Date sent:        Wed, 15 May 1996 01:39:04 GMT

Name: Raygun Murfy 
E-mail: raygun@usa.pipeline.com 
Language: English 
Subject: World History 
Title: THE FALL OF GERMANY 
Grade: 95 
Age: 15 
Country: U.S. 
Comment: This is a fairly detailed essay written for my U.S. history class.


THE FALL OF GERMANY 

None of the European power wanted World War I, but they feared Germany. 
Germany was newly unified, and was beating the European powers in
population and Industry. France wanted to recover the Alsace-Lorraine. 
Britain was a country used to being on the ocean, so they felt threatened
by Germany's colonial expansion and William II's insisting on a large navy.
 Russia and Austria feared pressure on their unstable empires.   
In 1887 William II refused to renew the Reinsurance treaty with Russia, but
continued the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  In
1894 Russia made an alliance with France, and Great Britain settled it's
differences with France in the Entente Cordiale in 1904 forming the Triple
Entente.   
 The assassination, with Serbian Knowledge, of the liberal Austrian
archduke Francis Ferdinan in Sarajevo in June 1914 was the spark that set
off the war.  Germany assured Austria full support, which resulted in an
Austrian ultimatum that Serbia could not accept.  Austria declared war on
Serbia.  Russia mobilized to defend Serbia, then Germany declared war on
Russia.  Germany also declared war on France.  Germany wanted a quick
defeat of France.  To avoid the French frontier, German forces moved
through neutral Belgium thinking they would take Paris by surprise.  The
Germans encountered more resistance than expected in Belgium, giving France
time to prepare. [Caidin 207] This violation of international law destroyed
all sympathy for the Central Powers. 
 Although German forces nearly reached Paris, the British and French
Miraculously turned back the Germans at the Battle of Marne.  The two sides
dug trenches for a war that would last four years.  The Russians then
attacked sending Germany into a two front war.  The Germans defeated the
Russians Many times on the east, but the Allies blockaded the Germans on
the east by cutting off food and raw materials, The Germans became
desperate to break the blockade, so they declared  unrestricted submarine
warfare. [Villiers 176]  After several  American ships were sunk, the
United States entered the war in 1917.  The Russians were in the middle of
several revolutions so they were not a threat to Germans.  In 1918 when the
Germans did not have to worry about  the east, they launched an all out
offensive attack in the west, but the United Allies slowly turned the tide.

 Realizing the situation was hopeless the German High Command urged William
to let a new civil government sue for peace.  Woodrow Wilson, U.S.
President from 1913 to 1921, insisted on dealing with citizens.  William
grudgingly appointed Prince Max of Baden as chancellor.  Even Though Wilson
was negotiating with the chancellor there were still many problems. 
Fighting continued, sailors mutinied, socialist staged strikes, workers and
military formed Communist councils, and revolution broke out in Bavaria.
[Grolier]  Prince Max announced the abdication of William II and resigned. 

 When Germany surrendered and changed its government, it expected a
negotiated peace rather than the harsh terms of the Versailles treaty of
1919.  The allies were determined to receive reparations for their losses
and to see that Germany was never in a position to harm them again. 
Germany lost the Alsace-Lorraine to France and lost West Prussia to Poland.
 It also lost all its colonies and had  to give up most of its coal,
trains, and merchant ships, as well as its navy.  Germany had to limit its
army and submit to Allied occupation of Rhineland for 15 years.  Worst of
all, the Germans had to accept full responsibility for causing the war and,
consequently pay its total cost.  The Germans did not consider themselves
anymore guilty than anyone else and could not possibly pay all of the costs
demanded.  The Versailles treaty seemed fair to the Allies point of view,
but it did not ensure a lasting peace.  By accepting the treaty the German
Government gained a bad name among its people. [Encarta96] The war
reparations put a enormous strain on a country already bankrupted by four
years of war. 
 In Weimar in 1919 a nationalist assembly, led by the Social democratic
party, wrote a democratic constitution for the new German Reich.  But the
prospects of the Weimar Republic, as it was familiarly known, were dim. 
For most Germans the government was defeated and was controlled by the
Versailles treaty, which they regarded as only temporary.[Encarta96] The
Parliamentary government was opposed by conservative militarists and
revolutionary scientists.  Both sides frequently tried to overthrow the
government with small armies.  For instance the military Kapp Putsch in
1920 and, the Uprising of the Communist Sparticists in 1919 under Karl
Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The economic situation made matters worse
because the German government could not pay off reparation requirements, so
France invaded Ruhr in1923 to take over coal mines.  The government
encouraged the workers to resist passively, printing large amounts of
currency to pay them.  The result was an inflation that wiped out savings,
pensions, insurance, and other forms of fixed income, creating a revolution
that destroyed the most stable elements of Germany.  Aided by the Dawes
plan of 1924, which set reasonable amounts of reparations and provided for
foreign loans, the brilliant German Minister Gustav Stresemann reorganized
the monetary system and encouraged industry.  Stresemann introduced a new
currency, and paved the way for more reasonable reparation schedules.  For
five years Germany enjoyed relative peace and prosperity. 
 In 1926 Germany joined the League of Nations.  In 1929 when the worldwide
depression hit it plunged the city into disaster.  Million of unemployed,
disillusioned by capitalist democracy, turned to communism or to the party
of National Socialism (Nazism) led by Adolf Hitler.  In notable efforts
called the Munich Putsch of 1923 Hitler and the Nazis made a farcical
attempt to seize power in Bavaria.  From 1930 on the government functioned
by emergency decree.  The Communist profited briefly from radicalization,
but the main beneficiary was the Nazi party. The Nazi party had twin
attractions of appearing to offer radical solutions to economic problems
while upholding patriotic values. [Encarta96] By 1932 it was the largest
party in the Reighstag. The next year President Paul von Hindenburg
appointed Hitler Chancellor after allowing himself to be convinced by
generals and right-wing politicians that only the Nazi leader could restore
order in Germany and that he could be controlled.  

