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

11 November 1918 → Germany signed the Armistice, ending WW1

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