The impact of the Great Depression upon Germany

During the period after WWI, when a series of peace treaties were being agreed and negotiated on between the nations that took part in the largest and most powerful war in history to that day, the stock market had crashed in the United States which began the worldwide 'Great Depression'. Not only one, but many factors contributed to this cosmic depression like bank failures throughout the 1930s where over 9,000 banks failed and people lost all their savings, reduction in purchasing across the board where individuals stopped purchasing items after the stock market crashed which led to a reduction in the number of items produced and thus a reduction in the workforce. Moreover, the American economic policy with Europe charged a high tax for imports which led to less trade with foreign countries but the major and leading cause of the Great Depression was on the day of Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 when the stock market crashed and stockholders had lost more than 40 billion dollars. The effects of the Great Depression was felt strongly across the world but the European country that was most greatly impacted was Germany; from extremely large numbers in unemployment, countless demonstrations and protests, but most significantly, the rise of extremism in Germany leading to World War II was yet another tragedy that the Nation had to face and fight through together.

Throughout the course between the end of WWI and the start of the Great Depression, Germany was desperately struggling to solve all the problems that were being thrown in her way by the League of Nations and all the allied countries. Its main worry was the war guilt clause as Germany was forced to accept the blame that they were the sole cause of WWI so they had to pay reparations. Furthermore, hyperinflation began in Germany as more and more money was being printed after the French invaded Ruhr in demand of the reparations and workers went on strikes in order to prevent payments to the allied countries. This created many other problems like the increase in wages, high unemployment, and the distrust of the Weimar Government by the people. After the Dawes plan was introduced in 1924 though, the French left Ruhr, the reparation payments were cut down, and arrangements were made for the German republic to borrow from the US. In addition, in 1929, the Social Democrats were the dominant party in Germany but after the Great Depression, the public had changed their attitudes completely towards the Government.

As the US had loaned money to Germany during the hyperinflation in 1924 and the Young Plan in 1929, they were now in desperate need of it back as to assist their falling economy. This was the main reason that Germany was the European country impacted most by the Great Depression. Given 90 days to begin re-paying the US, Germany had no help from any other world powers as they were still recovering from the First World War. This lead to the companies throughout Germany becoming bankrupt and millions of workers were being left without jobs. The public began to lose faith in their government and question the effectiveness and sustainability of democratic institutions. In 1932, Germany reached its highest rate of unemployment and did not improve until 1938. The concerns, doubts,and fear translated into political action via newly formed national governments, transformed political structures and a cut down on economic strains. Protests and strikes were started by the people as they were unhappy with the Government's solutions but also lead to the joining of extremist political parties.

The German public desperately wished for change since now, even their daily necessities were being threatened like food. This lack of food led to hunger marches on the streets of Germany unlike the French at that time. With no unemployment issue at the start of the Depression, the French managed to easily pull through and withstand the impact of the Depression and could even afford to strike for higher wages. This was because they did not take on the idea of mass production but had combined the old techniques of labor with new technology to keep all of the people employed. Eventually though, France was pulled into the crisis and textile industries were greatly affected so many did not have clothes, and there was a great decrease in trade, cutbacks in consumption, production and wages. Deprivation and starvation was a common feeling shared among many countries throughout the crisis and now, many angry Germans began to turn to extremist political parties and amongst them were the communist and Nazi parties which were especially powerful at the time.

Due to the fact that Germany was going through such an enormous economic disaster and millions of unemployed people were starving on the streets, they began looking for a solution and someone to blame. It was Adolf Hitler's opportunity to rise and his aim was to build a Nazi government that would one day replace the democracy. The Nazi Party wasn't very popular before the Great Depression hit and only reached around 100,000 members. The fact that it was a high disciplined organization though served to its advantage. Once the democratic government began to collapse, the Nazis began to spread, giving countless speeches, attending meetings, shaking hands, and feeding the public what they wanted to hear. As the people were exhausted from all the misery and suffering they had experienced, they were willing to listen to anyone so Hitler was easily able to convince them using encouragement and promises. On September 14, 1930, the day of election, the Nazi party stunningly went from the smallest to the second largest political party in Germany after the Social Democrats and from then on, they remained the leading party. The Social Democrats lost support as the public blamed them for the Great Depression and in 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany because Hindenburg aimed to bring him under his control and tried to form a coalition with the Nazis. Soon after though, Hitler exterminated any politicians who were a threat to him as he had large ambitions ahead which later lead to the Second World War.

