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170 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Failure of Germany's last major attack on the Western Front
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March-August 1918
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Major flu epidemic kills 400,000 Germans and almost 40 million worldwide
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Summer-winter 1918
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Ludendorff concedes defeat and states that a democracy should be set up to gain a more generous peace treaty
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September 1918
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Prince Max of Baden is appointed Chancellor and a series of democratic reforms are introduced
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3rd October 1918
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Soldiers begin to mutiny in Wilhelmshaven
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29th October 1918
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Mutiny spreads to Kiel and Hamburg-Grand Fleet refuses to leave port and sailors mutiny
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2nd November 1918
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Unrest worsens and spreads to Berlin and other major cities-revolutionary councils formed the similar to those in Communist Russia
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6th November 1918
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Prince Max lost control of the political situation-October reforms had failed and he could not stop the mutinies
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7th November 1918
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Bavaria proclaimed a socialist a socialist republic under Kurt Eisner-Wittelbach royal family deposed
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8th November 1918
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Prince Max leaves office and a new left-wing coalition government is formed under Chancellor Friedrich Ebert-the Kaiser flees to Holland
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9th November 1918
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The Ebert-Groener Pact between the President and the army
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10th November 1918
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Armistice between Germany and the Allies signed at Compiègne and fighting ends on the Western Front
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11th November 1918
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Stinnes-Legien agreement between trade unions and employers
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15th November 1918
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Ebert's coalition government loses the support of the very left-wing USPD as they want a more left-wing state
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Late December 1918
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German Communist Party founded
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1st January 1919
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Spartacist revolt as the German Communists under Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg try to seize Berlin-it was easily crushed by the Freikorps and the army
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5th January 1919
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First elections for a democratic Parliament-the National Constituent Assembly
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19th January 1919
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Democratic coalition government formed by the SPD, DDP and ZP and the National Constituent Assembly meets in Weimar
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6th February 1919
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Treaty of Versailles signed ending the First World War
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28th June 1919
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The German Parliament (the Reichstag) approves the new German Constitution by 262 to 75 votes
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31st July 1919
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President Ebert ratifies the new German constitution
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11th August 1919
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The Kapp putsch
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March 1920
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Formation of the Ruhr army by 50,000 workers to oppose the Kapp putsch
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March 1920
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'March operation'-uprising and strikes organised by the KPD in Merseburg and Halle
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March 1921
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'German October'-a wave of strikes and the creation of an SPD/KPD state government
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Summer 1923
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Murder of Matthias Erzberger, Finance Minister, who was a member of the ZP and a Catholic and had signed the Armistice, by the Consul Organisation
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26th August 1921
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Murder of Karl Gareis, leader of the USPD, because he was a committed socialist, by the Consul Organisation
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9th June 1921
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Murder of Walter Rathenau, Foreign Minister, because he was Jewish and committed to democracy, by the Consul
Organisation |
24th June 1922
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The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
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8-9th November 1923
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IARC (Inter-Allied Reparations Commission) fixed reparations at £6600 million-132 billion gold marks
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May 1921
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Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr-passive resistance proclaimed
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January 1923
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Period of hyper-inflation
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January-November 1923
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Gustav Stresemann made Chancellor of Germany
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August 1923
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Stresemann's 100 days
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August-November 1923
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Dawes plan proposed and accepted
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April 1924
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Treaty of Rapallo with the USSR
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1922
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Stresemann as Foreign Minister
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1923-9
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Hindenburg elected President
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April 1925
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Locarno Conference/Pact
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October 1925
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Hermann Müller's Grand Coalition (SPD, DDP, ZP, DVP) and Alfred Hugenberg leader of the DNVP
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May 1928
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Kellogg-Briand Pact
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August 1928
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The Young Plan
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1929
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Death of Stresemann and the Wall Street Crash
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October 1929
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Creation of the German Workers' Party (DAP) by Anton Drexler
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1919
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Party name changed to NSDAP (National Socialist German Worker's Party) and the 25-points programme drawn up by Drexler and Hitler
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February 1920
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Hitler in Landsberg prison-Mein Kampf written
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1924
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NSDAP refounded in Munich with a centralised, bureaucratic entity which demanded absolute obedience to Hitler (the Führerprinzip) and allowed total organiation of propaganda. The Gauleiters, who were responsible to Hitler alone, were introduced at the same time.
