O Level World History: Depth Study B, Germany 1918-45 (Cambridge 2147)

Depth Study B traces Germany from the revolution of November 1918 to the collapse of the Nazi state in 1945. For Cambridge O Level History (2147) you answer three questions about it: was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start, why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934, and – in two parts – how effectively did the Nazis control Germany and what was it like to live there? Examiners want explanation and judgement backed by precise detail.

Where this fits in 2147

Depth Study B is one of five options; you study at least one. It is examined only in Paper 1, Section B, where two questions are set on each Depth Study and you answer one (parts worth 4, 6 and 10 marks). Paper 1 is worth 55% of the O Level. Related pages: Depth Study B revision notes, Depth Study B practice questions and Depth Study A, the First World War, which ends where this one begins.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE O LEVEL HISTORY (2147), 2024-2026 – DEPTH STUDY B: GERMANY, 1918-45

• 1 Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start? Emerging from defeat; the impact of Versailles; recovery after 1923; Weimar’s achievements. Content: the 1918 revolution and the Republic; Versailles and German reactions; the constitution, political divisions and the army; disorder 1919-23 (left and right, hyper-inflation, the Ruhr); the Stresemann era; Weimar culture.
• 2 Why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934? Nazi aims in the 1920s; little success before 1930; becoming Chancellor; consolidation 1933-34. Content: Nazi ideas and methods, the Munich Putsch, Hitler and other leaders; the Depression and the crisis of 1930-33; the Reichstag Fire and the 1933 election; the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, Hindenburg’s death, removal of opposition.
• 3(a) How effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933-45? Opposition; dealing with opponents; culture and mass media; persecution; was it totalitarian?
• 3(b) What was it like to live in Nazi Germany? Young people; women and the family; who benefited; the impact of war, including the war economy and the Final Solution.

Key question 1: Was Weimar doomed from the start?

The best way to answer is to test the word doomed against each period.

1918-19: a weak birth? The Republic was born from defeat. After the Kiel mutiny and the Kaiser’s abdication on 9 November 1918, the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert led the new government and signed the Armistice. To survive the left-wing threat, Ebert made a deal with the army’s leaders (the Ebert-Groener agreement), leaving the old officer corps in place. The constitution, agreed at Weimar in 1919, was very democratic, but proportional representation encouraged many small parties and unstable coalitions, and Article 48 gave the President emergency powers.

Versailles. Germans were not allowed to negotiate the treaty. The war-guilt clause, reparations, the 100,000-man army and lost territory were blamed on the Republic’s politicians, whom nationalists called the “November criminals”. This attached the Republic to defeat in many people’s minds.

1919-23: crisis. From the left came the Spartacist rising (January 1919); from the right, the Kapp Putsch (March 1920) – defeated only by a general strike because the army would not fire on fellow soldiers – and hundreds of political murders, including Foreign Minister Rathenau in 1922. In January 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr after Germany defaulted on reparations; passive resistance and printing money produced hyper-inflation, ruining savers.

1924-29: recovery. Stresemann ended passive resistance and the new Rentenmark stabilised the currency. The Dawes Plan (1924) brought US loans; the Young Plan (1929) lowered reparations. Abroad, Locarno (1925) and League membership (1926) restored respect. Weimar culture – Bauhaus architecture, expressionist art, cinema and cabaret – made Berlin a cultural capital.

Judgement: the Republic had serious weaknesses from 1919, but it survived the crises of 1919-23 and recovered. It was not doomed; it was vulnerable to a severe economic shock – which came in 1929.

Key question 2: Why could Hitler dominate Germany by 1934?

Nazi ideas in the 1920s. The 25-point programme (1920) demanded the overturning of Versailles, union of all Germans, Lebensraum, and the exclusion of Jews from citizenship, with anti-communism and a strong leader at its heart. The SA gave the party a street army.

