The Great Depression and Germany

The Great Depression is one of the worst times of all 20th century. The Great Depression, was an economic global breakdown and it affected many countries and their governments. Many countries were starving and as a result the governments of the countries had to issue ration tickets for food to the people. The Great Depression also impact, unemployment, the uprising of people, the rise of nationalism and the Nazi party.

The Treaty of Versailles, made things even tougher than they already were. They had to pay reparations to the Allies for WWI. Germany had a really bad economic crisis at that time. The Germany’s only solution was to keep printing money in order to pay their debts. The result of this act was to decrease the value of the German mark. Hyperinflation, hitted Germany. The Government made a huge amount of printed money, that some people started burning them to keep themselves warm. Printed money became worthless.

Also during the Great Depression, brought huge numbers of unemployment rates in Germany. Germany’ alone, had over of 6.2 million people unemployed. The unemployment, was consistanly growing. The result of this high rates, made the people question themselves, how helpful was there government, as they couldn’t help there people by finding jobs. The people weren’t happy with the results of their governments, so they started thinking of other types of Government because of the huge problems that they had.

As the people didn’t want to live that way and change their governments, outbreaks, started to occur. In 1932, an outbreak took place in konigsburg in Prussia. After the elections of August 1, Nazis, showed their region of terror. The Nazis, started destroyed cities and breaking shops because they failed to obtain majority into the elections. They started burning socialist newspaper offices and gasoline stations. They were ripping apart cities. The Nazis, also murdered, Socialist and Communist leaders in their own homes.

The Great Depression brought up many ideas about new types of government. The Socialist and Communist parties, weren’t as common and popular as the Democratic Party. It was the most popular and loved by all. The Communist and the Socialist Parties were unpopular and only had a few number of followers. The Germans believed that the most responsible party to take over there government was the democrat group.

Because of the bad reputation that the German Government accomplish through the problems of hyperinflation that they had, Nazi and Communist parties, became more popular. The Nazi and Communist parties, had two different ideologies. The Nazi s’ idea was based on Nationalism and it blamed the Allies for the harsh reparations of WWI. It also hated the Jewish people that were rich and controlling some of the economy of the country. The Communist party, had to do with the unemployment group of people, which they wanted to be equal with the rich people. The communist party, couldn’t arise and wasn’t strong enough to complete with the Nazis. The Nazi Party, became the strongest one in 1932. Through the Nazis, Hitler arised and came to power. Hitler using propagandas, made the Germans think that he was there last hope.
Concluding, the Great Depression was one of the worst times of Germany. The country had just lost World War One and they also had to pay reparations. Apart from that, Germany had to rebuild the whole economy of their country. The Great Depression came at the worst time possible for Germany. The Great Depression caused huge problems to the German government. It caused them hyperinflation, huge unemployment rates, increase in Nationalism by a huge number of people. Nationalism also brought to power the Nazi party. All of this crazy events, made Germany started a new world War.

Essay on Treaties of the war

WW I, affected a lot of countries. After the War, many treaties were signed, which were very unfavorable against some countries. Germany had the worst treatment of all of the countries of WW I. There were six important treaties that affected the countries that when went into War. The Treaty of Brest Litorsk, which talks about what is going to happen to Russia, the treaty of Lausanne’ that talks about the future plans, for what is going to happen to the Ottoman Empire, the treaty of Neuilly, which affects Bulgaria, the treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire split, also the treaty of serves which is a peace treaty of the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, and lastly the treaty of Trianon which formatted the new Hungarian Empire.

The Treaty of Brest Litorst, is a Treaty which deals with Germany and Russia. It was signed on Marched 3rd 1918. The treaty states, that Russian must give up economically important land. The land areas that were given up by Russian, was to exploited by Germany. These treaty affected Russia really bad, in the political outcome. Russia was in the process of a major governmental reform. Communism was spread all over the country, so Russia tried to use a New Economic Policy. The economy of Russia was really bad. The food was rationed. Farmers were only producing food for themselves, because they couldn’t produce anymore. The treaty also harmed Russian military. Russian’s army was under Lenin’s control and these resulted to a Civil War in Russia, between Reds and Whites. Russia suffered a lot from these treaties.