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February 1925
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Bamberg conference-Hitler's leadership reestablished and a national structure organised to win political support e.g. Gauleiters/Gaus, the SA to fundraise and demonstrate as a disciplined force of order and youth groups set up e.g. the Hitler Youth
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February 1926
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Reichstag election result-the Nazis won just 2.6% of the vote and a mere 12 seats
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May 1928
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The Great Depression
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1929-1933
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Reichstag election-the Nazis emerged as the second largest party
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September 1930
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Reichstag election-the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag holding 37.3% of the seats and between them NSDAP and the KPD had a combined share of the vote of 51.6% meaning that the German people had effectively voted to end democracy
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July 1932
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Brüning dismissed as Chancellor and replaced by Papen
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May 1932
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Reichstag passed a massive vote of no confidence in Papen's government-512 to 42
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September 1932
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Reichstag election-Nazi vote dropped to 33.1%, winning 196 seats (down from 230 in July 1932)
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November 1932
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Papen dismissed as Chancellor and replaced by Schleicher
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December 1932
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Schleicher dismissed and Hitler appointed as Chancellor
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30th January 1933
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Reichstag fire-Communists blamed and Hitler granted emergency powers so he banned the KPD, made mass arrests of Communists and introduced Peoples' Courts as a way of inflicting instand 'justice' on opponents. The Nazi propaganda machine was also turned against the Communists at this time. Emergency powers remained in place until 1945.
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27th February 1933
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Frick drew up, and Hindenburg signed, the 'Decree for the Protection of People and State', suspending mose civil and political liberties in a few short clauses and the power of central government strengthened, using the Communist threat as a pretext. In the final week of the election campaign, hundreds of those opposed to the Nazis were arrested and the violence reached new heights.
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28th February 1933
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Final Reichstag election according to the Weimar Constitution-the Nazis used every advantage to try to win the election but failed although they did manage 44% of the vote, though this was not enough to pass the Enabling Act by legal means so Hitler persuaded the ZP to support him
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5th March 1933
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The 'Day of Potsdam'-the Nazis staged a national day to celebrate the merger of the old traditional Germany with the new Nazi regime as they wanted to evoke a feeling of national patriotism to win support for the passing of an Enabling Act
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21st March 1933
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The Enabling Act was passed creating the new Nazi dictatorship and banning democracy-passed by the Reichstag so Hitler could claim a legal basis for his dictatorship
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23rd March 1933
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The regional Parliaments were dissolved by law and then reformed with acceptable majorities, which allowed the Nazis to dominate regional state governments
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31st March 1933
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Reich Governors (Reichstatthalter) created, who were more often than not the local party Gauleiters with full powers
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7th April 1933
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German Labour Front set up under Robert Ley replacing the trade unions with one Nazi workers' organisation. Workers could no longer negotiate their wages or working conditions which brought the largest class in Germany, of which Hitler was deeply suspicious, under Nazi control.
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1st May 1933 (this day was chosen as it was a traditional workers' holiday)
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The assets of the Social Democrats were seized and then they were officially banned
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22nd June 1933
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Catholic ZP decided to give up the struggle and followed the rest of the political parties which had dissolved themselves in the course of late June 1933
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5th July 1933
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Process of centralisation completed when the regional Parliaments were abolished altogether-federal governments and governors were subordinated to the authorities of the ministry of the interior in the central government
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January 1934
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The Stennes Revolt-the most serious disagreement between the SA and the party leadership, when Walther Stennes (the leader of the Berlin SA) rebelled against the orders of Hitler and Goebbels to act legally and to limit the violence (the revolt was defeated by a small purge but the issue was not really resolved until the night of the long knives)
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February 1931
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The night of the long knives-destruction of the SA by the SS and a purge of those leaders which could have posed a threat to Hitler e.g. Ernst Röhm
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30th June 1934
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All organised opposition to NSDAP banned-no new parties could be formed, all left-wing parties were banned, many of the remaining parties dissolved themselves and opposition was now seen as treason so held the death penalty. Germany became a one-party state.
