Lesson 1L.1.1

1L.1.1 Empire to democracy in Germany, 1871–1929 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 11

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 1L.1.1, Empire to democracy in Germany, 1871–1929: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 11: 1L The quest for political stability: Germany, 1871–1991, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Under the 1871 constitution, which body was elected by universal male suffrage?

    • The Prussian Landtag, elected on a three-class voting system
    • The Reichstag, elected by universal male suffrage
    • The Bundesrat, whose members were appointed by the state governments
    • The Kaiser's Privy Council, chosen by the Chancellor

  2. Which group was the main target of Bismarck's Kulturkampf, begun in 1871?

    • Liberal members of the Reichstag from Bavaria
    • Socialist trade unions and their newspapers
    • The Polish minority in the eastern provinces
    • The Roman Catholic Church and its political supporters

  3. Which event ended Bismarck's period as Chancellor in 1890?

    • The defeat of the Anti-Socialist Laws in a Reichstag vote
    • The assassination of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1888
    • The Kaiser dismissing Bismarck after disagreements over policy
    • The Reichstag voting to abolish the post of Chancellor

  4. Which party was the largest single party in the Reichstag by the 1912 elections?

    • The Conservative Party, representing Junker landowners
    • The National Liberal Party, representing industrial interests
    • The Centre Party, representing Catholic voters
    • The Social Democratic Party (SPD)

  5. Why did elections to the Reichstag fail to give parliament control over government before 1918?

    • Women were the majority of voters but were denied the right to vote
    • The Reichstag could only meet for six weeks each year under the constitution
    • The Chancellor was appointed by the Kaiser and was not responsible to the Reichstag
    • The Bundesrat could dismiss any Chancellor who lost a majority in the Reichstag

  6. Which electoral system was used for the Reichstag under the Weimar constitution of 1919?

    • Proportional representation with party lists
    • A two-round system with a run-off between the top two candidates
    • First-past-the-post in single-member constituencies
    • Indirect election through regional electoral colleges

  7. What did Article 48 of the Weimar constitution allow the president to do?

    • Rule by emergency decree in times of threat to public order
    • Declare war on behalf of the German states
    • Dismiss the Reichstag permanently without an election
    • Appoint state governors without consulting the Reichstag

  8. Which two countries occupied the Ruhr in January 1923 after Germany defaulted on reparations deliveries?

    • Italy and Poland
    • France and Belgium
    • Russia and Czechoslovakia
    • Britain and the United States

  9. Which policy during the 1923 Ruhr crisis did most to fuel hyperinflation?

    • The Young Plan cutting the total reparations bill
    • Printing paper money to fund passive resistance and wages in the Ruhr
    • The Locarno Treaties guaranteeing western borders
    • The Dawes Plan loans from the United States

  10. Which group of people was most damaged by the German hyperinflation of 1923?

    • Owners of large industrial companies with foreign debts
    • Savers and those living on fixed incomes or pensions
    • Members of the army who were paid in gold
    • Farmers who held large stocks of grain

  11. What was the main purpose of the Dawes Plan of 1924?

    • To reschedule reparations payments and provide American loans
    • To create a new German army of 300,000 men
    • To transfer the Saar coalfield to France
    • To cancel all German reparations permanently

  12. Which 1925 agreement saw Germany accept its western frontiers with France and Belgium?

    • The Treaty of Versailles of 1919
    • The Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union
    • The Locarno Pact
    • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  13. Why did the Kapp Putsch of March 1920 fail?

    • The Kaiser returned from exile and ordered the rebels to disperse
    • The Reichstag voted unanimously to dismiss the Chancellor
    • A general strike by workers paralysed the capital and the army refused to fire on them
    • The Allies sent troops to occupy Berlin and arrest the plotters

  14. Which two leaders of the Spartacist uprising in Berlin in January 1919 were murdered?

    • Gustav Stresemann and Walther Rathenau
    • Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
    • Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann
    • Heinrich Bruning and Franz von Papen

  15. What was the immediate trigger for the German revolution of November 1918?

    • The arrival of American troops in Hamburg
    • The assassination of Matthias Erzberger in Bad Griesbach
    • The Kaiser's decision to declare martial law in Bavaria
    • A mutiny by sailors at Kiel over orders for a last naval sortie

  16. Which social group held a dominant position in the German army officer corps and landowning in the Kaiserreich?

    • The Junkers, an aristocratic landowning elite of Prussia
    • Industrial entrepreneurs from the Rhineland
    • Catholic peasants from Bavaria and Baden
    • Urban professionals from the Hanseatic cities

  17. Which best explains why Germany's social structure before 1914 combined rapid industrial growth with political conservatism?

    • Industrial wealth was fully transferred to the working class by the 1880s
    • Landowners were removed from power by the Reichstag after 1871
    • Industrialisation was confined to the eastern provinces and had no urban effect
    • Traditional elites kept political and military power while new industrial wealth grew

  18. Which factor most weakened the Weimar Republic's political stability by 1924?

    • The Kaiser's continued role as head of state from exile
    • The absence of any political parties in the Reichstag
    • Universal suffrage for women, which was abolished in 1921
    • Proportional representation producing many small parties and unstable coalitions

  19. Which assessment best evaluates Stresemann's foreign policy between 1924 and 1929?

    • It failed completely because Germany refused to accept any treaty with the Allies
    • It achieved reconciliation with France and a rapid recovery of territory in the east
    • It restored German dominance in Europe and ended reparations completely
    • It secured a short-term recovery through the Dawes and Young Plans and Locarno, but depended on American loans

  20. Which best evaluates why Germany's 1929 condition was fragile despite the economic recovery of 1924 to 1928?

    • The Dawes Plan was cancelled by the Reichstag in 1927
    • Hyperinflation returned in 1928 and destroyed the savings of the middle classes
    • Recovery depended heavily on American short-term loans, and political support for democracy was weak
    • The Weimar Republic had abolished the Reichstag by 1926

All AQA History quizzes