The people of Germany had their mind set on blaming their Government for the crisis but in a bigger picture, the Great Depression began in the United States and was popularly blamed on President Herbert Hoover as he was strongly disliked by the American people as he refused to give any assistance to the people that were suffering during the crash. In 1929, the catastrophic collapse began in many parts of the world and lasted for ten years, leaving millions of people devastated, without money, jobs or food. The feeling of suffering was felt simultaneously everywhere, but some areas worst than others. Germany was the worst impacted European country due to the number of loans it had borrowed from the United States in previous years in order to pay reparations to the League of Nations. The catastrophe changed lives and political theories forever as the Depression lead people to the loss of trust in their Governments and so turning onto extremism. The economic downfall had given way for Hitler and his party to rise, allowing him to give numerous speeches, shake hands, and sign autographs whilst at the same time, spreading his party which grew from 1932 onwards into the most dominant party that later began the Second World War.

Evaluate the successes and failures of the Paris Peace conference in creating a stable European Community in the post WWI era

The Paris Peace Conference was a meeting that took place in the post WWI era and was created to settle the peace terms of all the defeated Nations. It took place in Paris in 1919 and was a convention of all the Allied victors who discussed a series of treaties that created new countries and borders which reshaped the map of the world and resulted in many empires becoming bankrupt. Germany was the main country that was penalized as their economic, military, and political aspects were completely destroyed so the allied countries were protected from any future attacks. Through these treaties, more than 29 countries were involved and reformed which affected all of Europe but mostly its people, their ethnicity, religion, and way of living.

The three “Great Powers” controlled this conference and made all the important decisions. They included President Woodrow Wilson who was the President of the USA, David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Georges Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France. The Treaties that were included in the Paris Peace Conference were the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Treaty of Lausanne, the Treaty of Neuilly, the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, the Treaty of Sevres, and the Treaty of Trianon that all dealt with different nations individually, imposing terms and punishments. It is being greatly debated by historians today whether or not the Paris Peace conference created a stable European Community in the post WWI era and if the peacemakers had made rational decisions at the time and if the terms imposed helped or destroyed the era.

The first of the treaties created after the Treaty of Versailles which dealt with the German Empire, was the Treaty of Saint-Germain. This agreement dealt specifically with Austria on the 10^th of September, 1919 where the Republic of Austria was established and was to consist of German-speaking territories of the old Hapsburg state. They were to remain strictly independent so there would no longer be a risk of unification with Germany. Austria was then forced to surrender territories to countries like Italy, Romania, and other counties that were created after WWI. This lead to changes in political, economic, and military outcomes; Austria became a much smaller state and was now isolated to German-speaking people. Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes were now all recognized as independent states. On the economic aspect of the country, they were economically limited with a lack of resources which lead to an unstable country. Militarily, Austria was now limited with their volunteer army and the Austro-Hungarian navy was broken down and distributed within the Allied Powers.

When the Treaty of Saint-Germain ended, the Treaty of Neuilly was established on the 27^th November, 1919 in France and dealt with Bulgaria. As it was on the side of the Central Powers, it was required to surrender Western Thrace to the Entente which cut off its direct outlet to the Aegean Sea on the western border of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Furthermore, it was required to reduce its army to 20,000 men and was forced to pay reparations exceeding $40 million. Many changes occurred in Bulgaria throughout the Treaty of Neuilly; a large number of Bulgarians were placed under the rule of the Greeks when western Thrace had to be given up, and borders over contested territories were established. The nation was now deprived of her only access to the Mediterranean Sea as western Thrace was her only route, and new boundaries gave many military and strategic advantages to the Serbs which exposed Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria). This lead to bitterness against the nations in the center of the treaty which later caused Bulgaria to side with the Nazis in WWII. People’s rights were taken away from them and many Bulgarians were forced to change their nationalities to Greek or Serb-Croat-Slovene nationalities. Tension around Europe was beginning to emerge and many Nations were becoming furious at the new policies and restrictions that they had no control over.

