Germany (1918-48)

Question 1

Who originally devised the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 1

Alfred Graf von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906.

Question 2

What was the General Staff?

Answer 2

Leadership group within the German army; responsible for planning and directing military operations.

Question 3

What was the duration and purpose of the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 3

6-week military strategy, to be used in the case of a conflict breaking out between Germany and France.

Question 4

What was the original Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 4

Germany taking the offensive as soon as conflict began, and encircling French territory to ultimately outflank French forces. 4 German armies were to move in a wide, sweeping motion, and invade Luxembourg, Belgium, and the south of the Netherlands, to occupy France from the north of the country.

Question 5

Who made (arguably, fatal) changes to the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 5

Helmuth von Moltke (Moltke the Younger), Chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1906 to 1914.

Question 6

What changes were made by Moltke the Younger to the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 6

Greater prioritisation of the threat of Russian forces and more extensive opposing of the invasion of Germany, hence removing German forces originally dedicated to the thrust towards France.

Question 7

When did the Schlieffen Plan officially come into fruition?

Answer 7

2 August 1914, with Germany declaring war on France.

Question 8

What were the three main causes for the failure of the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 8

• Moltke the Younger’s changes
• More tenacious resistance from Belgian military forces than predicted
• Quicker than expected speed at which the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived in Belgium for support

Question 9

What is attrition?

Answer 9

In the context of WW1: the process of fighting to wear down and exhaust the enemy.

Question 10

When did WW1 occur?

Answer 10

28 July 1914 – 11 Nov 1918

Question 11

What were consequences of the failure of the Schlieffen Plan?

Answer 11

WW1 could not be ended rapidly; so, it became an elongated war of attrition and stalemate, which resulted in the involvement of more nations, and consequently extremely significant casualties. Moreover, subsequent to the Allied victory, the Allies viewed the Schlieffen Plan as an initial aggressor and act of violence by Germany against neutral countries, and hence, the Plan became the basis of war guilt and reparations such as the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 12

What is militarism?

Answer 12

The belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

Question 13

What is nationalism?

Answer 13

Ideology based on the premise that an individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests.

Question 14

Who was Paul von Hindeburg?

Answer 14

German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during WW1. Elected president of Weimar Republic from 1925 until his death in 1934.

Question 15

Who was Erich Ludendorff?

Answer 15

German general who was mainly responsible for Germany’s military policy and strategy in WW1.

Question 16

Who initially advised for Germany to negotiate an armistice with the Allies?

Answer 16

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff.
Advised Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Georg von Hertling on 29 September 1918, at a military conference in south-eastern Belgium.

Question 17

What was the British Naval Blockade of Germany?

Answer 17

Occurred from 1914 to 1919. Prolonged naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers, especially Great Britain, during and after WW1 to restrict the maritime supply of goods (war supplies, food, and fuel) to Germany.

Question 18

What was the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare?

Answer 18

On 4 February 1915, Germany declared a war zone around Britain, within which all Allied and neutral party ships were sunk without warning.

Question 19

When and why did the U.S. enter WW1?

Answer 19

6 April 1917; due to American casualties attributable to the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

Question 20

Allied Powers of WW1?

Answer 20

• France
• Russia
• Great Britain
  and
• United States
• Belgium
• Serbia

Question 21

Central Powers of WW1?

Answer 21

• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
  and
• Ottoman Empire/Turkey
• Bulgaria

Question 22

What changes to the German political system occurred during WW1 and why?

Answer 22

• Hindenburg and Ludendorff demanded for the establishment of a new government that possessed the support of the Reichstag
• 3 October 1918: Prince Max von Baden was appointed new German chancellor
• High Command, that had ruled Germany since 1916, handed power back to chancellor and his cabinet
• Set foundations of a new democratic civilian government

Question 23

What was the Dolchstosslegende (stab-in-the-back myth)?

Answer 23

Invention deliberately encouraged by right-wing conservative forces and army command in Germany.
Maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose WW1 on the battlefield, but was instead betrayed by certain citizens on the home front – especially Jews, revolutionary socialists (Social Democrats, Communists) who fomented strikes and labour unrest, and republican politicians who had overthrown the House of Hohenzollern in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and signed the armistice.

Question 24

Why was the signing of the Armistice a shock to German citizens?

Answer 24

Due to censorship.

Question 25

What were the
German Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils (1918-19)?

Answer 25

Short-lived revolutionary bodies, set up in November 1918, that spread the German Revolution to cities across the German Empire during the final days of WW1, modelled on soviets from the Russian Revolution.