Spartacist Uprising & Kapp Putsch - Weimar & Nazi Germany - GCSE History Edexcel - Lesson 4

Students examine the challenges to the Weimar Republic from the Spartacists, Freikorps and Kapp Putsch along with Friedrich Ebert’s actions to end the threats.

UPDATED & RE-VAMPED CONTENT IN LINE WITH THE 2026 SPEC

The 27 slide fully resourced lesson contains activities, tasks, practice exam questions, printable resources and all background knowledge:

• Slide 1: Title slide
• Slide 2: Lesson key questions
• Slide 3: ‘As You Enter’ activity based on a photograph of the Kapp Putsch, with prompt questions.
• Slide 4-5: Recap Activity - Gap fill task with answers on the Treaty of Versailles
• Slide 6: Starter Activity - Students analyse an interpretation about the challenges faced by the Weimar Republic in its early years. Prompt questions provided.
• Slide 7: Starter Activity 2 - What challenges did Ebert and the Weimar government already face by 1919?
• Slide 8-11: Background information about the terms left-wing and right-wing along with facts about the Spartacist Uprising, the development of the Freikorp and the Kapp Putsch.
• Slide 12: Links to two useful clips about the main events
• Slide 13-14: Task 1 - A table fill activity with printable resources to help students complete the task.
• Slide 15-16: Printable facts sheets
• Slide 17: Challenge questions
• Slide 18: Challenge question 2 with answers revealed.
• Slide 19-20: EXAM FOCUS - Two examples of a ‘Source Inference’ question on printable answer sheets
• Slide 21: EXAM FOCUS - An example of a 12 mark ‘Explain why’ question with structure help.
• Slide 22-23: EXAM FOCUS - An example of a ‘How useful’ question with structure guidance.
• Slide 24-25: Learning Review - Are the facts based on left-wing or right-wing ideas? Answers provided.
• Slide 26: Lesson fact sheet
• Slide 27: More from RA Resources

This lesson has been updated in line with the amended specification and exam questions ready for the 2025/6 examinations.

All images used in this lesson are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.

This resource is for personal use only unless a school license is purchased and for copyright reasons any slides, worksheets, RA Resources maps or diagrams should not be copied/amended for commercial use.