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14th July 1934
At the same tim,e the July Concordat ensured there would be no religious opposition from the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church was compliant. |
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The death of Hindenburg removed the last major obstacle to Hitler's power and Hitler combined the role of Chancellor with that of President in the new position of Führer (previously Hindenburg could have used Article 28 to impose martial law and stop Hitler)-the death of Hindenburg complete the setting up of the dictatorship. An oath of loyalty was sworn by the army (under General Blomberg) to Hitler (not to Germany as was traditional), in gratitude for the purge of the SA which had threatened the army.
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2nd August 1934
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Blomberg-Fritsch crisis-purge of army generals and other leading Conservatives (replaced with more pro-Hitler generals so Hitler could have the full support of the army for the war in 1939)
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February 1938
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Jewish shops and businesses boycotted-first official boycott
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1st April 1933
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A national anti-Semitic propaganda campaign began
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April 1933
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Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service-Jews were dismissed from the Civil Service, 2000 Jewish scientists and professors lost their jobs, Jews were excluded from the legal professions and Jewish doctors were restricted in that they could only treat Aryan patients
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7th April 1933
Hindenburg did stop the expulsion of those Jews who had fought at the front in WWI but this only lasted for 2 and a half years. |
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Cultural exclusion ofJews from theatre, films and literature and most of the arts.
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From September 1933
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The Haavara Agreement-the SS secretly negotiated with the Zionists to help Jews leave Germany and settle in Palestine, to remove Jews from Germany and benefit from the cost of their departure. The agreement was signed between the Zionists and the Reich Ministry of Economics.
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September 1933
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Nuremberg Race Laws introduced:
1. The Reich Citizenship Act stated that 'no Jew can be a Reich citizen' so Jews lost their civil and political rights and had no protection agains the law 2. The Blood Protection Act banned marriage and any relationship between Jews and Aryans with harsh punishments (prison/execution) |
15th September 1935
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The Berlin Olympic Games forced the relaxation of the Nuremberg Race Laws
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Summer 1936
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The Anschluss (merger) with Austria brought 206,000 more Jews into the Reich and Austrian Nazis were even more extremely anti-Semitic than in Germany so more focus was put on the Jewish question as the Austrian Nazis pushed for more action against the Jews
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March 1938
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Jews were forced to add the name Israel (for men) or Sarah (for women) to their names to make it easier to identify and discriminate against Jews as well as depersonalising them, and all Jews had to carry identity papers
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August 1938
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Kristallnacht (Crystal Night)-anti-Jewish pogrom
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9-10th November 1938
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As a result of Kristallnacht, the leading Nazis decided to organised a more effective anti-Jewish policy in a meeting in Berlin which confirmed new actions against the Jews-the Jews lost insurance rights so could not claim damages for Kristallnacht, and were fined a quarter of a billion marks (collective responsibility for the murder of Von Rath, an embasst official in Paris. It set the precedent for secretly organised violence against the Jews.
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12th November 1938
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Confiscation of all Jewish businesses ordered by Frick to complete the Aryanisation of the economy and to gain Jewish wealth-these businesses were sold to the Germans with the government keeping most of the money
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December 1938
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Creation of the Reich Central Offfice for Jewish Emigration
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1939
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- Jewish pupils expelled from school
- Jews lost their driving licences - Conscripted into forced Labour - Banned from museums |
After 1939
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Jews had to surrender all gold and silver objects
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From February 1939
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A curfew was introduced for Jews and their radio sets and phones were disconnected to isolate them
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September 1939
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Wannsee Conference-decision made by top Nazis such as Reinhard Heydrich and senior SS figures (Hitler was not present) to coordinate action against the Jews, particularly mass transport and there was discussion of 'deportation'. Final Solution to exterminate the Jewish people.
