Impact of WWI on germany

·         Political

o   Germany had a revolution and became democratic republic

o   Stress of war led to revolution led to abdication of Kaiser

o   Most ex-soldiers and civilians despised the new democratic leaders

·         Social challenges

o   600 hundred thousand widows and 2 million children were left without their father

o   Huge gaps between rich and poor

o   Women were to go to work in factories many see this as damaging to family values

o   German workers were bitter at the restrictions placed on their earnings during the war while the factory owners made vast fortunes from the war

·         Economic challenge

o   The national income was about 1/3 of what it was in 1913

o   Industrial productions was about 2/3s of what it used to be in 1913

o   The state was spending about one third of its budget in war pensions

·         The impact of war

o   Caused women to work

o   Caused riots and even a kidnapping

1. Germans were not aware of the situation in 1919.

• germans didnt understand how bad germanys military situation had been at the end of the war
• german goverment had simply agreed to ceasefore
• therofore germany should have been at the paris peace treaty 

2. War guilt and reparations

• felt at the least that blame should be shared
• because germany was forced to accept the blame for the war it also excepted to pay for all the damages caused by it

3. Disarmament

• germany is the army was a symbol of german pride
• none of the allies was disarmed to the extent that germany was disarmed

4. German territories

• when germany lost alot of territory it was a major blow to german pride and to its economy
• while germany was losing land the british and french were increasing their empires by taking control  of german and turkish territories

5. Fourteen Points and League

• to most of the germans the treatment of germany was not in keeping wilson fourtten points
• german speaking people were being divided by terms forbidding anscbluss with austria or hived off into new countries
• germany felt further insulted by not being invited to join the league of noation

 

6. Double Standards?

• many people felt that the germns were themselves operating a double standard
• their call for fairer treatment did no square with the harsh way they had treated russia in the treaty of brest litovsk
• versailles was much less harsh a treaty then brest litvosk
• there was also the fact that germanys economic problems although are real are partly self inflicted
• other states had to raised taxes to pay for the war

German revolution

Georges Clemenceau (France)
Attitude towards Germany:

•  they were responsible for the war and should be punished
• there was also a strong feeling that germany should pay for all the damages and destructions caused by the war

Main Aim:
clemenceau and other french leaders saw the treaty as an opportunity to cripple germany so it could not attack france again

How he felt about the treaty
clemenceau was a realist and knew he would probably be forced to compromise on some of the issues


Woodrow Wilson (United States)
Attitude towards Germany:

• he believed that germany should be punished
• he also believed that the treaty with germany should not be to harsh
• he viewed that if they treated germany harshly they would someday recover from it and seek revenge

Main Aim:
was to strengthen democracy in the defeated nation so its people would not let its leaders cause another war
How he felt about the treaty
he thought that they shouldnt make a harsh treaty with germany because they could recover and seek revenge
David Lloyd George (Great Britain)
Attitude towards Germany:
wanted germany to be justly punished but not to harshly


Main Aim:
he want germany to lose its navy and its colonies because britain thought they threatened the british empire

How he felt about the treaty:
wanted britain and germany to begin trading with each other again
Main Terms of the Treaty of Versailles against Germany
2. Read pages 18 - 19. Summarize the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles:
War Guilt:
germany had to accept the blame for strating the war
Reparations:
had to pay for reparations to the allies for damages caused by war
German Territories and Colonies:

• germany`s oversea empire was taken away
• france and britain controled the league of nations
• forbid germany to join together with its former ally austria

Germany's Armed Forces:

• the army was limited to 100,000 men
• conscription was band- soldiers had to be volunteers
• germany was not aloud to have armoured vehicles, submarines or air crafts

League of Nations:
germany was not invited to join the leafue until it had shown that it was a peace loving country

russian revolution

1. List the general goals of the:
a. socialists
  hoped to create a classless society that would end the exploitation and suffering of the peasants and workers. this included dismantling the capitalist economy like factories and buisnesses.
b. liberal reformers
the believed that they could put in place western constituional pracitces and the rule of law to solve russias problems and correct the injustices of the past.

2. List three characteristics of serfs' lives.
   they worked the land of the nobles paid rent to their landlords in the form of cash and they produce or labor they struggled through hard times and periodic famines and occasinally reblled against their masters

3. List four reforms of Tsar Alexander II.
   introduced jury and trails, relaxed censorship laws.
   local elected assemblies known as the zemstvos with issues such as road maintenance irrigation primary education and taxation
   took steps to increase industrail production
  

4. Why did the populists go "to the people" in 1873-1874?
     they desired to establish a personal connection with the downtrodden peasantry, many were propagandists convinced that they could persuade the "simple folk" tojoin the revolutioary cause
5. List two consequences of the famine of 1891.
half a million peasants had died form the dieases
casued crisis crystallized a political and social awakening among educated russians
6. Why was Karl Marx important to Russian intellectuals?
because his ideas seem to offer explanation for the causes of the famine. they belieced marx's "european ideas" coul help russia become more like europe
7. What were the Goals and Methods of the following political groups in early twentieth century Russia? (see page 8 of the reading)
a. Liberal Democrats
goals: supported evolving to a mroe western european system of government
methods: came largely from the middle classes

b. Socialist Revolutionaries
goals:for reevolutionary change in russia
methods: worked to gather the support of workers and peasants
c. Social Democrats
goal:believed that as russia industralized and became more capitalistic, it was becoming more fertile ground for socialist:
methods:other radicals turned to marxism

8. How did Bloody Sunday change people's attitudes toward the Tsar?
the centuries old view of the tsar as a benevolent protector of the people was destroyed. frustration turned to anger around the country

9. List four reforms in Tsar Nicholas's October Manifesto.
    1 an expansion of civil liberites
2 limited monarchy
3 a legislature elected by universal suffage
4 legalization of trade unions and political parties

the seeds of conflict

1. Define "The West." Make sure you could identify several countries as examples.
       a threat to the freedoms of democracy and capitalism or the west is a term given to the capitalist countires of western europe and north american during the cold war. the USA was the principal power of the west.

2. Explain the differences in the economic ideology between the West and the USSR.
      the ussr wanted to have a communist economy were the poor and rich would be equal while the west wanted to have a capitalism economy where it holds the traditional economic values.

3. Explain the differences in the political ideology between the West and the USSR.
     the west were a liberal democracies, this political system was valued because it upheld important freedoms, it gave people a coice of goverment and the chance to vote while the ussr was a the communist state where a classless societ was beling created there was no need for different political classes and is a one party state. they had no freedoms like the countries in the west
4. What was the Comintern (Communist International) and why did it concern the West.
      it was an organisation set up in 1919 to facilitate contacts betwwen communist groups throughout the world. the soviet goverment was able to control its activities and the west feared it was being used to undermine capitalism and spread communsit revolution.
5. What occurred during the Russian Civil War (1918-21) that solidified the opposition between the West and the Communists? (Be specific and use key details.)
      that the allied intervention to suppoert the whites in the russian civil war started to dry up by 1921 the bolsheviks had won and the bolshevik regime of lenin survived, the experiance highlighted the hositility of the west toward communism and the face that the west would comtemplate military actions against communism whenever the opportunity might present itself.