| Revolution | To overthrow a government in order to introduce a new political system. |
| Revolutionary | Person who instigates/participates in great, usually violent, changes. |
| Right wing | On the conservative side of the political spectrum. |
| Rohm, Ernst | Leader of the SA. Murdered in Night of the Long Knives. |
| SA/Strumabteilung | The Brownshirts, Hitler's private army of thugs who helped him come to power. |
| Social Democrats | Social Democratic Party (SPD). Led by Ebert in the 1910s and early 1920s. Strongest party in the Weimar government during this time. |
| Socialist | A person/group who believes that the means of production should be owned by the community and managed for the good of all. |
| SPD | see Social Democrats. |
| SS/Schutzstaffeln | Hitler's private bodyguard. They wore black uniforms, and were an elite force. Later in charge of the concentration camps. |
Stresemann, Gustav
| Chancellor of Germany for a few months in 1923. After that he was foreign minister until his death in 1929. |
| Swastika | Nazi Party symbol. |
| Totalitarian | When all the power is in the hands of one person/group who has total control over the lives of the people. |
| Treason | An act of betraying your country/ government. |
| Treaty of St Germain | Peace treaty signed between the Allies and Austria after World War I. |
| Treaty of Versailles | Peace treaty signed after World War I between Germany and the Allied powers. |
| Van der Lubbe, Marius | Dutch Communist found guilty of starting the Reichstag fire. |
| Versailles | Town outside Paris, France, where the peace conference after World War I was held. |
| Wall Street | Street in New York where the USA stock exchange is situated. |
| War debt | A sum of money a country owes as a result of costs incurred in order to fight a war. |
| War Guilt Clause | Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles between the Allies and Germany, stating that the Germans accept full responsibility for the outbreak of Word War I. |
| Weimar government | Rulers of Germany from 1918 to 1933. So-called because the Reichstag met in Weimar for a few months due to turmoil in the capital Berlin. |
| Weimar | Town in Germany where the newly elected government of 1919 met. |