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January 1942
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The burning of the books
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May 1933
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Riech Ministry of Education created-control of education taken away from the Länder
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1934
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Creation of the Confessional Church, an opposition group, which upheld orthodox Protestantism and rejected Nazi distortions-led by Pastor Martin Niemöller
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1934
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Papal encyclical (public letter), Mit Brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern), issued, in which Pope Pius XI vehemently attacked the Nazi system
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March 1937
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Bishop Galen's sermon against euthanasia
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August 1941
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Exexcution of 12 Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne
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November 1944
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The Law for the Hereditarily Diseased Offspring which ordered sterilisation of all those with hereditary conditions such as schizophrenia, Huntingdon's chorea, and hereditary blindness/deafness
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July 1933
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Euthanasia programme begun
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1939
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The Reich Central Office for the Combatting of Homosexuality and Abortion was established
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1936
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The Central Office for the Fight Against the Gypsies established
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1929
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A directive titled 'The Struggle against the Gypsy Plague' ordered the registration of Gypsies in racial terms
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1938
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First case of mass murder through gassing was committed by the Nazis against Gypsy children at Buchenwald
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January 1940
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Germany's gypsies sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp
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First months of 1943
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Universal military service reintroduced-Jehovah's Witnesses refused to serve
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1935
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Officials seized and shut down the Watchtower office in Magdenburg, Germany, but eventually returned the property after pressure from the USA
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April 1933
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Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in several German states
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May 1933
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As the moderating influence of Ernst Röhm weakened, the Nazis Party launched its purge of homosexual clubs in Berlin, outlawed sex publications nad banned organised gay groups so many homosexuals fled Germany
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Late February 1933
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A special division of the Gestapo was set up to compile lists of gay individuals
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After the purge (Night of the long knives) in 1934
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Appointment of Hjalmar Schacht as President of the Reichsbank
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March 1933
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Appointment of Schacht as Minister of Economics
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July 1934
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New Plan aounnounced by Doctor Schacht-attempted to finance the recovery using Mefo Bills and without unions, workers were made to work longer for lower wages, but it did reduce unemployment and keep a firm control on the economy
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September 1934
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Conscription reintroduced
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1935 (but had no real impact until 1936)
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Reparations had been cancelled at the Lausanne Conference
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1932 (before Hitler came to power)
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The problem of funding economic recovery and rearmamnet at the same time became clear
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1935
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Hermann Göring's Four-Year Plan introduced-the drive for rearmament
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1936
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Reichswerke A.G. Hermann Göring set up to make iron
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July 1937
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Resignation of Schacht as Minister of Economics
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November 1937
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War Economy Decrees
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December 1939
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Rationalisation Decree issued by Hitler
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December 1941
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Albert Speer appointed as Minister of Armaments which greatly improved war production
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February 1942
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A Central Planning Board was set up to streamline production and particularly to expand the workforce using concentration camp workers and women
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April 1942
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Peak of German munitions production
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August 1944
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Membership of the Hitler Youth made compulsory
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1939
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The Nazis centralised control of schools, removing regional control
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1934
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Nazi schools introduced-21 NAPOLAs (National Political Education Institutions) set up to train Nazi leaders which emphasised militarism and physical fitness, 10 Adolf Hitler schools for general Nazi instruction and the Ordensburgen (18+ elite training)
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1933, NAPOLAs under SS control from 1936
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'Strength through Joy' (KDF) programme introduced the Volkswagen scheme (the Peoples' Car-the KDF Wagen)
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1938
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Six months compulsory work was required from all men between the ages of 19 and 25 (Reich Labour Service)
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1935
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Compulsory work also introduced for women (Reich Labour Service)
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1939
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SS formed as an elite bodyguard for Hitler as a minor unit of the SA with just 250 members
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1925
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Heinrich Himmler became leader of the SS and under his leadership it grew exponentially
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1929
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Himmler created a special security service, Sicherheitsdienst (SD), which was to act as the party's own internal security police
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1931
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Himmler assumed control of all the police in the Länder, including the Gestapo in Prussia
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1934
