Impact of WW1

Question 1

The Road to Defeat

Answer 1

• By 1917 Germany was looking strong. Germans declared victory on the Eastern Front
• In March 1918, the German army launched the Spring Offensive
• Initially the attack was successful, but the Allies repelled the Germans with an effective counterattack in August 1918
• The German generals realised that they could not win

Question 2

The German Revolution of 1918

Answer 2

25 Oct - Sailors mutiny at Kiel - refuse to follow orders of naval officers

26 Oct ~ 5 Nov - Soldiers join sailors in refusing to follow orders

6 Nov - Soldiers’ and Workers’ Councils begin to take control in major cities

7 Nov - Social Democrat leaders demand that the Kaiser abdicate

9 Nov - General strike in Berlin

10 Nov - Kaiser flees to Holland

11 Nov - Armistice is signed

Question 3

Stab in the Back Myth

Answer 3

• The news of the German surrender came as a major shock to many. They felt that they had been betrayed by the German government
• The new socialist government were described as the ‘November Criminals’

Question 4

Impact of the War on Germany : Political

Answer 4

• Before the war, Germany had been a stable, rich nation but now there was mutiny and revolution
• Many ex-soldiers and civilians felt they had been betrayed by the politicians and refused to support them
• Stresses of war led a revolution in Oct-Nov 1918. Fighting between right-wing and left-wing
• Germany became a republic and a new democratic government was set up

Question 5

Impact of the War on Germany : Economic

Answer 5

• Germany had borrowed money from abroad to pay for the war
• Germany had lent some of its own money to its allies
• By 1925 the state was spending about 1/3 of its budget in war pensions
• German factories were exhausted by the war - industrial production was about 2/3 of what it had been in 1913
• National income was about 1/3 of what it had been in 1913
• There was acute shortages of food

Question 6

Impact of the War on Germany : Social

Answer 6

• Some factory owners made a fortune while German workers had restrictions placed on their wages
• Women worked in factories during the war. Some Germans though this damaged traditional family values
• Huge gaps between the living standards of the rich and the poor
• 1 and 1/2 million demobilized soldiers returned to society, many disillusioned
• Many Germans were angry about losing the war
• Low wages and strikes
• Food shortages