On the 4^th of June 2010, the Treaty of Trianon was created, adding to the list of treaties in the Paris Peace conference. This meeting focused on the formation of Hungary after its separation from Austria and continued to remove all of Hungary’s rights to self-determination. There were many negative outcomes of this treaty on the new empire as its territory was divided resulting in the loss of 73 percent of its original land, they were no longer allowed to access the sea, and Hungary was responsible in restoring Italy. Additionally, Hungary’s economy was highly affected due to the fact that the new borders cut off all of the empire’s trade routes so they were restricted from any income of agriculture produce, unemployment levels grew rapidly, and the economic growth in the region vastly declined which lead to a recession. Moreover, in order for the allied victors to be protected from future attack, they affected the military aspect of Hungary, suspending the Hungarian navy, air force, and army, limiting the number of men to 35,000, and prohibiting heavy artillery, tanks, and air force. Lastly, the public of Hungary were wrongly transferred from one state to another without being consulted and was a major mistake made in the treaty as Hungarians lost their citizenship. The only positive factor was that some countries like Romania and Croatia-Slavonia, benefited from the series of agreements as they received a lot of useful territory.

The Treaty of Sevres came last, on the 10^th August 1920, addressing the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the meeting, it was decided that the empire was to be abolished and Turkey forced to renounce all rights over Arab Asia and North Africa. The treaty resulted in many political outcomes that affected the empire greatly like large amounts of territory were lost, the rights to Sudan and Libya are taken from Turkey, the government and monarchy was overthrown, and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk become the new nation’s leader. As well as political effects, economic and military outcomes emerged; the empire’s finances began to be controlled by the Allies so future expansion of loans and the custom and tax system could not be set up without the consent of the allies. Moreover, the empire’s army was limited to 50,000 men, their navy was allowed only six torpedo boats, and they became forbidden to obtain an air force. New independent states were created and a big amount of territory was reduced. After the treaty took effect on the nation, it became much weaker with a destroyed economy and military.

Throughout the Paris Peace conference, extremely important decisions were made to try and make Europe and the world safer for the Nations and its people. Its aim was to set peace terms with Germany and all the other defeated countries by setting restrictions on economic, military, and political aspects. Observing the results of this convention though shows that the series of treaties created to focus on different countries were not as successful as was hoped. Most nations became extremely aggravated at the idea of how much land was being lost, the restrictions on the number of men allowed in the army, and the economic changes that were taking affect. Many human rights were being lost as in many cases, people were forced to change their nationalities and this urged the public and many of the nations to go against the allied powers and later causing them to side with the Nazis in WWII. The Paris Peace conferences did, on one hand make Europe safer as there were many military restrictions which stopped any further attacks for a while, but on the other hand, many of the treaties were too ruthless as they destroyed economic, military, and political aspects of empires which lead to a riot of angry nations that made it more likely for another war to arise. A peace agreement was greatly needed at the time but many of the restrictions forced on Nations weren’t needed and just created more tension in Europe.

Why did Germany and her Allies lose WWI?

From the start, Germany and it's allies were set to have a tragic end; unlike the British, they did not have a strong Government to make good decisions involving the military, economic or cultural aspects of their country that was represented in the war. Towards the end, Germany's army began to completely deteriorate while England, France,and the USA were still standing confidently as they worked together and had strong and well-trained armies and navies, enough money to supply the soldiers with weapons, and the trust of their nation's people. Countless mistakes were made by the Central powers to drive them out of the war with nothing gained but millions of their own men dead.Events like the Zimmerman Telegram, the Von Schlieffen Plan, and the Battle of Jutland all contributed to the downfall of Germany and her allies in WWI. The Central powers' main mistake throughout the war though, was their political factors which created many more problems in other aspects of their Nation and the war including military, economic, and cultural.