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All police powers unified under Himmler's control, including the Gestapo, as 'Reichsführer SS and Chief of all German Police'
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June 1936
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All party and state police organisations involving police and security matters were amalgamated into the RSHA (Reich Security Office), overseen by Himmler but actually coordinated by his deputy, Reinhard Heydrich
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1939
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The Kripo (which was responsible for general policing) was linked with the Gestapo
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1936
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The Editors' Law made newspaper content the sole responsibility, so it was his job to either satisfy the Propaganda Ministry or face sinister consequences
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October 1933
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Internationally renowned Frankfurter Zeitung forced to close due to Nazi success in muzzling the press
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1943
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Red Orchestra opposition group (socialist and communist) discovered and closed down with members brutally tortured
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1942
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The Nazi-Soviet Pact (a non-aggression pact which opened the way for the occupation of Poland) made the position of the German Communists difficult as it seemed hypocritical to oppose fascism whilst taking orders from a country allied with the fascists
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1939-41
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Planned putsch by General Beck if war resulted from the Czech crisis and appeals were made to the British Foreign Office
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September 1938
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The Kreisau Circle, a politically Conservative and strongly Christian opposition group, which met at the Kreisau estate of Helmut von Moltke, drew up a programme
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August 1934
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Stauffenberg Bomb Plot failed to overthrow the regime and the army was purged as a result-organised by individual members of the Kreisau circle, including Colonel Von Stauffenberg who planted the bomb (Operation Valkyrie)
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July 1944
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White Rose student opposition group distributed anti-Nazi leaflets
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1942-3
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The Gestapo arrested the six leaders of the White Rose group, including brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, who alongside another conspirator, Christoph Probst, were executed by behading that afternoon
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February 1943
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Rhineland remilitarised in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles
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March 1938
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The Munich Agreement ceded the German-speaking Sudetenland (in Czechoslovakia) to Germany
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September 1938
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The Nazis occupied the non-German lands of Czechoslovakia
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March 1939
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Hitler invaded Poland
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1st September 1939
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Britain and France felt compelled to defend Poland and so declared war on Germany, beginning WWII
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3rd September 1939
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German attack on the Western Front
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May 1940-delayed from November 1939, prolonging the Anglo-French 'Phoney War'
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Germany lost the Battle of Britain and decided to switch Germany's military objectives from the Western Front to preperation for an invasion of the USSR, before Britain had been neutralised
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Autumn 1940
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Hitler issued Directive No.21, giving the go-ahead to 'Operation Barbarossa', with the aim of crushing the Soviet Union
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18th December 1940
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Germany finally invaded the USSR-the offensive was delayed by the need to invade Yugoslavia and Greece in order to secure Germany's lower flank
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22nd June 1941
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German troops were only miles from the major cities of Moscow and Leningrad, in Germany's early success
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November 1941
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The 'turn of the tide' in Germany's military success-German defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad
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Winter 1942-3
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German declaration of war on the USA following Pearl Harbor-continental war globalised and complicated Germany's existing strategy as well as turning the industrial capacity of the world's greatest power against it-this was a vital turning point in the war although this was not apparent at the time
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11th December 1941
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Speer's reforms to mobilise the war economy
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February 1942
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German defeat at El Alamein as the Afrika Korps attempted to drive the British back across North Africa into Egypt
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November 1942
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German surrender after the siege of Stalingrad in which German troops had advanced into the Caucasian oilfields hoping to capture city which was seen to represent Communism
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January 1943
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Goebbels' speech rallied the people for total war
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18th February 1943
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The Soviet forces had re-conquered much of the Ukraine after a massive tank victory at the Battle of Kursk
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July 1943
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Anglo-American forces were linked up in Africa, and had established a hold on southern Italy
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By the end of 1943
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Period of total war
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1943-5
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Hamburg fire-storm
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24th July 1943
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Allied landings in Normandy
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6th June 1944
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Hitler finally accepted defeat and committed suicide in his bunker, as Soviet soldiers advanced within a mile of the Chancellery in Berlin, and many other leaders including Goebbels killed themselves-THE NAZI STATE CEASED TO EXIST
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30th April 1945
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German surrender-occupation and division of Germany
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7th May 1945
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Nazis were forced to introduce rationing of food, clothes and basic amenities such as soap
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1939 (from the outbreak of the war)
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Marked decline in the availability of consumer goods
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1942 onwards
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Reich Entailed Farm Law
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1933
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