German defeat

• German capitulation in 1918 came as a huge shock to Hitler.
• The German military was revered as symbolic of the country's national pride and attitudes to militarism infused in German politics and society.
• Germany had been forged into a unified nation by military victory over the French in 1871 - pride in the armed forces and a belief in militarism were deeply intertwined into the psyche of German nationalists.
• Armed forces were so admired that their power grew beyond the legal limits of the constitution - 'a state within a state' whose popular acclaim gave them extra-constitutional authority outside even that of the German head of state, Kaiser Wilhelm II.
• The kind of nationalists who later supported the Nazi Party revered the military - when news that the German army had capitulated, far right groups, like the Nazis acted quickly to blame politicians and socialist traitors.
• When Hitler heard on 11 November 1918 that an armistice with Germany's enemies had been agreed, his disbelief turned to anger.
• German soldiers were still encamped on foreign soil - given that no German territory had been seized, so how could the military have been defeated.
• Hitler sought a scapegoat. He came to believe that the proud German military had been 'stabbed in the back' by traitorous politicians.
• These so called 'November Criminals', safely ensconced behind the lines, had betrayed the soldiers at the front.
• Hitler blamed democracy itself. He declared that Germany needed a strong, authoritarian leader who would reclaim German national pride. This view was shared by many Germans and was a message that was hugely significant in building support for Hitler's foreign policy in the 1930s.