Timeline of the Weimar Republic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This Weimar Timeline charts the chronology of the Weimar Republic, dating the pre-history before the adoption of the actual Weimar constitution. This timeline stops when Hitler establishes the Third Reich.

The timeline is color-coded:

Black: Regular events of the Weimar republic and its pre-history.
Red: Events pertaining to Adolf Hitler.
Brown: Events regarding the German Workers' Party and the Nazi Party.
All other events pertaining to the rise of Nazism in Germany are bolded.

For a chronology focusing on the rise of Nazism see Early Nazi Timeline.

[edit] End of the Kaiserreich

August 1, 1914 World War I breaks out.
April 14, 1917 Government announces reduction in bread rations.
April 15, 1917 200,000 Socialists and Communists stage major strikes in Germany
July 13, 1917 Dr. Georg Michaelis replaces Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg as Chancellor of Germany.
October 31, 1917 Michaelis resigns, replaced by Count Georg von Hertling

[edit] 1918

October 4, 1918 Prince Maximilian of Baden replaces Count Georg von Hertling as Chancellor of Germany
October 7 – November 3, 1918 Naval mutinies (see German Revolution)
November 4, 1918 Sailors and worker's councils declare general strikes.
November 5, 1918 3rd Squadron revolts.
November 7, 1918 100,000 workers march on the Royal House of Wittelsbach. The King of Bavaria flees.
November 8, 1918 All 22 of Germany’s lesser kings, princes, grand dukes, and ruling dukes had been deposed.
November 9, 1918 Proclamation of the Republic by Philipp Scheidemann, some hours later: proclamation of the Socialist Republic by Karl Liebknecht; also:
- Matthias Erzberger arrives at Allied HQ at Compiegne.
- Kaiser Wilhelm told to abdicate, before he can decide Prince Max formally announces the abdication of Wilhelm.
- Social Democrats demand government from Prince Max.
- Friedrich Ebert assumes the chancellery.
- First German Republic established.
November 11, 1918 First World War ended.
Mid December, 1918 First Freikorps unit formed; Maercker Volunteer Rifles.
December 23, 1918 Lt. Dorrenbach with the Volksmarine Division declare gov. under arrest, surround the chancellory and occupy phone exchange.
December 24, 1918 Battle of the Schloss
December 30, 1918 Spartakusbund splits from the Independent Socialists (later becomes the Communist Party).

[edit] 1919

January 1919 Independent Socialists & Spartacusbund stage large protests. Large sections of Berlin seized. Also:
- "Free Workers' Committee for a fair Peace" renamed German Workers Party.
January 10, 1919 Battle of Berlin begins; Counter-revolution
January 13, 1919 Battle of Berlin finished.
January 1919 Bremen seized. Also:
- German Gov. moved to the city of Weimar.
February 6, 1919 Fritz Ebert opens the Reichstag in Weimar, Germany.
February 11, 1919 Friedrich Ebert (SPD) leaves office. Also:
- Philipp Scheidemann appointed chancellor.
February 21, 1919 Kurt Eisner assassinated. Also:
- Attempted assassination of Erhard Auer.
March 3, 1919 2nd Battle for Berlin; Communists seize Berlin; Weimar government appoints Gustav Noske as German defense minister.
March 7, 1919 Communist Strike Committee withdraws proclamation and makes peace overtures to government.
March 10, 1919 Gustav Noske orders Peoples’ Naval Division disbanded. Battle for Berlin over.
March 1919 Adolf Hitler finishes job of guarding Russian prisoners.
April 6 and April 7, 1919 Bavaria declared a Soviet Republic.
April 14, 1919 Freikorps suppress Communists in Dresden.
April 18, 1919 Freikorps suppress Communists in Brunswick. Also:
- Battle of the Bavarian governments at Dachau. Communists defeat republican forces.
April 27, 1919 Battle for Munich between Communists and Freikorps units.
April 29, 1919 German representatives arrive in Paris.
May 1, 1919 Communist defences at Munich breached.
May 2, 1919 City of Munich taken; not declared secure until May 6th; aprox. 1200 Communists killed.
May 10, 1919 Freikorps suppress communists in Leipzig.
June 21, 1919 Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) leaves office
June 22, 1919 German Reichstag ratify the Versailles Treaty.
June 28, 1919 Versailles Treaty signed in the Hall of Mirrors.

[edit] Weimar Republic

August 11, 1919 The Weimar Constitution is announced.
September 11, 1919 Adolf Hitler sent as Vertrauensmann to infiltrate the German Worker’s Party (DAP).

