WWI - The Beginning of the End (Lesson)

The Beginning of the End.

By 1916, Germany had nearly exhausted their resources and the English blockade kept them from replenishing supplies. They felt they had no choice but to resume the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare and announce in January 31, 1917, that submarines (pictured, left) would sink, without warning, any ship in the waters around England. They had halted this after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 and the resulting US ultimatum to cease such activity or face the US entry into the war. By the end of 1917, the Germans feel confident enough to risk the US's ire.

Along with resuming the sinking of ships, the Germans plan an all out offensive which allowed them to advance to Marne, located 50 miles outside of Paris. The drive stalled for the Germans when victory was close. Their supplies exhausted and trained troops gone, the Germans relied on 15 and 16 year old boys to keep up the fight. American troops begin to arrive, sending 250,000 men a month who were used to fill in gaps on the Allied side. Though the Americans were poorly trained, the very nature of their entry into the war was enough to inspire the French and British to keep going. Unable to match the renewed spirit of the Allied side as well as the seemingly endless supply of soldiers untouched by the horrors of the front, the Central Powers began to crumble.

• Bulgarians and Ottomans sued for peace
• Revolution in Austria-Hungary brought the empire to an end
• Germany was crumbling and on the brink of revolution

 

The Search for Stability. 

 Keep in mind:

• About 6,000 people had been killed each day for more than 1,500 days.
• Out of 42 million who served in the Allied Armies, 22 million were casualties, For the Central powers – mobilized 23 million and had 15 million casualties.
• In France alone, more than 1.3 million Frenchmen were killed in the Great War, 16.5% of all soldiers mobilized. Half of all men between the ages of 18 & 32 in 1914 had died.
• Almost every family in Europe had a son, husband or brother which had been killed or maimed.

The end of the war brought political upheaval in Europe.

In Germany:

Late October 1918 – German sailors mutinied at 2 Baltic naval bases (demanding peace and the abdication of the Kaiser.) In Southern Germany, socialists proclaimed a Bavarian socialist republic.

The Kaiser was asked to abdicate in light of growing strife. He refused, but Ludendorf and Hindenberg announce that he has, forcing him to leave the country. They then form a new government and surrender to the allies. Representatives from the German Republic and France signed an armistice in a railway car at 11 am on the 11th day of the 11th month. (November, 11, 1918)

From the beginning, the new German republic is at siege from right and left. Inspired by the success of the Bolshevik revolution, workers began setting up "workers" and "soldiers councils" demanding higher wages and better work conditions, coming off of European-wide strikes in 1917 & 1918.

Germany had virtually no democratic traditions. Royalism and Militarism ran deep, especially in Prussia. Demobilized soldiers, many of whom were anti-republican, kept their weapons after the war. The attitude of the army corps would be crucial to the fate of the republic. The head of the Supreme Army Command offered support but on the condition that the new government help the army maintain order and fight "Bolshevism". When it was accepted, it made the new republic virtually a prisoner of the Army. Some generals had already begun to enlist the demobilized soldiers into right-wing paramilitary units known as the "free Corps" (a riff on England's "free companies" perhaps.)

Independent Social Democrats asked the government to organize a militia loyal to the republic. The new Minister of Defense instead turns over security operations and continued to encourage the free corps. ISD then splits from the governing coalition. Workers in Berlin mounted huge demonstrations against the security police. In January 1919, police and soldiers put down an uprising by the Spartacists (group of far left revolutionaries.) Military units began hunting them down and murdered Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (2 of the leaders) who had just founded the German Communist party.

The Reichstag gathered in Weimar Germany which was chosen to counter the Prussian militaristic and aristocratic traditions associated with Berlin and the Weimar Republic was born.

 

 

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.