Changing Views During WWI

How Social and Economic Changes were effected by World War II shape American modern life?

However, Ludendorff’s plan backfired when Wilson’s Points insisted that Germany lay down all arms and dissolved its army to no more than 100,000 troops, as well as all parties responsible resign (Peukert, 1987; 46). If Wilson’s constitutional reforms were to be implemented a democratic parliament could have been formed (Peukert, 1987; 24). Obviously Germany was reluctant, at first, to accept all of the responsibility of the war. To add to the attempt of keeping Germany a War state and its reluctant surrender, Keiser Wilhelm II ordered a last attempt by the German Naval Fleet to attack. This created a mutiny in Wilhelmshaven on October 28, 1918 and a sailor’s resurrection in Kiel on November 3rd and 4th (Peukert, 1987; 27). The peaceful revolutionary movement has begun in Germany and the citizens began expressing they wanted a new government. During the revolution the Weimar Republic was forming and it seemed to be doing so with little compromise from polar parties. Somehow, the Weimar Constitution was written and the new government began to practice democracy. Most of Germany, by now, wants to be a viable part of the world and achieve a better standard of living, the newly formed Weimar Republic and fragile economy will be tested with the Versailles Treaty.

In addition to the damaging consequences of the First World War with the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, certain features of Germany caused the state to be susceptible to the influence of this dangerous ideology. Along with the damage to the national ego as a result of the First World War, Germany had co-existing and conflicting highly modern strands of development forced to integrate with powerful remnants of archaic values and social structures, and had a deeply fractured parliamentary political system, and the weaknesses of this system reflected the social and political differences within the population. This shame and failure after World War I was superimposed onto a modern country which once had an advanced economy, a sophisticated state

The people wanted this new civilian government and this provides a strong basis to the argument that there were drastic revolutionary changes in Germany after world war one. The fundamental; constituent changes have been often called a revolution however some historians would argue that this is a real exaggeration. The Reichstag never really seemed to want to make a massive impact on the events of Germanyfor example; in October 1918 the Reichstag adjourned on 5 October and went into recess until 22 October, when it adjourned again until 9 November. These were hardly the actions of an institution that wanted to shape events decisively.

The Progressive Era began in 1890 and came to a close around the end of World War I in 1919. As the name suggests, it was an era of modernization and change for Americans. “America was growing, expanding, booming, and providing opportunities to join forces with industrialism and commerce and to grow along with the country” (Anderson, David 6). However, the rapid speed of population growth in cities magnified problems of poverty, disease, violence, and corruption. With an increase in jobs, competition also arose amongst citizens who believed that “both wealth and happiness [would] inevitably come to the moral and industrious” (White 1). Despite being characterized by reform, urbanization, and industrialism, the Progressive Era saw the loss of individualism; workers struggled for autonomy, skilled craftsmen were replaced, and mass culture eclipsed small, intimate towns, showing that in order to move forward, there needed to be a step back.

Following the conclusion of the First World War, America began to flourish, especially through changes in technology, morality, and civil rights. Accompanying these developments came widespread discontent. Some argued with the old adage, “'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,”, while others insisted that constant advancements would lead to a better future for all. Best put by Donald Rea Hanson, to pick out reason for America’s prosperity “...would be difficult, if not impossible” (Doc C).

Despite being one of the largest and most detrimental wars in Europe’s history, World War I was started by the action of one single person. In June of 1914, the Archduke of Austria- Hungary was assassinated by a Serbian assassin while visiting Serbia. After this, there was tension when Serbia refused to Austria- Hungary apologize for the killing of their Archduke. This continued to escalate until Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia. Following this, war broke out between countries all around Europe, leading to World War I. Although, the war would not have grown as large as it did if it weren’t for a few factors that allowed the spark of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria- Hungary- Hungary to ignite an entire fire. Many countries

Have you ever planned something to protect against a problem but it backfired? The intended use became a major reason that the situation went horribly wrong. For instance, say you do homework early so you don’t stress out later. When you go through it right away, you accidentally missed important directions. After you finish the project, you feel accomplished until find out that you did it wrong. Now you have even less time than if you just procrastinated before, and you don’t know how to fix your original project or start all over. That’s pretty much what happened to cause World War I. Alliances and treaties, nationalism, and quick reactions led to a series of events that started World War I.

