germany 1910s

• start of WW1


  1914
• start of WW1 details

  *Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
• British naval blockade on Germany

  1914 - 1919
• British naval blockade on Germany details

  *Trade and flow of war supplies, food, and fuel to Germany is cut, resulting in severe food shortages

  *In 1918 293,000 Germans died from starvation and hypothermia

  *American no longer allowed to trade with Germany, so Britain and France increase trade with America
• Turnip winter


  1916 - 1917
• Turnip winter details


  *Marked as one of the harshest years in wartime Germany

  *Famine of German people due to the blockade of the allied forces as well as bad weather leading to poor potato harvest

  *Named this due to German citizens having to rely on turnips in their diet instead of potatoes
• End of WW1


  1918
• End of WW1 details

  *Kaiser abdicated and Germany became a republic

  *Armistice 11th November

  *Germany surrendered

  *Resulted in around 525,000 women widowed, over 2,000,000 children orphaned and 293,000 people dead from starvation and hypothermia
• Treaty of Versailles


  1919
• Treaty of Versailles details

  *Imposed by the victorious allied forces

  *Blamed Germany for the war and punished her militarily, territorially and financially

  *Germany had to pay £6.6 billion in reparations by 1922

  *German's army was forced to significantly reduce its size to 100,000 soldiers

  *Germany lost land on all sides of its borders as well as its overseas colonies (other countries under Germany's control)
• Founding of the Weimar Republic

  1919
• Founding of the Weimar Republic details

  *German republic founded after the WWI and the downfall of the German Empire's monarchy

  *Strengths: Democracy, Reichstag has power, Bill of Rights

  *Weaknesses: Proportional representation, Article 48
• Spartacist Uprising


  1919
• Spartacist Uprising details


  *50,000 members of the post-World War One Communist Party, known as the Spartacists, rebelled in Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht

  *The government was saved when it armed bands of ex-soldiers, known as the Freikorps, who defeated the Spartacist rebels

  *In the aftermath, communist workers' councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist People's Government took power in Bavaria

  *By May 1919 the Freikorps had crushed all of these uprisings