A small piece from German history that I found interesting was
the beginning ideas and thoughts of World War I. The German people were told
that the war would be a swift and quick one and that they would not be in battle
for very long. This was very wrong and the German people saw this. The war
lasted a lot longer than expected and the German population began to lose hope
in their government. Germany began to face food shortages on the front lines due
to Germany cutting off the food. “Large contingents of well-rested American
troops began arriving at the western front in rapid succession (194).” Not only
were the German troops facing massive food shortages, but they were also being
bombarded by healthy American troops.
German children playing with money due to hyperinflation
The Weimar Republic was created when the National Liberal
Party joined together and the new majority in the Reichstag declared itself
that they were going to negotiate peace but would not allow forced annexation
of new territories. This declaration was the backbone for the Weimar Republic
that was also known as Germany’s first democracy. Even though this was a start
to creating a democracy, democracy was far in the future. The attempt of a
parliament did not appease the military and government leaders (194). Although
this attempt was not successful at the start, it did give a good base for their
future attempts.
Another piece from Hagen Schulze’s book that interested me
was the section on the German economy. Germany needed to restore their economy
before they were to create true stability. Germany had taken on their
experience with inflation quite well. Schulze states that Germany used the
plunging of the mark as an opportunity for investment (218). The Dawes Plan also
helped the German economy gain some sort of consistency. This plan helped flow
foreign capital into Germany and also stimulated the first large loan from Wall
Street. I was fascinated by how the Germans created such a plan to create
stability in their economy. Although the economy had some good things going for
them, it was still unhealthy. The development of cartels, high wage costs, and
the agriculture and heavy industry received lion’s share of subsidies and loans
(219). In these hard times, Adolf Hitler had created the National Socialist
German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). Hitler created this out of the collapse of the
Munich republic. Hitler saw an opportunity to take power and he did. He knew
what the people wanted and he was able to give them some sort of out for their
troubles. The model of community that was implemented was based off of the idea
of a corporative state. This seemed to promise a solution for the modern
industrial societies’ tension. Their sense of community was called “Volksgemeinschaft”
and it also had an anti-Semitic aspect as well. This anti-Semitic idea was used
as a vehicle for an aggressive sense of Germans’ missionary role in the world.
The Germans were fueled off of the idea that they were to be the missionaries
in the world.
Adolf Hitler, Führer of Germany
Hitler had come into power at the opportune time. He used
his amazing skill of public speaking and his aggressive speaking style to
entice fear into the German people. Hitler took away academic leaders and found
a way for only his voice to be heard. He had done many things to secure his
rule and power in the weak and gullible German state. As for his military
ideas, Hitler was also a smart and powerful leader. Hitler had attacked Austria
because of how weak the country was and he knew that he could easily take them
over despite not having a large desire for their territory. He had many other
keen and genius military tactics that allowed his to keep his rule over the
German people.
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