Why so little success before 1930? The Munich Putsch (November 1923) failed and Hitler was imprisoned; after his release he rebuilt the party to win votes, but the prosperity of 1924-29 meant few voters wanted extremes – in 1928 the Nazis won only 12 Reichstag seats.

Why did he become Chancellor? The Depression from 1929 was the turning point: unemployment rose to about six million, and governments under Brüning used Article 48 decrees. Nazi propaganda under Goebbels, rallies and Hitler’s speeches targeted farmers, the middle classes and the young, promising “work and bread”. The party became the largest in the Reichstag in July 1932. Yet Hitler was appointed by President Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, after conservative politicians led by von Papen calculated they could use him.

How did he consolidate power, 1933-34? The Reichstag Fire (February 1933) allowed emergency decrees against communists; the March 1933 election strengthened the Nazis; the Enabling Act (March 1933) gave Hitler power to make laws; trade unions were dissolved and all other parties banned by July 1933. On the Night of the Long Knives (30 June 1934) Röhm and other SA leaders were murdered, winning the army’s support. When Hindenburg died in August 1934 Hitler became Führer, and the army swore personal loyalty to him.

Key question 3(a): How effectively did the Nazis control Germany?

• Terror: Himmler’s SS, the Gestapo, informers and concentration camps; people’s courts.
• Propaganda and culture: Goebbels controlled newspapers, radio and film; the Nuremberg rallies and the 1936 Olympics showcased the regime; “degenerate” art was banned and Jewish authors’ books burned.
• Religion: the 1933 Concordat with the Pope; the pro-Nazi Reich Church; dissenting pastors such as Niemöller sent to camps.
• Persecution: Jews (the 1933 boycott, the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, Kristallnacht in 1938), Roma, disabled people, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses.
• Opposition: limited and divided – communist cells, some church leaders, youth groups (Edelweiss Pirates, Swing Youth), the White Rose students, and the July 1944 bomb plot by army officers.

Was it totalitarian? In aim, yes; in practice control depended heavily on popular support, denunciations by ordinary Germans and the chaos of competing Nazi agencies.

Key question 3(b): What was life like?

Group	Experience
Young people	Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens; Nazified schools; many enthusiastic, some rebellious
Women	Encouraged to marry and have children; loans and medals for mothers; later needed in war work
Workers	Jobs through rearmament and public works; no free unions; leisure via Strength Through Joy
Jews and minorities	Loss of rights, property and, eventually, life

War brought rationing, longer hours, foreign forced labour, the bombing of cities and, after 1943, total war under Speer’s management. In occupied eastern Europe the Final Solution – the planned murder of Europe’s Jews, agreed at Wannsee in January 1942 – was carried out in death camps.

Worked example: a (b) answer

Explain why the Nazis had little success before 1930. [6]

Give two or three developed reasons: (1) the Munich Putsch failed and Hitler was in prison in 1924, leaving the party divided; (2) Stresemann’s recovery – stable currency, US loans, foreign success – meant most voters supported moderate parties; (3) the Nazi message of crisis had little appeal while unemployment was relatively low, shown by only 12 seats in 1928.

Common mistakes

• Describing Weimar’s problems without deciding whether they made collapse inevitable.
• Forgetting that the Nazis never won a majority in a free election.
• Using “totalitarian” as a label rather than testing it.
• Leaving out the 1939-45 war years in key question 3(b).

Frequently asked questions

Is the Holocaust in this Depth Study? Yes, as “the Final Solution” under the impact of the Second World War on Germany.

What is the best single date to remember? 30 January 1933, Hitler’s appointment, because key question 2 turns on it.

Do I need election percentages? Seat numbers or percentages for 1928, July 1932 and March 1933 are enough to show the trend.

Official syllabus

Cambridge O Level History (2147) syllabus for examination in 2024, 2025 and 2026 – cambridgeinternational.org (Depth study B, focus points and specified content). Always check the current syllabus before an exam.