Germans

victory solidified the German speaking nation, with the exception of Austria, into a coherent state that would rival the European powers of the late 19th century. Having said that, the creation of the German Empire in 1871 was largely caused by the failure of the bourgeois uprisings in 1848. In this fashion, the establishment of the German Empire can be thought of as a counterrevolution caused by class struggle. In 1985, Hans Ulrich Wehler produced a book titled The German Empire 1871-1918,…

The treaty of Versailles reduced the German military force to a mere fragment of what it was at the conclusion of World War I. Leaders in the German military force were looking for a new approach, after all their goal was to defend Germany’s large open borders. Geographically, Germany is sandwiched in between France and Poland, and German military leaders were more concerned with securing the natural resources from Poland’s eastern neighbor Russia. From the German perspective, Germany could…

The Schlieffen Plan was the German army’s plan for war against France and Russia. It was created by the German Chief Alfred von Schlieffen in December 1905. This operational plan was for a designated attack on France once Russia, in response to international tension, had started to mobilise their forces near the German border. During World War I, Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II fought a two-front war against the French, British, Belgian, and (later) American forces on the Western Front while…

I have chosen to discuss the German Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen plan was created by Albert von Schlieffen, a field marshal and Commander in Chief of the German army. Albert von Schlieffen was an excellent military strategist who was requested by Kaiser Wilhelm II to design an attack for the German army to defeat France. Had the field marshal sustained his position as Commander in Chief long enough to oversee his plan as it was put into action, the Schlieffen plan may have succeeded. The…

nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914, the sentiment between European powers was already on the brink of war. An increasingly militaristic German Empire sought to expand their boundaries and diplomatic alliances were failing at an alarming rate between the European powers, shifting military alliances between two sects. The Central Powers, primarily the German, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman, and Bulgarian Empires, were in an all-out war against various Allied Powers, in which the bulk of the…

DBQ 3 In August 4, 1914, the German Reichstag approved the mobilization of World War I and soon declared Burgfrieden, or civil peace. This peace was nationwide and meant that all conflicts within the nation should be set aside for the duration of the war. The initiation brought along an abundance of views and opinions, all of which were changing as the war progressed from 1914 to 1918. At first, the nation was primarily in support of government and their decisions of mobilizing the war and…

German colonialism was slow and very late to the party. The sense of nationalism in Germany didn’t begin until after the Napoleonic Wars, which ended in 1815. Nationalism endured through wars and revolts. Otto von Bismarck became chancellor. In 1848, following a series of liberal revolutions, an all-German parliament was created. In 1871, Germany finally became a unified country after three wars between Austria and Prussia. Bismarck joined all the German states together, and soon Germany was one…

many nations began to establish covert operations to gain access to the military secrets of their opposition. Germany was a nation that participated in this trend. However, their collection of intelligence did not involve much covert action. Rather, German intelligence officers used overt intelligence collection methods, including using both personal relationships and enemy news sources to predict enemy movements and strategy. Therefore, collection was the most important element of intelligence…

The chapter entitled “Do You Want to Live for Ever?” in the book The Last Days of Innocence by Meirion and Susie Harries recounts the events of a particular battle during World War I that had a significant impact on how the rest of the countries fighting in the war— both the Allies and the Central Powers— viewed America. Using the anecdote of the battle in Belleau Wood to explain why the world’s evaluation of America’s abilities changed is a strategy that both draws the reader into the story and…

established a republican government called the Weimar Republic to replace the German Empire. However, because it was created in a time of chaos after Germany had lost the World War, the Weimar Republic experienced many problems from the start, including economic disarray and violent uprisings from various groups. In June of 1919, Germany also had to accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which reassigned German boundaries and forced Germany to make reparations for starting the war. The…