The treaty of Lausanne, affected the Ottoman Empire badly. The Empire was destroyed and what was left became Turkey as we know it today. The treaty was signed on June 24th 1923. This treaty basically recognized Turkey as new country and gave back some land which was taken from her by the Treaty of Sevres. The Treaty of Lausanne affected today’s Turkey well, because it made her an independent country. Before, the Treaty Turkey was not an independent country but during the negotiations it was recognized as a country. Turkey became independent on the 29th of October 1923. the Western power didn’t impose any preparation on Turkey because that would have destroyed the economy of the new country. Because of that, Turkey was able to build their own economy.The Western Powers didn’t impose any military limitations on Turkey which helped them built up their army with no limitations. Because of that, Turkey’s military gets much stronger and powerful. Kemal was a military officer before becoming the country’s leader. The treaty of Lausanne, affected Cyprus too. Turkey took a part of Cyprus, because Cyprus has a really good place in the Mediterranean.

The treaty of Neuilly is a treaty that is signed by Bulgaria. It was signed on the 27th of November, 1919 in France and was negotiated in the Paris Peace Conference. Bulgaria received the least land and was required to reduce its army to 20.000 men and pay reparation of $400 million. The treaty also surrenders Western Thrace to the Entente. Many Bulgarians were placed under the rule of Greeks when Bulgaria had to give up Western Thrace. The biggest economical problem that Bulgaria had to suffer was the $400 million that they had to pay for reparation. The treaty of Neville had many military outcomes too. Bulgaria had to surrender their land to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Also Bulgaria had to reduce its army to 20.000 men.

The Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye was signed by Austro-Hungary. It was signed on the 10th of September 1919. This treaty states that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is responsible and is held accountable for the destruction caused by the War. It also states that it is now the Republic of Austria. This policy destroyed Austro-Hungary and made five new countries out of that. The countries that were formed are the republic of Austria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. This treaty also restricted the political Union with Germany and Austria had to refrain from jeopardizing its independence. This treaty opened new trading options with countries like Britain, France, and Italy. Austro-Hungary also had to suffer inflation, since they had to pay reparations to the Allies. As for their military section, they had to reduce their army to 30.000, so this made Austria unable to attack any country and attempt any conquests. They also diminished their railroad control which affected their mobilization speed. The only good effect that this policy had is that Hungary gained independence.

The treaty of Serves, was a peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies at the end of WW I. The treaty said that the Ottoman Empire shouldn’t be a part of Europe. The signatories of this treaty were Britain, France, Italy and Japan. It was signed on the 10th of August 1920 in Serves, France. This treaty also said that the Straits of the Dardanelles were to be controlled by the allies and that the kingdom of Hejaz should be an independent state. This treaty was never approved by the Ottoman Empire. It was cancelled during the Turkish War of Independence. This treaty would have affected the Ottoman Empire in political views in a bad way. The Ottomans would have lost a great deal of territory by the terms of this treaty. Also Turkey lost rights to Sudan and Libya. Mustafa Kemal succeeded in fighting for Turkish independence, which led the Allies to return to negotiating. This event forced the Allies to replace the treaty of the Serves with the Treaty of Lausanne. This covered a great territory to for the Turks. In economical views, the allies were in control of the empire Finances and the Empire would have to pay a public debt to Britain, France and Italy. The Allies almost destroyed the military of the Ottomans. The Ottoman Army was then limited to 50.000 men and the navy was to have only six torpedo boats. They also have forbidden the Empire from acquiring an air force.

Lastly the Treaty of Tranon issued that the Allies should reprimand Hungary following the separation from Austria and the formation of a new Hungarian Empire. This treaty was signed on the 4th of June 1920 in France. When this treaty was signed, it placed a lot of limitations of Hungary. Hungary’s territory was divided, without regard to Hungary’s population. They couldn’t have access to the sea and Hungary lost 72% of all its original territory. After this treaty the economy of Hungary was really bad. Hungary was the main supplier of wheat, rye, barley and other various goods. It produced 500% more goods than it needed for itself. The new borders cut off trade routes, which harmed their income from agricultural produce. Also, the unemployment levels were dangerously high and industrial output dropped by 65%. After the War, the Allies tried to disable the Hungarian navy and air force. The Hungarian army was to be restricted to 35.000 men and heavy artillery tanks and air force was to be maintained by Hungary. Also, no railroad would be built with more than one track due to the fact that railways at that time held a substantial strategic importance economically and military.

