Germany and WW1 Flashcards
What event led to the start of WW1? How?
- In June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by an extremist Serbian group in Bosnia
- He was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, so Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with a harsh ultimatum
Why did Germany become involved in WW1?
- Germany and Austria-Hungary had been in the Triple Alliance with Italy since 1882
- France, Britain and Russia were in a defensive alliance called the Triple Entente together
- Russia wanted to defend Serbia, which created tension between Russia and Germany
What had Germany planned in the event of war, and why?
- Germany had a plan called the Schlieffen plan; they predicted it would take Russia 6 weeks to mobilise, so in that time they would quickly invade France, before using their whole army to fight Russia
- To avoid a war on both fronts
What was the issue with Germany’s invasion of France? What did Germany’s actions as a result of this cause?
- The border between Germany and France was heavily fortified
- Germany therefore planned to go through Belgium
- Belgium did not allow Germany to pass through, and so Germany invaded them
- Britain and Belgium had an alliance, so Britain declared war on Germany
Who ran the German government in WW1, and how did this come to be? How did this change, and why?
- The political parties in the Reichstag made a political truce to support the Kaiser and his military high command
- However, the Kaiser was not a capable war strategist, and the military high command took control of the country
- They were led by Paul von Hindenburg and Eric Ludendorff
How was Germany ran under the military high command?
- As a military dictatorship
- The Reichstag still met, but was ignored by the generals
How successful were the military at governing Germany? What impact did this have?
- They took Germany to the point of collapse militarily, economically and socially
- As a result, there was huge political unrest
List 3 reasons why it was decided that there should be a change in Germany’s government.
- In September 1918, it became clear that Germany was going to lose the war
- As a result, the army leaders wanted to appeal to the USA to gain more favourable peace terms by becoming a democratic country
- It was thought that this would also put an end to social unrest
- They did not want to take the blame for losing the war
What was the change in government called, and when did it take place? List 4 changes that it entailed.
- The ‘Revolution from Above’
- It was officially inaugurated on 28th October 1918
- It created a constitutional monarchy
- The army leadership stepped down
- Prince Max von Baden was the new chancellor
- The government was mainly based on the support of the democratically appointed parties in the Reichstag
What were 2 political views on the shift to democracy, why did these exist, and what was the main problem with them?
- Conservatives and nationalists supported the move to democracy as they thought it would prevent a communist revolution
- Communists preferred democracy to the nationalist authoritarian government that they had had before
- However, none of the groups saw democracy as the ideal end point
When did Germany first ask for an armistice, and how did the Allies respond?
- 3rd October 1918
- Britain and France were willing to accept this
- The USA wanted to march on Berlin and force Germany to surrender
Give 3 details of what social conditions were like in 1918, including figures.
- People were dying from starvation and hypothermia; 293,000 in 1918 alone
- Malnourishment was so common that in one district of Berlin 90% of all children from 2 to 6 were undernourished
- Infant mortality and stillbirths were high due to the poor health of the mothers
List 3 reasons why starvation was such a big problem during the war.
- It was hard to farm effectively when all of the horses had been taken to the Front
- Most food produced also went to the Front
- The Allies blockaded ports to prevent supplies from getting to Germany
List 4 specific issues with the economy during the war.
- The government had spent all of its gold reserves on the war, so it had resorted to printing more money, which resulted in severe inflation (there had been 6,300 million marks in circulation at the start of the war, but there was 33,000 million by the end)
- Wages and savings lost their value, while prices shot up (they increased by 3 times on average)
- Trade was disrupted by war, so businesses suffered and there were fewer jobs
- Due to inflation and the lack of goods, a black market had developed
What 2 constitutional reforms did Prince Max’s government introduce?
- The vote was extended to all men over 25
- Ministers and the army now had to answer to the government instead of the Kaiser