The Central Powers deeply lacked a good political system which was the root cause of their collapse in the war. Firstly, the Germans followed an Authoritarian Government which is run by a leader or leaders and is usually unelected by the people and so, they do not have a say in any of the decisions that were made for the Nation. This structure was very ineffective in Germany as all the decisions were made by the top authority and at that time was Wilhelm and General Ludendorff. Both were unwilling to give up their command which was wrong of them because they made all the decisions without considering the opinions of their people and, if their method failed, there was no other back-up plan. Secondly, Germany's Alliance System with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and Italy was very weak due to the fact that they didn't work well together and they were not reliable. Italy, as Austria-Hungary and Germany had taken the offensive alliance, refused to go to war and never actually fought on the side of the Central Powers. Furthermore, towards the very end of the war, Austria-Hungary stopped protecting Germany and they were left alone surrounded by the Alliance side with no help. On the other hand, Britain, France, and the US had a very strong alliance system as they worked very well together since only one supreme commander, General Ferdinand Foch, controlled all the Allied armies. Lastly, the Zimmerman Telegram also affected Germany greatly in the war on their political side as they sent a telegram to Mexico asking them to go against the US so that it would distract the US from entering the war and joining the Allies side and they promised them that if they won, Mexico would receive all their land back. They did not accept though since they were busy fighting their own war (Civil war) and the US found out and were raged. This became one other reason that the US entered the war.

Due to the fact that Germany had a disorganized political system, its military side was badly affected too. Their only military strategy was high-risk attack where, any opportunity they found, they would use all their strength and do everything they could to advance on the enemy but if they did not succeed, their only plan was to wait for the next chance to charge whereas the British had a professional army that had strict instructions on how to take over and destroy their enemy. The British also had DORA (Defense Of the Realm Act) which was a series of laws that made sure the soldiers had everything they needed and were capable of fighting in the war. Moreover, the Von Schlieffen Plan was Germany's military tactic to get back the land of Alsace and Lorraine from France which also failed. They wanted to go through Belgium which was a neutral country to get into France while the rest of the soldiers surrounded Russia in the East. As the Germans attempted this though, the French counterattacked on the outskirts of Paris and meanwhile, it gave time for the Russians to spread and end the German offensive. This resulted in years of trench warfare. Likewise, the Battle of Jutland that was between the British Navy and the German fleet (31st May-1st June 1916) began because the British Navy controlled the Northern Sea with Dreadnoughts and would sink any German ship they found. This cut supplies of food to Germany and nitrates which were needed to make explosives for the army and fertilizer for the farmers. This deeply concerned the German people about the war and they began to wish for the fighting to end as they were being starved at home. The Germans found a chance for defeat when they sunk the Lusitania, the largest passenger vessel that was coming from the US to England; it was said that it was only carrying cargo but was actually filled with weapons. This event was one of the big reasons the US entered the World War as many Americans died on that boat and now, the German people had completely lost faith in their Government.

All of these military failures that Germany was experiencing began to worry the German people and they were starting to believe that it would be better to stop fighting in the war as the only things happening were countless of their men dying everyday and the money given by the people towards the war was going to waste since there were no successes. Germany did not have a tax system so all the money that was used for the war was given by Germany's nationalists and people who trusted their Government. But since they weren't getting anywhere in the war and the German army was deteriorating, the Government started running out of money to use for weaponry as the people lost confidence in them. Additionally, Germany became isolated as they were surrounded by the Allied armies and they had no choice but to fight by themselves without any help from their alliances.

* People in Germany were becoming worried because countless of German men were dying every day at war and people at home were shocked because they didn't realise and were not informed of the huge risks of participating in the war. This lead to an untrustworthy relationship between Germany and its people because they felt betrayed by their nation due to the fact that they were not familiarized with the tragedy of the war and did not have an accurate idea of what was happening. When they started being aware of the amount of casualties of their army that they believed was extremely strong, they no longer felt the need to encourage the continuation of the war as they were let down by their Government.

