ww1 background
Cards (12)
- The First World War affected Germany socially, economically, and politically. German society expected a quick victory and the war had lasted longer than expected. By 1918, German society was exhausted. The war caused many deaths and crippled the German economy, making it difficult to recover.
- war deaths
- 2 million troops died, 4 million wounded
- left 600,000 widows
- 763,000 civilians died of starvation, 150,000 died from flu pandemic
- crippled economy
- 1918 the industrial production was only 2/3 of what it had been in 1913
- debt increased from 50 billion to 150 billion marks (1914-1918)
- inflationgermany printed more money causing the value of money to decrease
- uneven distribution of wealth
- average wage in 1918 was 60% of what was earned in 1913
- caused social problems as workers resented business owners
- Defeat and the End of the MonarchyBy the autumn of 1918, it was becoming obvious that Germany could not win the war. A series of events led to Kaiser Wilhelm abdicating
- german defeat
- 29th sept 1918 became clear germany was defeated
- couldnt win the war
- democratic government
- 3rd october 1918 Hindenberg informed the reichstag of the decisison to make a democratic government
- german military handed over power to civilian government
- kaiser loses the military
- kaiser lost support of the military
- Kurt Eisner, a communist, caused strikes in Munich after supporting an uprising against the Kaiser
- kaiser loses his advisors
- 9th November lost support of his advisors and was forced to abdicate
- following this the leader of the army withdrew their support of the Kaiser
- german republic
- 10th November 1918, German republic born
- Ebert the leader of SDP became the leader of the German republic
- the armistice and end of ww1
- 11th November 1918 Ebert admitted defeat and signed the armistice with the Allies
- some germans felt that they should of one the war and the politicians became known as the november criminals as the people we stabbed in the back