Nazi Germany 1918-1945

Stalemate:

a deadlock in fighting; neither side making progress

• 1914-1917 trench warfare along the Western Front meant neither Germany nor the Allies could break through

• 1917-18 → WW1 entered final year → trenches stretched 700km over Switzerland to North Sea

• In last year of war, mass armies remained in the same regions of Belgium and Northern France where the fighting had begun in 1914

US Entry

American joins war April 1917, bringing fresh troops and industrial strength to the allies, entry was a turning point against Germany

Russian Exit

Russia signed a ceasefire with Central Powers on 5th December 1917

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk → formal withdrawal from WW1 → March 3rd 1918

• allowed Germany to move troops from the Eastern to the Western front

Hindenburg

Paul von Hindenburg

• Military leader who ran Germany’s war strategy in the final years

• Recalled from retirement at the outbreak of the First World War and became Commander-in-Chief in the east

  Won battle of Tannenberg over Russia in 1914, establishing his reputation

  Promoted to field marshal

  Put in overall command of German forces in 1916

  Helped restore morale, but unable to break trench system in the west despite ordering massive assaults In August 1918 he realised the war was about to be lost, and advised an armistice

  Retired again from the army after the war

  Elected President in 1925

Ludendorff

Erich Ludendorff

• Hindenburg’s subordinate commander @battle of Tannenberg

• Military leader who ran Germany’s war strategy in the final years

• pushed for risky final offensives and resisted peace until it was too late

• In 1916 promoted to Quartermaster

  General and in control of Germany's war policy

  Virtual military dictator; hostile to the Reichstag

  Firm supporter of unrestricted submarine warfare

  Victorious in Russia and dictated the terms of the Treaty of Brest-

  Litovsk

  In charge of 1918 spring offensive

  Dismissed on 26 October 1918 by the new civilian government

  • Involved in Kapp Putsch (see pages
    42=0）

  • Involved in Hitler's Munich Putsch

  • (see pages 53-4)

  • From 1924 to 1928 sat as a Nazi
    Reichstag deputy

  • In 1925 he was the Nazi candidate for presidency; he won 1 per cent of the vote

1918 Spring Offensive

• Germany’s last big attack began in March 1918 but failed

• Although it pushed back Allied lines, German troops were exhausted and could not sustain the gains

• by August, Allies counterattacked successfully, aided by fresh American troops.

Collapse and Defeat

• German morale and resources were collapsing by late 1918

• Ludendorff and Hindenburg told the Kaiser in late September that Germany must seek peace

• Civilian leaders were blamed for negotiating surrender, creating the idea they had betrayed the army

Why Germany lost the war

• failure of the spring offensives

• allied blockade causing shortages

• entry of the USA

• Decline in morale and internal unrest

• Superior Allied resources and coordination

Political change in Germany

October 1918 → Germany tried to introduce democratic reforms to win better peace terms

Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November 1918

A new government called the Weimar Republic declared

Dolschtosslegende: The “stab in the back” myth

• a false idea that the Germany army did not lose the war on the battlefield but was betrayed by politicians, communists and Jews at home

• promoted by right-wing groups and used later by the Nazis

• Ludendorff and Hindenburg supported this idea to protect the army’s reputation

End of the War

28th July 1914 to 11 November 1918 → Germany signed the Armistice, ending WW1

Germany was in a fragile state: politically unstable, militarily defeated, economically ruined.

Imperialism

to expand national influence, through diplomacy or military force

• the state practise for extending power and influence, generally through gaining control of other countries (political, economic, cultural climate).

Militarism

a country should use military force to aggressively defend or promote national interests

Totalitarianism

power is held by one single party, that rules absolute authority

Authoritarianism

favouring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom

Fascism

an authoritarian and right wing political system of gov.

Nationalism

a loyalty and devotion to one’s own land, focusing on the promotion of its cultural interests and self-gov. of its own land

Dictator

a ruler with complete control over a country, typically gaining this control force

Demagogue

a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational judgement.

Key Features of fascism

• Distaste for democracy → preferring the ruling through one, sole dictator

• Glorification of war and violence as a means for achieving their goals

• Support for imperialism, through a belief that some nations had the right to rule over others

• A key focus on the interests of the state, rather than having individual needs and opinions → equality was not important

• violent opposition to the ideas of socialism and communism (which acted in direct contradiction to the interest and ideals of fascism)

• Focused on nationalism, often in combination with the desire for expansionism (through aggressive military tactics)

Reichstag

lower house of the German parliament

Anschluss

a political or economic union of Germany and Austria → forbidden of Treaty of Versailles → Hitler later carried it out in 1938

Diktat

means “dictated” or “imposed”

Used in context that the T.o.V was dictated to, or forced upon Germany

Dolschtosslegende

the ‘stab in the back’ legend. The belief that the German army had not been defeated by the Allies, but rather it had been betrayed by various groups/political leaders in Germany

Freikorps

The Free Corps. Military units formed in 1918 and made up of ex-soldiers. Used in confrontation involving the extremist left and the Spartacists in 1919.

Weimar Republic

Name given tot the Germany democracy 1918-1933 → Named after the town of Weimar where the first parliament of the New German state met in 1919.

End of WW1 statistics

The Big Three: Britain: David Lloyd George, France: Georges Clemenceau, America: Woodrow Wilson

Allies:

• Britain - 750k, 1.5 mil. wounded

• France - 1.4 mil died, 2.5 mil wounded

• America 116k died

Central Powers

• Germany - 2 mil. died

• Austria Hungary - 1.2 mil. died

• Turkey - 325 k died.

End of WW1 for Germany

• Farm production: 50% of milk, 60% of butter and meat had been stopped by British naval blockades, winter 1916 supply of potatoes ran out, ¾ million people died from hunger and disease

• Reichstag was weak, lower classes had no voice, no opposition to Kaiser, opposition leaders imprisoned

• Once proud and ambitious, Germanys were now bitter and angry, hopes ruined, looked for someone to blame

• demolished soldiers were returning to home and joined in violent demonstrations against the war and the Kaiser

Germany and End of WW1 - politics

• Prior to 1919 Germany was virtually dictatorship Kaiser → Reichstag could not make laws and did not appoint the gov.

• navy mutinied, food riots.

• Kaiser fled to Holland

• members of Reichstag set up new government in Feb 1919 (Weimar Republic),

• Bill of Rights to protect freedoms of people, gave vote to everyone +21

• proportional representation → elected MPs exactly in line with wishes of people → people elected Reichstag

• Republic has President Frederich Ebert → elected by National Assembly rather than by direct popular vote.

Rise of extremist ideas

• period following WW1 witnessed surge in extremist ideologies across Europe fuelled by economic hardship, political instability and lingering war effects.

• rise of both right wing fascism + left wing communism movement

• Factors such as: Great Depression, perceived failure of Weimar Republic, WW1, general sense of alienation

Rise of fascism in Italy

• post ww1 experienced intense internal conflict - rising inflation, increase u/e, upset from not gaining more from T.o.V.

• wanted strong national unity and leadership.

• 1919 fascism increase popularity

• Mussolini PM Italy 1922-43

• Fasci of Revolutionary Action (First meeting 24 Jan 1915)

• Italy’s king saw Mussolini as an ally against communism and socialism, invited him to be PM. He suspended other political parties (dictator)

• fascists controlled mass media and allowed them to indoctrinate next gen.

The Appeal of Fascism

Rejectedideas