“ War is the school of discipline, sacrifice, and courage” (DBQ Project Doc 1). This belief of Militarism led to homes and families being torn apart. Some troops would not want to go to war because they do not want to leave their families, so they tell each other, “You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the tree” (DBQ Project Doc 2). On December eleventh 1899 Prince Bernhard von Bulow gave a speech about Germany's plan to join the war. His inspiring speech convinced the people of Germany that war is the most important thing at hand.

6 p.m. on a wednesday i hear the sound of the attack planes above my head as i try to sleep. Adolf has been bombing us conti for the past seven days. The soldiers in my squad are tired and we are barely holding on to any hope of making it out of this situation alive. We have been experiencing terrible sights seeing my best friend blown up in front of my eyes from the bombs above. I continue to try and keep my soldiers in a positive mindset and encourage them that although we are starving and terrified, because of the bombs that seem to never end and the constant sound of the tanks roaring across the ground.

In today’s digital age, development of new technology and weapons are at an alarming rate, hence arises the need to stay ahead of advancements in order to properly defend the nation, as well as coalition forces and allies. In this period of warfare, the number one threat comes in the form of air breathing and ballistic missiles. During World War II, this threat was present, but was not thought to be prevalent.

The mandate of Article(s) 231 and 232 , (respectively titled “The War Guilt Clause” and “Reparations”) of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th, 1919 served as unintentional catalysts for the arise of revisionism in post-war Germany, and its fall out of the international order following the Paris Peace Conference. These two articles politically, socially, and economically ravaged Germany, and created societal circumstances in which a totalitarian dictatorship (the National Socialist German Workers Party or “Nazi” party) gained popularity and was viewed as necessary in order for Germany to be restored to its former status as an economic and political world power. The national humiliation and economic burden that Articles 231 and 232 created injured German pride, strained its economy and triggered a resentful and hostile outlook to the “new peace” that the Allied leaders believed they had formulated. The German people viewed this as a “dictated peace” (Diktat) that had been enforced on them. It was seen by Germany as an unfair, un-justified and un-realistic punishment for losing the war, and instead of creating a long-term and prosperous peace on the European continent, the guilt and reparations of Articles 231 and 232 ignited a flame of vengeance in Germany that would evolve into an ultra-nationalist inferno and consume the world into a second and even more devastating and savage war.

Therefore, the humiliating Treaty came as a rude shock to the German people who, correspondingly, blamed the politicians for betraying the soldiers in signing the armistice and saw them as compounding their treason by accepting the peace settlement. They spoke of the ‘November criminals’ and protested “A nation of seventy million suffers, but does not die.” These factors propagated in the promotion of anti republican feeling, the conclusions of which were clearly reflected in the results of the election of June 1920.

Bismarck was the man who did the most to unify Germany. It was clear that unification was one of his major objective which he announced in his famous ‘Blood and Iron speech’. I was fascinated by how he managed to unify the so many divided states. Thus, my historical investigation examines the question, to what extent was the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck’s final step to unify Germany? To assess whether the Franco-Prussian war was Bismarck’s final step for unifying the loose net of 39 German states or not, the investigation analyses the previous steps made by Bismarck to unify Germany. It investigates the events between 1962, when Bismarck became Minister president of Prussia and 1971, when Germany became officially unified. The events analyzed are the Danish war, The Prussian Austrian war and the Franco Prussian war.

November 11, 1918, Europe would be left in utter devastation from the effects of World War I. These effects which would have unprecedented effect on the development on European nations into modern nations. However, the immediate impact of the policies and treaties created by the “Big Four” (Great Britain, Italy, France and The United States) would leave devastating irreversible consequences on the Great War’s losers. The most important treaty that the allies would make would be The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28th, 1919. This treaty would have the most destructive consequences on Germany, whom would become bitter, nationalistic, and isolated from its effects. As Holborn puts it, “the treaty did not solve the problem of reparations, which was not settled for years to come in a fashion that would have stabilized the social and economic conditions of Europe. The struggle about the economic settlement of World War I kept alive and magnified the national hostilities which the political provinces of the peace produced.”1 The Treaty of Versailles would require Germany to surrender vast amounts of territory in Europe and oversea, diminish its military might significantly, impose insurmountable financial and economic demands, as well as making her accept the ‘War Guilt Clause;’ this in turn would make the Germans feel a national humiliation and cause tremendous resent, this in turn would lead to the rise of authoritarianism, expansionism and the public demand for redemption.