Year Plan" (1936): Shifted the economy entirely toward rearmament and achieving Autarky (economic self-sufficiency) in preparation for future war.
4. Social and Religious Policies
• Youth: Indoctrination through compulsory membership in the Hitler Youth (HJ) for boys and the League of German Maidens (BDM) for girls, designed to prepare boys for military service and girls for motherhood.
• Women: Promoted the traditional ideal of "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (Children, Kitchen, Church). Generous marriage loans and awards such as the Mother’s Cross encouraged high birth rates.
• Religion: Signed the Concordat (1933) with the Catholic Church, agreeing not to interfere with Catholic institutions in exchange for the Church staying out of politics. Protestant churches were coordinated into the state-sponsored Reich Church.
5. Racial Policies
Nazi ideology placed anti-Semitism and racial purity at its core:
• The Nuremberg Laws (1935): Deprived German Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage or sexual relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans.
• Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass, November 1938): A state-orchestrated violent pogrom against Jewish businesses, synagogues, and individuals across Germany.
Section III Key Takeaway: Between 1933 and 1939, Hitler dismantled democracy through legal decrees, terror, and coordination of social, economic, and cultural life.
Section IV: Germany in Wartime (1939–1945)
1. The War Economy and Total War
Germany began the war with a targeted economy, but military setbacks on the Eastern Front forced a drastic shift. In 1942, Albert Speer was appointed Minister of Armaments. Speer organized a transition to "Total War", standardizing production and employing millions of forced laborers, which dramatically increased weapons output despite heavy Allied bombing.
2. Opposition and Resistance
Resistance within Nazi Germany was fragmented and faced brutal suppression by the terror apparatus:
• The White Rose Movement: A student resistance group in Munich led by Hans and Sophie Scholl, distributing anti-Nazi leaflets urging passive resistance against the war.
• The Edelweiss Pirates: Working-class youth groups who rejected the strict discipline of the Hitler Youth, beat up Nazi officials, and assisted deserters.
• The July 1944 Bomb Plot: An assassination attempt against Hitler led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and military officers. The bomb exploded at the "Wolf's Lair" headquarters, but Hitler survived with minor injuries, leading to the execution of thousands of suspects.
Examiner Tip: Do not overstate German resistance. Opposition remained isolated, small-scale, and ineffective at toppling the regime due to the fear of the Gestapo and the broad popularity of the "Hitler Myth".
3. The Holocaust
During the war, anti-Jewish policy escalated from persecution and forced emigration into systematic extermination:
• Mass shootings in occupied eastern territories were carried out by mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen).
• In January 1942, leading Nazi officials met at the Wannsee Conference to plan and coordinate the administrative and logistical execution of the "Final Solution", establishing industrial extermination camps across occupied Poland.
Section IV Key Takeaway: Wartime Germany mobilized all resources under Speer's Total War policies while escalating racial persecution into industrialized genocide, completely crushing internal resistance until the regime's collapse in 1945.
Mastering the AS 1 Exam: Quick Review & Pitfalls
1. Historical Interpretations: AS 1 Question 2 asks you to analyze contrasting historical perspectives. Always ask: What is the historian's central argument? What evidence supports or challenges this view?
2. Avoid Pure Narrative: Do not just recount events in chronological order. Explicitly evaluate the relative importance of different factors (e.g., economic distress vs. elite scheming vs. Nazi propaganda).
3. Check Your Chronology: Always make sure your timeline of 1933–1934 is accurate: Hitler becomes Chancellor (Jan 1933) \(\rightarrow\) Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933) \(\rightarrow\) Enabling Act (Mar 1933) \(\rightarrow\) Night of the Long Knives (June 1934) \(\rightarrow\) Death of Hindenburg / Führer oath (Aug 1934).