PDF file: History - Advanced Higher - Germany - Education Scotland

Part A: Military Defeat
From August 1914, Germany had waged total war. As one historian has commented,
‘The amount of blood and treasure invested in the First World War made it difficult
for Germans to contemplate a future in which the German Reich was not victorious.’
AJ Nicholls, ‘Weimar and the Rise of Hitler’, MacMillan, 2000
The apparently sudden coming of setbacks that threatened defeat was therefore a
profound shock that had enormous political consequences.
Notes will be required on the following dimensions:
1. From Success to Failure from the German Army, 1918
This involves considering:
(i) German victory over Russia
(ii) The Treaty of Brest Litovsk
(iii) The Ludendorff Offensive in the West
(iv) Allied counter-offensives, July-August
(v) German retreat
(vi) The collapse of Germany’s allies.
2. Where did power lie?
This involves considering:
(i) The character and government of Kaiser William II
(ii) The German political systems; Reichstag and Bundesrat
(iii) The power and influence of Army leaders
(iv) The main political parties, their leaders, supporters and policies.
3. Revolution from above?
This involves considering:
(i) Ludendorff’s views on the need for an armistice
(ii) His views on the need for a parliamentary democracy
(iii) Prince Max of Baden and the forming of a parliamentary cabinet
(iv) The request by Germany for an armistice.
Issues to discuss
• Was Ludendorff simply trying to avoid being blamed for defeat?
• Should the Social Democrats have agreed to enter the Government?
History: Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of World War II - 1918-1939 (AH) 12