The impact of WWI

Question 1

How was the war going for Germany at the start of 1918?

Answer 1

It was going well: Russia had signed a humiliating treaty on the Eastern Front. This allowed Germany to move troops to the Western Front, which had led to a massive breakthrough with the Ludendorff Offensive

Question 2

What was the name of the humiliating peace treaty the Russians had to sign with Germany?

Answer 2

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Spelt: BREST - LIT-O-VSK)

Question 3

What happened in June 1918?

Answer 3

The Ludendorff Offensive slowed and then ground to a halt.

Question 4

What happened in August 1918?

Answer 4

The Allies counter-attacked and regained all the territory that had been lost in the previous 3 months.

Question 5

By September 1918, what was clear to German leaders?

Answer 5

That the war would soon be lost and that Germany must make peace

Question 6

What was one of the key conditions of peace that the Allies put forward regarding the Kaiser?

Answer 6

That he abdicate (give up the throne)

Question 7

What did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk give Germany?

Answer 7

Germany gained one quarter of Russia’s best land and three quarters of its iron ore.

Question 8

How did the war affect farming in Germany?

Answer 8

As many farmers were drafted into the armed forces, by 1918 Germany was only producing 50% of the milk and 60% of the butter and meat that it had produced before the war.

Question 9

Why could Germany not simply avoid import more food to deal with the farming crisis?

Answer 9

For the last two years of the war, the British navy had blockaded German ports, preventing any food getting through

Question 10

What happened in the winter of 1916-17 that badly affected German citizens?

Answer 10

They ran out of potatoes and had to live largely on turnips.

Question 11

How many German citizens likely died from the combined effects of hunger and disease?

Answer 11

750,000

Question 12

How did WWI affect Germany psychologically?

Answer 12

Before the war, Germans had been proud and ambitious for their country. But the war made them bitter and angry - and left many searching around for someone to blame.

Question 13

What was sweeping Germany in 1918?

Answer 13

A flu epidemic that killed many Germans, already weakened by a lack of food

Question 14

What happened in Kiel in October 1918?

Answer 14

Naval commanders sent their ships out to fight the British fleet in one final, suicidal mission. The sailors mutinied (refused to follow the order).

Question 15

What did the mutiny at Kiel trigger?

Answer 15

Widespread protests against the war and the Kaiser

Question 16

What did many people believe would take place in Germany?

Answer 16

A communist revolution - as had happened in 1917 in Russia with the Bolshevik revolution.

Question 17

Fearing revolution, what did a member of the Social Democrat Party proclaim on 8 November 1918?

Answer 17

That the Kaiser had abdicated and that a new German Republic had been established.

Question 18

When did Kaiser Wilhelm flee to Holland?

Answer 18

10 November 1918 (the day before the Armistice was signed)

Question 19

When was the Armistice (ceasefire) between Germany and the Allies signed?

Answer 19

11 November 1918

Question 20

What had happened to the average national income during WWI?

Answer 20

It had decreased massively - it was about 1/3 of what it had been in 1913

Question 21

How many widows had the war created in Germany?

Answer 21

600,000

Question 22

How many children in Germany lost fathers in WWI?

Answer 22

2 million

Question 23

By 1925, what percentage of the German budget was being spent on war pensions?

Answer 23

1/3

Question 24

How was industrial production affected by the war?

Answer 24

It was 2/3 of what it had been in 1913

Question 25

How many demobilised (and disillusioned) soldiers returned to Germany?

Answer 25

Roughly 1.5 million

Question 26

What did many people believe the politicians had done to the army?

Answer 26

The politicians had ‘stabbed them in the back’

Question 27

What German word was given to the stab in the back theory?

Answer 27

Dolschtoss (Dolsch-toss)

Question 28

Who did many ex-soldiers and civilians blame for the loss of the war?

Answer 28

Freidrich Ebert, the first Chancellor of the new German Republic

Question 29

What name was given to the politicians involved in the signing of the Armistice (and later the Treaty of Versailles)

Answer 29

November Criminals

Question 30

Food and fuel were running short because

Answer 30

of the British blockade

Question 31

what epidemic was raging across the continent

Answer 31

spanish flu

Question 32

why were many Germans were getting fed up with the war

Answer 32

Food and fuel were running short because of the British blockade,

there were power cuts,

there were anti-war demonstrations

a deadly epidemic was raging across the continent: Spanish flu.

Question 33

________ ________ admitted in October that Germany could not win the war, though she could carry on fighting

Answer 33

General Ludendorff

Question 34

what did Woodrow Wilson want after he had put forward his proposals for peace – the Fourteen Points – in January 1918, and what happened

Answer 34

he wanted Kaiser Wilhelm and the generals to relinquish some of their power first. The Kaiser refused and some people began to think it might be best to overthrow the old regime.