All of these treaties determined the future of many countries of WW I. I believe that all of the treaties were kind of harsh to the countries that lost the War. At the end only Turkey got something good of this. They didn’t have to pay anything and they were independent countries, Germany, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgaria sacrificed the most.

Why were Germany and her allies unsuccessful in WWI

Why were Germany and her allies unsuccessful in WWI

During WWI both sides had lost a lot of men but not the sacrifice that Germany and her allies took by losing the war. There are many reasons that Germany and her allies lost the war. The failure of the Von Schlieffen Plan, the lack of good alternative strategies, the ineffectiveness of her Alliance System, the limitations of German’s economy and geography and lastly the entry of the USA. These factors and events made Germany and her allies lose the war, get defeated really bad and lose a huge amount of men.

The failure of the Von Schlieffen Plan was the plan of the Germans, to go through Belgium to attack France and take Paris. The Germans, wanted to destroy France, to take them out of their way. After defeating France, they would put all their focus on Russia. Although, the Germans weren’t able to go through Belgium that easy, because they invited a neutral country and also England helped Belgium. After the failure of the Von Schlieffen Plan, the lack of good alternative strategies was an important problem, that caused Germany and the allies the war. The Germans, although they were the strongest country in WWI, they didn’t use their power in a useful way. They didn’t have any military strategies, whenever they attacked a country on a battle, they use high risk attack, and if it field, they didn’t know what to do afterwards. They just waited there until they could make a high risk attack again.

The allies of Germany didn’t really help them in the war. Germany was the strongest one, although she didn’t have strong back up countries to help them. The only other strong ally was Austro-Hungary. Although Austro-Hungary and Germany did have a good lack of communication. Germany had to give more to her allies, than receive from them. This was a huge disadvantages.

Nationalism was a huge factor for Germany. Her economy was only based in the nationalism of the country. They didn’t really have a normal tax system. They mostly relied on people to give them money and goods. Germanys economy wasn’t that great although she was doing ok in the world. Another disadvantage was that their weapon companies weren’t owned by German itself, and they didn’t and they didn’t even know who to pay exactly to get more weapons. Germany’s geographic place was a disaster for them. They were located in the middle of Europe and they were surrounded by the allies powers, so they had to fight on a lot of open fronts.

The entry of the USA in the war, made things even more harder for Germany and her allies. The USA was a strong country with a lot of supplies and men. When they joint war , they decreased the moral of the allies as they were fresh and exited soldiers, ready to fight for their country. As the USA was sending 20,000 troops to France, the Germans were running of supplies, money, men and resources.

I believe it was obvious that the Germans, would lose because they had many disadvantages and so few advantages. The biggest problems of the allies side was the ineffectiveness of her Alliance System and there geographic place. Although they were really strong, they couldn’t fight against so many countries that were surrounded to her.

To what extent was nationalism a cause of WWI

The Crisis in the Balkans, the assasination of the heir of the Austrian throne and the Germany's need to take "a place in the sun" were some serious facts that contributed to the First World War. These three facts showed in some way the feeling of Nationalism and ambitions for every country to become the most powerful state in the world. This created tention in Europe and thus the World War.


The rise of nationalism in the nineteenth century had made the Balkan states hungry for independence. The Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers had vested interests in the area. Russia regarded itself as a defender of the Slav people. It actually wanted to protect its own interests in the region by ensuring that its ships had clear access through the Mediterranean Straits, while access to potentially hostile powers was denied, like was Austria, which wanted to increase its own control over the region. In 1875 there were uprisings in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the Ottomans had been forced to withdraw, Russia and Austria would have battled for power over the region. This would have put Germany into the impossible position of having to choose sides even though it needed to keep the support of both. In 1876 Austria and Russia drew up a plan to divide the Balkans in the event of a Turkish defeat. The Turks were not defeated, and Russia invaded Turkey in April1877. Germany did not supported Russia. Both Austria and Britain were alarmed at Russia’s actions and the threat of war loomed over Europe. In 1878 a congress was held in Berlin and Russia gained land which it had lost in 1856 but the other decisions were less to its liking. Austria gained control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Britain gained control over Cyprus while Bulgaria was divided. Russia felt robbed by foreign powers which had not even fought in the recent conflict.