[edit] 1920

January 1920 The DAP grew to 190 members.
February 4, 1920 Allies demand 900 Germans be handed over for war crimes.
February 20, 1920 DAP changes name to National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
February 1920 Inter-Allied Control Commission order 2/3 of Freikorps disbanded.
February 24, 1920 First public meeting of the NSDAP.
March 13, 1920 Kapp Putsch
March 14, 1920 Communists seize demilitarized Ruhr; Dortmund, Remschied, Hagen, Mulheim, Dusseldorf; 300 people killed (mostly policemen).
March 17, 1920 Kapp Putsch ends.
March 27, 1920 Gustav Bauer (SPD) leaves office
March 31, 1920 Adolf Hitler mustered out of the military.
April 3, 1920 21 different Freikorps units, under the command of General Baron Oskar von Watter, annihilate the Ruhr Communist uprising in five days; thousands killed.
April 1920 Government stops paying Freikorps units.
May 10, 1920 Dr. Joseph Wirth and Walter Rathenau announce their "Policy of Fulfillment"; not received well by nationalist groups.
June 21, 1920 Hermann Mueller (SPD) leaves office
August 11, 1920 National Disarmament Law takes effect; disbanded civil guards
December 17, 1920 NSDAP buys its first paper, the Voelkischer Beobachter.
December 1920 NSDAP total party membership comes to 2000.

[edit] 1921

March 21, 1921 Plebiscite in Upper Silesia. They vote to remain part of Germany.
March, 1921 Allied Plebiscite Commission rejects vote, draws boundary anyway; takes section of mines, mills and furnaces and 350,000 Germans and puts them under Polish rule.
April 27, 1921 Allied Reparations Committee levels 33 billion war reparations debt onto Germany; commands the handing over of 26% of all exports for 42 years and puts the Germans immediately into 12 billion in arrears.
May 3, 1921 Polish forces under Wojciech Korfantry invade Upper Silesia.
May 5, 1921 London Ultimatum which set the total sum of the war indemnity at 132 billion marks.
May 10, 1921 Konstantin Fehrenbach (Center) leaves office
May 23, 1921 German Freikorps smash Polish forces at St. Annaberg.
May 24, 1921 Under Allied pressure, all Freikorps units outlawed.
July 11, 1921 Adolf Hitler resigns from the party to force the hand of Anton Drexler not to unite with the DSP.
July 25, 1921 Adolf Hitler rejoins the party.
July 29, 1921 Adolf Hitler assumes leadership of the NSDAP. He becomes "Der Fuehrer".
August 26, 1921 Matthias Erzberger, (finance minister of 1920) gunned down by OC killers
September 14, 1921 Hitler and SA disrupt speech by Otto Ballestedt of the Bayernbund; beaten badly; Hitler with others arrested.
October 26, 1921 Dr. Joseph Wirth (Center) forms 2nd cabinet

[edit] 1922

January 12, 1922 Adolf Hitler sentenced to three months.
June 24, 1922 Hitler Incarcerated. Also:
- Walter Rathenau assassinated.
- Reichsmark (RM) was 272 to 1 American dollar
July 27, 1922 Hitler released.
July 1922 670 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
August 1922 2,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
October 27, 1922 Benito Mussolini establishes his Fascist dictatorship in Italy.
October 1922 45,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
November 22, 1922 Dr. Wirth leaves office
November 1922 10,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar
December 27, 1922 France occupies the Ruhr.
December 30, 1922 500,000 reichsmarks = 1 US dollar

[edit] 1923

February 1923 Reichsbank buys back RM (or reichsmark); stabilizes RM at 20,000 to 1 US dollar
May 4, 1923 RM 40,000 = 1 US dollar
May 27, 1923 Albert Leo Schlageter, a German freebooter and saboteur, was executed by a French firing squad in the Ruhr. Hitler declared him a hero that the German nation was not worthy to possess.
June 1, 1923 RM 70,000 =1 US dollar
June 30, 1923 RM 150,000 = 1 US dollar
August 1-August 7, 1923 RM 3,500,000 = 1 US Dollar
August 13, 1923 Dr. Wilhelm Cuno (No party affiliation) Leaves office
August 15, 1923 RM 4,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
September 1, 1923 RM 10,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
Around September 10 to September 25, 1923 Prices reportedly rise hourly in several German cities.
September 24, 1923 Chancellor Stresemann ends the passive resistance in the Ruhr; infuriates the nationalists.
September 30, 1923 Major Fedor von Bock crushes a coup attempt by the Black Reichswehr. Also:
- RM 60,000,000 = 1 US Dollar
October 6, 1923 Dr. Gustav Stresemann (People’s) forms 2nd cabinet
October 20, 1923 General Alfred Mueller marches on Saxony to prevent a communist takeover. Also:
- General Otto von Lossow in Bavaria is relieved of command by Berlin; he refuses.
October 23, 1923 Communist takeover of Hamburg
October 25, 1923 Hamburg uprising suppressed
November 8, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch
November 9, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch quelled.
November 12, 1923 Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was named ‘’Reichswaehrungskommissar’’.
November 15, 1923 Rentenmark issued; pegged to the Gold Standard; Rentenmark 4.2 = 1 US dollar; at this time:
- Old Reichsmark 4,200,000,000 = 1 US dollar
November 30, 1923 Dr. Stresemann leaves office.

