In 1914, imperial Germany appeared stable, united and strong. Why then had the imperial regime

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.

Many historians argue that the reason for Germany going to war was due to the aggressive behaviour of Germany in the build up to the war. Throughout this essay I will be addressing this issue looking at whether Germany was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. There are many factors which contribute to the outbreak of the war from a short-term trigger such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the long-term annexation aims Germany implemented in the years building up to the war, the most important reason was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, they had provided

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

One of the key reasons for Germany's defeat is the internal problems suffered by Germany from late 1917. Morale in the ranks of the Germany army was diminished to a painfully low point: they were exhausted from the spring offensive and on low morale from the turn of the tide at 1918 and the new of the entry of America into the war on the Allied side. Germany was suffering overall supply problems: There were food shortages for over a year, coal became in short

Germany entered the war as one of the strongest nations in the world. Leaving the war Germany had to pay large sum in war reparation, had lost 2 million citizens, and lost all of its colonies. Following the war the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell. The territory it had once ruled over was divided into smaller countries. It wasn’t only the losers who suffered, the victors didn’t fare too well either.

The Great Depression was not the primary reason for the collapse of the Weimar Republic, as it could have survived if they were able to make logical decisions. When the diktat of the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the ‘November Criminals’ in 1919, the government was making the most adverse decision in Germany’s history, and consequently it activated the collapse of the Weimar Republic. With Germany being a nationalistic country, a vast majority of the public felt betrayed by the government, as they lost many privileges, in addition to the demilitarization of the Rhineland, war guilt, and the Reichswehr being cut down to 100,000 men (Mtholyoke, n.d). This began the slowly growing hatred that the public had

Warfare meant that Germany couldn’t import or export manufacturing goods and they had severely limited trade. As a result of World War I, by 1919 Germany was no longer the most economically advanced nation in Europe. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay huge amounts in damages to the allies, and by 1921 Germany could no longer pay. Since Germany could no longer pay, the French and Belgian troops attacked and occupied the Ruhr to take resources and needed materials. But then during the years of 1924 to 1929 Germany became gradually wealthy and peaceful, the USA even gave Germany vast amounts of money. During this time the economy was restored, unemployment was low, and the people began to feel safe again. Then another travesty occurred after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 in American economy. This unexpected blow had terrible consequences all over Europe, and between the years of 1929 and 1933 there was high unemployment and severe poverty in Germany. Consequently because of Germany’s unlucky past and the situation they were in at the moment, Hitler decided to take action.

Starting in the middle of the 19th century, and moving into the 20th century, Germany began to organize into a world power and was one of the quickest changing and expanding countries in Europe at the time. The Wilhelmine Period was a quickly changing period for Germany as the country expanded incredibly fast, militarily, and industrially. These two factors drove Germany towards war in 1914 with Europe, and many other cultural factors also played into their drive to expand and influence countries and people across Europe. These changes in Germany’s political and cultural backbones would lead to a gruesome and deadly war, which would be seen as the First World War.

The crippling aftermath of World War 1 had a devastating impact on the German economy, society, and political system was devastating. Reparations had to be paid to the Allies, hyperinflation was reaching senseless levels, and unemployment was high. The nation was angry, resentful, and almost every move made by their leaders was criticised. The traditional monarch, the Kaiser, was abdicated from his throne and fled the nation. This resulted in the foundation of a more contemporary and unfamiliar system of government – democracy; which had periods of prosperity and success as well as catastrophe and failure. The

In the years 1900-1914 there was arguably a significant move towards democracy within Germany. There were general desire for political and social reform and many wished for constitutional change. However, come 1914 Germany still remained nearly as autocratic as it had been back in 1900. Over this period it can clearly be shown through 3 key areas: the Constitution, German policy and events, that, regardless of attempted moves towards democracy, Germany truly was an entrenched autocracy in this period.

In addition, Germany, through the use of the Schlieffen Plan, attempted to overthrow France and Russia to win what would otherwise be a two-front war. Success in the execution of the plan would result into the growth of the German empire; thus, increasing the Germans chances of defeating Britain in a war. Essentially, the nation’s never-ending pursuit for power translated into the war of 1914–World War

On August 14, 1914, the German Reichstag commenced to make known that the German civilians should unite and defend their own country. They announced a “civil peace” which meant that all previous conflicts or issues would be set aside for the duration of war. They also began the mobilization for World War I. When the emperor first declared the policy in 1914, the people were joyful and in awe. By 1915 and 1916, the people’s views shifted from being optimistic to opposing war because war caused them to overwork and was the source for the food shortages; the government lost many of their supporters as a result. To end, in 1918, civilians from both sides who was either opposing war or supporting it affected the German population because of their different opinions which led to the defeat of Germany in World War I.

After World War I, Germany was in bad shape economically, politically, and socially. The Weimar Republic

The establishment of the new constitution drawn up on the 11th of August 1919 caused many internal issues within the democratic system as a result of continual economic disaster. Germany was to be a Federal State, with a parliament to be elected every four years following a system of proportional representation. This system faltered due to the amount of political parties (during the rule of the Weimar Republic, there were 21 separate coalitions) and a lack of political census. Economic conditions lead to a polarisation of extremists left and right support. In times of instability it was noted that poor standards of living meant the lower class leaned towards the left wing, while the higher class leaned towards the right due to lack of national pride. The extent of economic issues in Germany caused the middle class and aristocrats to consider political extremities. Consequently this caused huge political divisions in German society, which denied the republic of any political census, resulting in a large amounts of political parties and changes to government. This made it very difficult to establish stability in the republic, or even get laws passed, weakening the effect of the democratic system. The political chaos economic conditions brought about caused many Germans to lose faith in the new democratic system during its initial period of rule.

There were various factors that contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic of Germany and the ascent of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party into power on January 30, 1933. Various conflicting problems were concurrent with the eventuation of the Republic that, from the outset, its first governing body the socialist party (SPD) was forced to contend with.