The assassination, in June 1914, to the heir of the Austrian Throne, who was shot in Sarajevo by a Serb extremist, nationalist, war was seen as inevitable, at least by the German military and swift action seemed the best option. Germany offered Austria a “Blank Cheque” after the assassination – a promise of support no matter what happened. Without this guarantee, Austria would have hesitated to declare war on Serbia and risk fighting Russia.




From 1890-1914 Germany continued to flourish. She became an agricultural, manufactured, industrial power in Europe. By 1914 Germany produced two-thirds of Europe’s steel and over half its coal. She also led the way in the newer industries of Electrical goods, chemicals and steel. Agricultural production was more patchy, but overall by 1914 was producing a higher yield of crops than anywhere else in the world. The population was expanding. This provided a vast labor force and also a very strong military force. The Navy’s expansion proved more popular because it symbolized German growth. The Sheer size of the German Empire also provided a substantial home market for manufactured goods, and expertise of the German Banking System which granted generous long-term loans which in turn boosted investment. People in Germany felt that they needed and deserved a “place in the sun”, by which they vaguely meant some kind of acknowledged supremacy like that of the British. Neither the British nor the French, the leaders of modern Europe since the seventeenth century, could share wholeheartedly in such German aspirations. Kaiser’s Wilhelm II ambitions to project Germany onto the world stage, as Germany was, by this time a world power in terms of her economic strength and the government wanted this to be reflected outside of Germany. Nationalism as well as the policy of Weltpolitik created tensions in Europe which certainly contributed to the First World War.




The rise of nationalism in the nineteenth century had made the Balkan states and European countries hungry for independence and created tensions in Europe which certainly contributed to the First World War.Therom 1890-1914 Germany continued to flourish. She became an agricultural, manufactured

IB history "To what extent was Germany already at war with Europe by 1914?”

From 1890-1914 Germany continued to flourish. She became an agricultural, manufactured, industrial power in Europe. By 1914 Germany produced two-thirds of Europe’s Steel and over half its cool. She also led the way in the newer industries of Electrical goods, chemicals & steel. Agricultural production was more patchy, but overall by 1914 was producing a higher yield of crops than anywhere else in the world. The population was expanding. This provided a vast labor force and also a very strong military force. The sheer size of the German Empire also provided a substantial home market for manufactured goods, and expertise of the German banking System which granted generous long-term loans which in turn boosted investment.

The policy of Weltpolitik (world policy) emerged in 1897 consisting of three main strands: Acquire more colonial territory, create a German-dominated economic zone in central and Eastern Europe and expand the navy.

Germans foreign policy among Kaiser’s obsessive and unpredictable personality led to considerable errors of judgment, such as Daily Telegraph Affair, The first Moroccan crisis in 1905-1906, and the Second Moroccan crisis in 1911, where Germany was again demonstrating of her handed methods and her strength.

The assassination in June 1914, to the heir of Austrian throne, who was shot in Sarajevo by a Serb extremist, war was seen as inevitable, at least by the German military and swift action seemed the best option. Germany offered Austria a “blank Cheque” after the assassination, a promise of Support no matter what happened. Without this guarantee, Austria would have hesitated to declare war on Serbia and risk fighting Russia.

Kaiser’s ambitions to project German join the world stage, as Germany was, by this time a world power interns of her economic strength and the government wanted this to be reflected outside of Germany. The Blicy of Weltpolitik created tensions in Europe which certainly contributed to the First World War. But also recognize other factors for example: the legacy the role of Weltpolitik, the growth of Russian power nationalism in the Balkans and the inadequacy of German policy during the July crisis of 1914.