[edit] 1924

February 26, 1924 Hitlerputsch trial begins.
June 3, 1924 Dr. Wilhelm Marx (Center) forms 2nd cabinet
August 29, 1924 Dawes Plan agreed by Reichstag.
December 20, 1924 Hitler released from Landsberg Prison.

[edit] 1925

January 4. 1925 Hitler begins his political comeback by meeting with new ministers and President of Bavaria.
January 15, 1925 Dr. Marx leaves office.
February 27, 1925 Nazi party refounded.; Hitler gives his first speech since release from prison.
February 28, 1925 Reichspresident Friedrich Ebert dies.
July 1925 French and Belgian troops evacuate the Ruhr completely.
November 22, 1925 Strasser wing of Nazi party goes into rebellion.
October 16, 1925 Locarno Treaty signed

[edit] 1926

January 20, 1926 Dr. Hans Luther (No party affiliation) forms 2nd cabinet
February 14, 1926 Bamberg conference begins.
April 24, 1926 Germany and Soviet Union sign Berlin Treaty.
May 12, 1926 Dr. Luther leaves office over flag dispute
May 16, 1926 Marx cabinet of the Center, BVP, DDP, DVP.
June 20, 1926 Referendum on expropriation of princely families.
September 10, 1926 Germany enters League of Nations

[edit] 1927

January 29, 1927 Marx’s 3rd cabinet leaves office
May 1927 Hitler speaking ban lifted in Bavaria.
July 16, 1927 Unemployment Insurance Law passed.

[edit] 1928

June 29, 1928 Marx’s 4th cabinet leaves office
October 20, 1928 Alfred Hugenberg becomes head of DNVP
December 8, 1928 Prelate Kaas becomes head of Center party.

[edit] 1929

June 7, 1929 Young Plan resets reparations amount, and allows it to be paid in installations over a period of 58.5 years.
October 3, 1929 Foreign minister Gustav Stresemann dies.
October 24, 1929 Black Thursday stock market crash, start of world economic collapse.
December 22, 1929 Liberty Law referendum to reject Young Plan fails.

[edit] 1930

March 30, 1930 Hermann Mueller’s (SPD) 2nd cabinet leaves office
June 30, 1930 French troops leave the Rhineland ahead of schedule.
July 16, 1930 Reichstag dissolved; first emergency decree by Reichspresident.
August 1930 SA commander in Berlin Walter Stennes calls for SA general strike against Nazi Party.
September 14, 1930 Reichstag elections; gains by Nazi Party.
September 1930 Hitler at trial of 3 SA Lieutenants disavows the SA goals of replacing the army and hence appeases the army.

[edit] 1931

May 11, 1931 Austrian Kreditanstalt collapses
May 1931 Four million unemployed in Germany.
June 20, 1931 Herbert Hoover puts moratorium on reparations.
July 13, 1931 German bank crisis.
October 11, 1931 Harzburg Front formed of coalition between DNVP, Stahlhelm, and Nazi Party

[edit] 1932

April 10, 1932 Paul von Hindenburg reelected Reichspresident.
May 30, 1932 Henrich Bruening (Center) leaves office.
June 1, 1932 Franz von Papen cabinet
June 16-July 9, 1932 Lausanne conference
July 20, 1932 Von Papen dissolves Prussian government.
July 31, 1932 Reichstag elections where Nazi party becomes the largest party.
November 6, 1932 Reichstag elections; Nazis lose votes.
November 17, 1932 Franz von Papen (Center) leaves office
December 3, 1932 Kurt von Schleicher cabinet

[edit] 1933

January 28, 1933 Kurt von Schleicher (no party affiliation) leaves office
January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
March 23, 1933 Adolf Hitler establishes the Third Reich (Enabling Act of 1933).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Why Hitler, The Genesis of the Nazi Reich, Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. Praeger, Westport, CT, 1996. pg 28.
The Logic of Evil, The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925-1933, William Brustein, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 1996. pp 191-193.

[edit] Related media

Audio: Educational rapsong about The Weimar Republic by Johnathan Pagel, OGG format (2,14Mb) MP3 (4.33Mb)