Culturally, Germany was doomed from the start as Propaganda affected the way German soldiers fought in the war and the amount they trusted their Nation. A big mistake that the Germans made with their propaganda was that they ridiculed the worth of the enemy and the soldiers trusted that everything they said was the truth but when they were sent to war, they were shocked as they had a very different impression to what they saw in front of them. They did not expect such harsh brutality and did not have time to prepare so they felt deceived by their Nation's propaganda. On the other hand, British propaganda was much more truthful to its people and warned them of the barbarians they were to be faced with. This adjusted the soldiers to know what to expect and fight with all their might and it strengthened their self-esteem. When they got to the battle-field, they weren't scared off by the enemy, knew exactly how to act, and actually increased their hatred towards the Central Powers.

Many people today are trying to figure out whether Germany could have defeated their original enemies if the US did not enter the war but in my opinion, Germany and its allies were not strong as an Alliance System or Government to begin with and did not have a strict enough structure or prepared enough army to defeat Britain and France. These two countries, even working without the US were extremely well-prepared and Germany did not stand a chance compared to them, with or without the US, however long their army stayed up. They were deteriorating fast and Germany didn't even have their people's trust towards the end so I think, if the US did not enter the war, yes Germany would be able to hold up their army longer but I don't think they would be able to defeat France and Britain. In the end, Germany would have the same outcome since they would just grow weaker and the German people would crave peace which would force them to surrender.

The First World War was huge in the sense that for the first time, so many countries were involved and had created so many problems together. The Central Alliance was weak from the start and did not have a proper structure so the war didn't really benefit them in any way. They didn't gain much more than what they started with and instead lost millions of men in a time line of four years. Many mistakes were made by the Government of Germany and if they had planned out exactly how they were going to get what they wanted from the very start and if they were more organized, they might of had better luck in the war. But because of the wrong government structure, the lack of German peoples' opinion taken into consideration, and all the events that occurred that proved Germany was not worthy enough to fight in the war, Germany and its alliance system slowly and painfully declined affecting the Nation militarily, economically, and culturally.

What was the leading cause of WWI?

World War I was a terrible breakout in which all countries were involved. It began in 1914 and lasted for four years. There were many different reasons for this worldwide conflict but I believe that the main one was imperialism which began a long time before a world war was ever imagined to happen. Imperialism is the policy of forcefully extending a nation’s authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations. This began many conflicts that started in Europe and spread to various countries which created industrialization, militarism, alliances, and nationalism.

Imperialism first formed in Europe’s major empires, Great Britain, Germany, and France. They wanted to spread their nations and create overseas empires and open up markets for the goods they produced. So they started conquering weaker nations in Europe like Africa because they thought that they were better than them and believed that there nations were more important than Africa was since it was a ‘backward’ country. Africa was not technologically advanced and did not have a good military so wasn’t able to fight back the imperialists. The European missionaries also started to support these ideas because they thought that it would make it easier for them to convert the native people and would end slave trade. This started spreading throughout Europe and countries started competing with each other; it was often thought that gaining colonies was a measure of the nation’s greatness.

During this time, industrialization was also introduced. Industrial and scientific achievements began and countries in Europe started becoming more advanced in technology and in trade with foreign nations. They began looking for rare things that they could trade with foreign countries like gold and diamonds from Africa. There were many consequences of imperialism and industrialization though because countries started fighting over nations they wanted to conquer and it drove them to creating more military advancements to help them take over the countries they wanted. They also started creating alliances with each other to help them when a war broke out with an enemy that tried to conquer the same land of a nation.

Militarism was an important factor which contributed to WWI because it helped make the nations stronger to conquer other nations. Machine guns and great gunships like the Dreadnaught were created which caused a lot of military competition. Many battles were also the result of militarism as they fought for lands, like the Boers war, the British and Germans who were fighting over who had a stronger naval army and the British with France over Africa. This created a lot of enemies and alliances which brought more and more battles and formed a lot of tension in Europe.

