The legacy of the First World War

• during the First World War, Germany had faced the combined might of the allies, which included Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the USA. It had been a long and expensive walk
• Fighting had lasted four years, from 1914 to 1918
• 11 million Germans fought in the war. Almost 2,000,000 German troops died in over 4 million were wounded. So 55% of German troops became casualties
• However, it wasn’t just German troops and the German government who suffered the German people suffered to. For example, the British navy blockade the German ports, preventing German ships bringing food into the country. Over 750,000 Germans died because of food shortages during the First World War
• As a result of this suffering, Germany started to crumble from within before it was ever defeated on the battlefield.
• In Berlin, the capital, it was clear that Kaiser Wilhelm and his ministers had lost control of Germany
• In Stuttgart, at the Diamler plant, workers went on strike and demonstrated in the streets. In handover, soldiers refused to control people writing on the streets. In many places, local people set up workers and soldiers councils to take over their cities
• In October 1918, Some cruise in the German navy mutinied they refuse to follow orders in the ports of Kiel and Hamburg
• The cost of war meant that the German government debt trebled between 1914 and 1918, from 50 billion marks to 150,000,000,000 marks