Ten+years+after+war+-+Germany

An Armistice took place in 1918 on November 11, with official peace coming in June of 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles.

= __Germany (Deutschland)__ = Map depicting Germany after WW1. The map below shows the changes from before WW1 to after, and then what occurred due to WW2, this is important to consider because the gap between the wars can be viewed as merely a pause in one larger war.

The first cartoon does an excellent job of showing the absurd number of treaties and secret agreements that were made before war broke out. When the war was over no one wanted to take the blame or have anything to do with each other. Here is one of the main causes for social turmoil in Germany after WW1. Here the pill is representing the unfair peace terms which the German people were forced to deal with. The bed in the larger image is built on top of the uncomfortable agreements which the German people were subjected to, without even being allowed to attend the peace talks. The old man in both images shows how decrepit Germany was made.

__Social Effects of WWI:__

The loss of World War one caused ripples through all aspects of German society. These changes occurred before and after the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles Germany experienced significant amounts of unrest because of the Blockade that the people were subjected to. This caused starvation, and depleted the German reserves. People in Germany did not forget this treatment, and was one of the feelings that Hitler was able to manipulate when he came to power. When the treaty was finally signed it did little to make conditions for the German citizens better. Germany had no choice in signing the treaty despite actually not being allowed to attend the peace conversations.

It was a horrible agreement which many people feel was unfair to the German people. The treaty blamed the entire war on Germany, and forced them to pay billions in war reparations. This treaty is easily the most important part of change in Germany post WW1. There are several parts of the treaty which are particularly important. One of the most important was which assigned all the damages caused to the Allied forces, as Germany's fault because of its aggression in the cause of WW1. This again caused issues for the German people due to the huge amount of money that they were forced to repay in reparations. The reparations totaled 31.4 billion, which today is around 442 billion (was recently paid off) This caused a huge amount of stress to the already weak German economy, and was one of the major causes of the post war hyper inflation that Germany experienced. The treaty also put extreme restrictions on the power of the German military, limiting forces to just 100000 men. This is an absurdly small number and in many cases wasn't even enough to guarantee internal peace of Germany. Germany's navy was restricted as well, limiting the amount of possible defense and jobs. The treaty even placed limits on trade of weapons and production of armored vehicles.

The treaty also caused Germany to lose all of its claims to colonies and forced Germany to relinquish territory which was generally Germanic to Poland in order to allow them a port to trade from. At the same time much of this land was extremely important to Germany's resource base and access to fertile ground for resources. Alsace and Lorraine were forced back to France again causing the same issues.

The treaty also mandated Wilhelm the second be removed from power and tried as a war criminal. This along with the shaky economic restrictions on Germany left Germany wide open for a motivational power such as Hitler to step in and harness the unrest of the people. (Hitler managed to harness the unrest and resentment of the German people for the way the world treated them.)

The world saw that Germany would not be very happy with these prospects and to ensure compliance part of the treaty outlines the occupation of Rhineland.

One of the social affects of the war on Germany was an increase in the woman work force. As seen here in the photo above these women are working alongside men checking the quality of munitions.

(The above photo shows the signing of the Treaty of Versailles with important diplomats from around the world, excluding Germany. )

The death alone caused many families trouble after WW1 around 3.82% of the German population was killed with two million military deaths. On top of this 4.2 million were wounded crippling some families.

The art of Germany started to move rapidly around the 1920s toward a expressionistic style. This movement was started before the war started but hit its peak post war. Many of the paintings and other works took on a grotesque style as well, resembling the feelings the Germans were having during the time. During WW2 Germany suffered another massive change to its art heritage as the Nazis banned modern art as it did not fit with their ideals of classical art.

__E____conomic Effects of WWI:__ During the Armistice in 1918 Germany experienced a blockade which caused many issues for the German people. The navel blockade made Germany become even more dependent on outside shipments of supplies. This was a problem because Germany had to supply its own ships, this depleted Germany's extra resources, and was not effective enough for the masses of poor citizens leading to many deaths from starvation. This caused huge amounts of distress for the population of Germany, turning into dislike for the nations that caused the problems. The dislike was one of the things that influenced the start of WW2.

After the blockade was lifted the outlook for the German people improved slightly, however this was short lived because Germany was soon hit by a horrible set of years riddled with the problems of hyperinflation. These charts show how money usage was affected by the inflation in the 1920's money had become so weak after having to pay all the reparations from WW1 that the German people had little money left for anything other than food in the their budget.

(The affect of hyperinflation)

Germany lost several important lands in the conclusion of the war. These lands were essential to Germany supply of raw materials and trading possibilities. This included large amounts of land being given form a avenue for Poland to have water access and hence a trade route. Germany also lost all of its colonies which had a hard economic hit affect on Germany's ability to conduct trade at far areas. Any land that was taken during battle was also to be returned including Alsace and Lorraine being returned to France.

Germany had its military might cut way back as well, restricting the size of both navy and military. The production of many weapons was strictly watched and some completely banned like armored vehicles. Germany was also not allowed to trade weapons with others countries. These restrictions caused a drop in jobs, and potentialy profitable trade agreements.

(Totals of money spent on WW1 by major influences)

In total Germany spent 39 billion dollars on the war, and in the final Treaty of Versailles, was forced to pay 31.4 billion, this led to the hyperinflation of the German economy and the turmoil of its in habitats. This led to a shaky and weak government who could barely function, allowing a person like Hitler to easily win over the dreary population of Germany, and reignite the war.

Clearly the Treaty of Versailles is to blame for WW2 and many of the issues for post war Germany.

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//Deutschland in Encyclopedia Britannica//