Modern History Essay Question: Assess the extent that nationalism was a cause of the failure of democracy in Germany in the period of 1918 – 1933 Nationalism was an important and integral factor in the downfall of the Weimar Republic and in turn, the ensuing failure of democracy in Germany in the period of 1918 – 1934. Nationalism is the desire to have your own country. The sense of loyalty and devotion to one’s nation, which the German’s had felt in their militaristic past, was ultimately, devastated by World War 1 and its consequences. In Germany, from 1918 onwards, nationalism was one of the main driving forces for the German people to make Germany a dominant power again by ultimately destroying the Treaty of Versailles. Several attempts from both the left and right sides of government tried to imbue the nationalistic beliefs that were embodied in Germany before they were destroyed by their humiliating defeat in WW1.
Both soldiers and civilians blame the defeats in the war and the growing crises on the home front on Tsar. Even the Tsars only army stated it wouldn’t support him if a revolution occurred. Explain the importance/significance of World War 1 to the downfall of the Tsar WWI was a very significant event on the rule of Tsar Nicholas 11. Although it initially bolstered his position, it then became a large factor that contributed to Nicholas’ downfall. The Country was ecstatic when the Tsar made the announcement that Russia was going to fight against Germany in WWI.
Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I. it was very burdensome on the German economy. Germany was just a devastated by the war as anyone else, but they were very hard pressed to rebuild with the massive reparation payments they were required to make. But the reason why they did soo debt on them is because of Germany made a great destruction on countries, especially on French. I think the reasons for WW2 were: Treaty of Versailles, Hitler’s rise to power and Militarism. Treaty
They are many factors on why did Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. World War one, treaty of Versailles, fear of communist and the great depression are the main reason on Hitler became Chancellor. The Germans sighted the treaty of Versailles 1919 after losing Great War, although they believed they treaty was harsh they had no choice either sign it or the country getting invaded. The Germans called the treaty Diktat as it was being forced on them and the Germans had no choice but to sign it. One thing the Germans were not happy in the treaty of Versailles is the War Guilt Clause, take blame for the war.
When Hitler came to power within Germany in the 1930s he aimed to bring all German speaking people under one great empire and that Germans were the master race who were superior to Jews and Slavs this showed the aggressive nature of Germans foreign policy because for Hitler to bring all German speaking people into one great empire it would mean having to invade territory she had lost from ww1. Mussolini also looked to recreate an empire as powerful as the roman empire and he believed that conquering foreign territory was a sign of a great nation and great power. Italy and Germany both believed in ideology that glorified the military and believed that war was an acceptable way of accomplishing their goals. This caused both Hitler and Mussolini to create aggressive foreign policies to distract the citizens living in the countries of the terrible
Underlying Causes Of WWI World War I, also known as “The Great War” was an extremely bloody war that immersed Europe with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. There may have seemed like there was a chain of events that led to the fighting, but the underlying causes of WW1 were Nationalism, Alliances, Militarism, imperialism and the assignation of Arch Duke Ferdinand. America tried there hardest to remain neutral and stay out of the war, but they were dragged in by force. Several incidents built up tension between nations before the outbreak of the First World War. Nationalism was one of the underlying causes of WW1.
The U.S. Navy was already attacking German boats. Hitler despised President Roosevelt because he had attacked his Nazi ideology in the past. Hitler believed that Japan was a strong power and that once they took over the United States, it would help Germany take over Russia. Because of these ideas from Hitler, Germany declared war against the United States. Hitler argued that the failure of the New Deal was the cause of the war.
As well, the only way that the Wilson plan would have survived the political intrigue of the Europeans was either through a league that had real teeth, or a super power willing to intervene as a worldwide police officer. Neither of which existed in 1918. Clemenceau’s views represented the average sentiment of the European Allies after the war. In the closing days of the war, a war weary European population must have tried to make sense of the carnage, of the loss. Clemenceau casts a pale light on the German population, blaming the war on the aims of “the intolerable German Aristocracy.” (Clemenceau, p. 73) The entire argument for the French and nay, European view, was the perceived threat that Europeans felt of German arrogance.
Another cause of the war was that Russia wanted to continue its expansion into the Far East and obtain a free port. They chose to go to war with Japan because Japan was a small country with fewer resources than a country of Russia’s size. The biggest cause of the war was that Russia wanted to distract attention from its domestic troubles. However this war was a complete disaster which resulted in Russia being completely humiliated.
The mistakes that occurred by the Germans assisted the axis empire to be defeated, some examples of these errors are attempting to fight the war on multiple fronts, deciding to attack Russia as well as being at war with the USA as both of these countries could easily outnumber and surround the Nazis although Germany may have had little choice in fighting the USA as Britain was their closest ally and they would have got involved to defend their friend and Russia was planning to enter the war a few months after she was attacked anyway. Germany had made poor choices with allies; the alliance with Italy was a noose around the neck of the Nazis, Japan would’ve only made sense as an ally if it had attacked the Far East. Hitler chose his allies on ideology and not from shared interests or goals, the less powerful members of the axis only really wanted one thing, to gain territory. Hitler was the ultimate commander of Germany throughout the war so it seems inevitable that his decisions must be responsible for Germany having victory torn from their grasps in the Second World War. He refused to listen to anyone else’s advice,even his own