DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 01. THE EFFECT OF WW1 ON GERMANY

DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: WEIMAR REPUBLIC - 01. THE EFFECT OF WW1 ON GERMANY. This presentation covers the social, economic and political impact of war along with a brief analysis of the physical cost of war.

1. DEPTH STUDY WEIMAR REPUBLIC THE EFFECT OF WW1 ON GERMANY 01

2. INTRODUCTION In early 1918 the German people were celebrating. After years of stalemate the Great War was going their way. On the Eastern Front, Russia has been defeated. The Bolsheviks government had been forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty giving Germany 25% of its best land and 75% of its iron ore.

3. A BREAKTHROUGH German divisions were now transferred from the Eastern Front to the Western Front. They made a massive breakthrough all along the Western Front in the Ludendorff Offensive . German divisions were now advancing quickly through Belgium and Northern France. Their leaders encouraged the German people to believe that victory would soon be theirs .

4. REVERSAL The Allies were stronger , and Germany was weak . USA had entered the war in 1917 . They manage to build up the Allied forces by sending equipment and soldiers to Europe. The Germans had lost their best officers in the beginning of the war, and the German soldiers were exhausted and poorly supplied after years of an efficient British blockade. In June 1918 the Ludendorff Offensive slowed , then stopped.

5. THE LUDENDORFF OFFENSIVE The German spring offensive began on 21 March 1918, and created the biggest crisis of the war for the Allies . General Erich Ludendorff was the driving force in the preparation of this offensive , together with Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Ludendorff wanted to break through the Allied lines in the Somme area, after which he would determine the next move. Such an approach was self-defeating because maintaining momentum depended upon logistic support of the advancing forces, which could only be ensured by careful preparations in advance.

6. DISASTER In August 1918, the Allies counter-attacked . The German army had little strength left to resist . Within a few weeks the Allies had recaptured the land lost and started to threaten the German soil . The luck of war has changed so rapidly that for many Germans was impossible to accept that the war is going in the wrong direction. By September 1918 it was clear that Germany is forced into peace . Over 1 million German soldiers were dead and civilians faced starvation. Germans blamed the Kaiser, and he was forced into abdication.

7. POLITICAL EFFECTS Germany experienced political problems before the war . The Reichstag was weak . Working class and middle class had little to say in the way Germany was run. There was no effective opposition to the Kaiser. During the war, this situation got worse. Opposition leaders were imprisoned . Germany was ruled as a military dictatorship by the Kaiser and his army leaders Ludendorff and Hindenburg. This weakened the Reichstag further.

8. ANARCHY Germany was very unstable . Armed demobilized soldiers were returning home, joining in violent demonstrations against the war and the Kaiser.

9. PHYSICAL EFFECTS Farming was disrupted because farm workers were drafted into the armed forces. By 1918 Germany was producing only 50% of the milk, and 60% of the butter and meat, which had been produced before the war. It could not make up for this by importing food because in the last two years of the war the British navy blockaded German ports , successfully preventing any food getting in. Many German people faced starvation . In the winter of 1916-1917 the supply of potatoes ran out and there were only turnips left. In their weak condition civilians were vulnerable to disease. Around 750.000 German citizens died from the combined effects of hunger and disease.

10. PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS Before the war, the Germans had been proud and ambitious for their country. They were prepared to work hard for its success. The experiences of war made Germans bitter and angry . All the hopes of the pre-war Years had been dashed. They looked around for someone to blame for defeat in the war. A society that had been famous for its unity and the obedience of its people now became famous for its squabbling and conflict.

11. SUMMARY Germany emerged from the First World War in chaos . The new Weimar government experienced crisis after crisis , as a consequence of being a government of large coalition . Out of this confusion, Hitler and the Nazis emerged as the most powerful group in Germany and led the nation into a Dictatorship, ending in an international war and the death of tens of millions of people.

12. Decorated (Iron Cross) Veteran Begging on the Street (1923) Wounded veterans of the Great War – a common sight on the streets of Weimar Germany – were among those hardest hit by the great inflation. Even the money they received from begging became quickly worthless. COMMENT THE IMPACT OF THIS IMAGE OVER THE HEARTS/MIND OF GERMAN PEOPLE