When alliances were created, the reason for them was when an agreement was made between two or more countries to give each other help if needed during a time of war but also to prevent any one European country achieving a position of overwhelming strength. Some examples of alliances that were created are the Three Emperors league (Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary), the Dual Alliance (Germany and Austria-Hungary), the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy), the Franco-Russian Alliance, and the Anglo-Russian Entente. The alliance system was started by Bismarck after the Franco-Prussian war when he wanted to isolate France so created the Three Emperors League in 1872. After France occupied Tunisia, Bismarck took advantage of Italian resentment towards France and created the Triple Alliance. The negative side of alliances was that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first.

There were many nationalists forming in Europe during the constant battles between various nations. They believed that they should do everything for their country like join the army and fight in the wars, even if it meant getting killed, and support all of their nation’s plans to conquer. After the Austrian-Hungarian heir, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated along with his wife in Sarajevo, Serbia to break off Austria-Hungary’s south-Slav provinces so that they could be combined into a greater Serbia, the people became furious and did everything to get their country back. After this, nationalism started spreading throughout Europe which created stronger armies, more people wanted to expand their nations and it started more wars.

Therefore, we can see that the major cause of WWI was imperialism because that is what began all the other factors like militarism, alliances, and nationalism. Even though each factor caused many problems between different nations, especially in Europe, the main problems came from imperialism. I believe that it opened up many issues and made countries much greedier for power and money. It brought a lot of competition in trade and military equipment and started the use of alliances which created many more enemies. Through little wars about unimportant issues, big wars started happening with more and more countries involved which created a big mess and brought out World War I.

To what extent was Germany already at war with Europe by 1914?

I. Introduction

• Origins of the rivalry between Germany and Europe.

• Thesis

II. Domestic policies and foreign policies

• Colonial expansion

• Creation of a German dominated economic zone

• Strengthening of the navy

III. Socioeconomic developments in Germany and Europe

• Rapid industrialization

• The evolution of the political structures

IV. Main incidents

• Daily Telegraph Affair

• First Moroccan Crisis

• Second Moroccan Crisis

• Balkan Crisis

V. Conclusion

Unification of Germany and Bismarck's rule

Otto Von Bismarck’s rule began in 1847 when he became a Deputy in the Prussian United Diet and then, one year later became the Prussian Representative at the Diet in Frankfurt. He then became Minister-President when he was recommended by Prussia’s war minister. During his rule, he constantly tried to weaken Austria and make Prussia the dominant state. I strongly believe that without the steps taken by Bismarck, the unification of Germany would never have happened so it is possible that the World Wars wouldn’t have happened either. Many sources say that Bismarck used to make important decisions for the instant but never looked at the future. He once said “ Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful the most useful,” (source 11). There was a long course of acts that had been made before the unification of Germany that added up to it.

After Napoleon’s victory, the states went from 350 to 39 and the largest two remained Prussia and Austria. Bismarck continually tried to weaken Austria and after the Crimean War, Austria was left isolated when it lost its allies (France, Russia, and Britain). This made Prussia able to take control over them so Bismarck made a secret alliance with Italy and increased tension when proposed to the Federal Diet a constitution that he knew they would strongly disagree with. Bismarck once wrote “Germany is clearly too small for the both of us” (pg 19). At the end of seven weeks, Austria was defeated by Prussia in Koniggratz. Furthermore, Bismarck made it seem that Kaiser Wilhelm did not like France so they became worst enemies. After the war had ended between them, France lost more than twice as many men as Germany did and Napoleon had also been captured but now Germany feared another war with France. That was the last push which helped the decision for the unification of the states.

A major factor of the unification of France was the dominance of Prussia and the weakening of Austria. If Austria was never weakened by Bismarck and if he had never provoked France, there wouldn’t have been a Franco-Germany war so the states would never have to be unified to become stronger in case of another attack from France. All this was because of the wrong decisions made by Bismarck. If he thought about the future and not just about the instant issue, the unification of Germany and maybe even the World Wars would never have happened.