Germany BIGGEST LOSER by Candice Zoeller

Geographic Change

candicezoeller — 2017-03-03 13:15:12 UTC

^{As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the “war guilt” clause was used to punish Germany, placing the blame on them for the war. Military restrictions, reparations to the Allies, and territorial changes were set upon Germany. The majority of the territory they lost was given to other countries: Alsace-Lorraine went to France. Northern Schleswig went to Denmark. Posen, West Prussia, and East Upper Silesia went to Poland. Part of Upper Silesia went to Czechoslovakia. Eupen-Malmedy went to Belgium. Northern East Prussia went to Lithuania. The land not received by their neighboring countries was put under the control of the League of Nations, potentially becoming an independent nation. The Saar area was controlled by the League of nations for 15 years. The port of Danzig was made the Free city of Danzig by the League of Nations. In total, Germany lost around ten percent of their territory and all of their colonies.}

Political Change

candicezoeller — 2017-03-03 13:15:25 UTC

^{Pre World War I, Germany had a strong government with good leadership, the key to keeping their country steadily growing stronger. In the years leading up to the war, Germany had looked to Austria-Hungary in the south for support, as France and Britain had been afraid that Germany was becoming too powerful and throwing Europe out of balance. Russia had agreed to ally with the Germans, mostly over the balkan peninsula and how it would be divided up along with Austria- Hungary. They entered the Three Emperors League. Germany and Austria-Hungary entered the Dual Alliance later, in 1879, when Russia withdrew from the Three Emperors League. The Dual Alliance turned into the Triple Alliance when Italy joined later. After the war, their current leader, (Wilhelm the second) was exiled, and gave way to a government who suffered a lot of strife and riots. Germany was never invited to the conference of the Palace of Versailles and was forced to give up their military size along with the making of ammunition and military supplies through the War Guilt Clause. Many thought of Germany as the country to blame for the start of World War I. Germany couldn’t keep any political leaders, and they suffered for it through the collapse of their government insuring the chaos of multiple groups of people fighting for their view of German leadership, (socialist, democracy, communism). Germans were also torn apart by the war and the amount of casualties suffered, buildings torn apart and lack of allies. When the War Guilt Clause was issued Germany took the fall and no longer had any strong allies. Germany remained completely alone and this resulted in a closed off country, with little political power, and resources left to take care of the country's needs. Germany was in shambles.}

Social Change

candicezoeller — 2017-03-03 13:15:41 UTC

^{-Unlike other countries, Germany had few women join the workforce due to pressure from trade unions that worried women would undercut men’s jobs (little improvement in the social class for women)}

^{-A rise of divorces after the war showed that there was no simple “return” to a pre-war “normality”.}

^{-German colonies were taken over, and their culture wasn’t spread to Africa/Asia.}

^{-The war left 1 million German children orphaned.}

^{-About 2 million German soldiers lost their lives in the war and the death rate in almost all age groups of the German population exceeded pre-war levels until 1921.}

^{Before the war: By the 1850s Germany became a great power, had a rapidly growing rail network, the world’s strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. Germany’s empire before World War 1 craved unification. This belief was continued thanks to German nationalists whose main focus became race, culture, language and power. Prussia which contained most of the German empire’s population and territory helped shape modern German culture.}

^{After the war: When the Central Powers came tumbling down, Germany’s people lost faith in their political system. The German Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs failed to take their duty, and a republic took over.}

Economic Change

candicezoeller — 2017-03-03 13:15:50 UTC

_{In 1914 Germany had the 2nd most powerful economy in the world but that took a turn after WW1 ended. During the war, they needed more resources to support themselves causing rationing to become a big thing. The “industrial output fell by over 40%” during the war and many resources became scarce. “From 1915 to the end of the war, Germans were forbidden to drive a car. This barely improved due to the ‘truce’ and Germans found it difficult to purchase raw materials in any case since many shunned them for starting the war.” Due to the Versailles Treaty, Germany was forced to pay reparations to other countries such as France and Great Britain; Germany lost the most money to the war. After the war, about “35% of all trade was organized illegally on the Black Market.” There was shortages of raw materials/food and machinery was most likely out of date, being ran by ill working men. The ending result of the war left Germany in an economic tragedy.}

Bibliography

candicezoeller — 2017-03-03 13:24:32 UTC

_{^{Bloy, Marjie. "European History."}}_{^{Weimar Germany 1919-1933}}_{^{. Marjie Bloy, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

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_{^{Duffy, Micheal. "Firstworldwar.com."}}_{^{First World War.com - Primary Documents - Pre-1914}}_{^{. Micheal Duffy, 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

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_{^{Llewellyn, Jennifer, Jim Southey, and Steve Thompson. "Germany before World War I."}}_{^{World War I}}_{^{. Alpha History, 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

_^"Map."_{^{United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}_{^{. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

_{^{"1919-1933: An Economic Overview."}}_{^{The Holocaust Explained}}_{^{. The Wiener Library, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

_{^{N.p., n.d. Web. .}}

_{^{"Territorial Evolution of Germany."}}_^Wikipedia_{^{. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Mar. 2007. Web. 7 Mar. 2017. .}}

_{^{Walkins, Thayer. "THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF GERMANY."}}_{^{THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF GERMANY}}_{^{. San Jose State University, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

_{^{Wilde, Robert. "What Role Did Women Play in World War I?"}}_^ThoughtCo_{^{. Thought Co., 27 Feb. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. .}}

_{^{Schumann, Dirk: Post-war Societies (Germany) , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08.}}

_{^{Along with textbook}}