1. HI290- History of Germany
Total War,

2. Factors leading up to the war:
Wilhelminian Weltpolitik with its blunders and sense of entitlement
System of alliances; Entente Cordiale/Triple Entente (Russia, France, Britain) and Central Powers/Triple Alliances (AH, Germany, Italy)
Balkan wars 1912/13
German outstanding economic position and economic rivalries

3. The July Crisis

4. The ‘Spirit of 1914’
Enthusiasm and Sympathy for Austria on the Streets of Berlin (August 1, 1914)
August 1, 1914, in Berlin
by Arthur Kampf (1914)

5. Burgfriede
A political truce called by the parties in the Reichstag for the duration of hostilities.
Even the SPD agreed to this and voted for War Credits.
The SPD supported the war because:
They had been convinced that this was a defensive war against autocratic Russia.
Many Socialists were also patriots and were proud of Germany and her achievements.
The party leadership hoped to gain political legitimacy through supporting the nation in its hour of need.

6. Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1891-1906
The Schlieffen Plan
Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial General Staff,

7. The Schlieffen Plan Fails
The invasion of Belgium made Germany seem like the aggressor and brought Britain into the War.
The plan had not been updated to take recent Russian and French military reforms into account.
Moltke weakened the thrust through Belgium by diverting troops to Alsace and Lorraine and East Prussia.
The Germans faced stiffer resistance than anticipated – in particular they had not expected to have to fight the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
The German advance halted at the First Battle of the Marne (4-10 Sept. 1914) and the Battle of the Aisne (15-18 Sept. 1914).
September-December: The ‘race for sea’.
By December 1914 the front had stagnated into a 400 mile system of trenches running from the Swiss border to the North Sea.
The War as it was supposed to be fought: German Infantrymen March Singing into the Battle of Langemarck, November 10, 1914 …
… And the war as it was fought:
digging in to defensive positions, 1914

8. Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934)
1847: Born at Poznan in Prussian Poland, the son of an East Prussian landowner.
Educated at cadet schools in Wahlstadt and Berlin.
Fought at Königgrätz (1866) and in the Franco-Prussian War.
1878: Joined the General Staff.
1905: Promoted to the rank of General.
1911: Retired from active service.
22 August 1914: Brought out of retirement to command the German Eighth Army in East Prussia.
Victory at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes made him a national hero.
In many ways the archetypal Prussian Junker.

9. Postcard: Resting in the Trenches,c. 1914
Trench Warfare
The Battlefield in the Argonne Forest (1916)
Postcard: Resting in the Trenches,c. 1914

11. Trench Warfare German troops attacking, July 1916 (Top Left), posed
photograph of a ‘Storm Trooper’ (Bottom Left), German
soldier wearing First World War trench armour (Above)

13. State Intervention
1915: Kreigsrohstoffabteilung (Raw Materials Department, KRA) – ensures the acquisition, storage and distribution of materials vital to the war effort.
1915: Bread rationing introduced.
1916: Zentral-Einkaufs-Gesellschaft (Central Purchasing Company) – acquisition of goods from neutral countries.
1916: Reichsgetreidstelle (Imperial Gain Office) – controlled food supplies and issued ration cards .
Hindenburg Programme (1916) – Intended to concentrate industry on the production of munitions.
Auxiliary Service Law (1916): Government could conscript workers and decide where they should work.
Walter Rathenau ( ), industrialist
and founder of the Kreigsrohstoffabteilung

14. War Finance Germany already had a large budget deficit before 1914.
Taxation not sufficient to finance the war, and proposals to raise taxes vetoed on political grounds and the fiscal privileges of Junkers continued unabated.
Only 16% of the cost of the war met by taxation.
War financed by printing money and war loans.
This led to massive inflation – by 1918 the mark had lost 75% of its value.
Also a fall of real wages (20% in war industry, 40% in other branches).

15. German Food rations (October 1918):
Food Shortages
By the autumn of 1916 food shortages,Inflation and mounting casualties beginning to effect the public mood.
: The ‘Turnip Winter’ – exceptionally cold weather and a poor potato harvest lead to a severe food and fuel crisis.
Between 1916 and 1917 deaths from hypothermia and malnutrition rose from 121,000 to 293,000.
Infant Mortality at 50% by 1918.
German Food rations (October 1918):
50 g. (1.8 oz.) of meat, 57 g. (2 oz.) of fat, 25 g. (.9 oz.) of butter, 5 lb. of bread, 125 g. (4.4 oz.) of legumes, 250 g. (.6 lb.) of flour, 4-5 lb. of potatoes, 1 lb. of marmalade, ½ litre (1 pint) of milk, and 1 g. (.04 oz.) of sugar.

16. Mobilisation for Total War
Measures
Failures
War Raw Materials Office: coordination of industrial products.
Food rationing in 1915.
War Food Office 1916.
Substitutes – clothes with paper fibres.
Gaps in the labour force filled by women (emancipation – double burden).
Auxiliary Labour Law (1916): Government could conscript workers and decide where they should work.
‘Dictatorship’ of Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL) – Hindenburg and Ludendorff – loss of influence for civil government – strengthening of army influence.
Scarcity of clothing, soap, food.
Agricultural production fell, meat consumption only 12% of pre-war level.
Malnutrition and starvation – ‘turnip winter’ 1916/17 (consequence: up to 750,000 dead).
Polarisation: pro ‘Siegfrieden’ (victorious peace) with far reaching war aims, pro peace without contributions and annexations.
Middle Classes: pauperisation, living conditions closer to working class – but many now more nationalist, angst (loss of status) .
Working Class: spontaneous strikes in 1916 and 1917.

17. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)
Source: G. Layton, From Bismarck to Hitler: Germany,

18. The Final Gamble: The 1918 Spring Offensive
Source: P. J. Haythornthwaite, The World War One Sourcebook

19. Dolchstoßlegende (Stab in the Back Myth)
Philipp Scheidemann and Matthias Erzberger betray the troops.

20. Casualties of the War Russia 2,762,064 1,000,000 3,950,000 2,500,000
Known dead
Seriously wounded
Otherwise wounded
Prisoners or missing
Russia
2,762,064
1,000,000
3,950,000
2,500,000
Germany
1,611,104
1,600,000
2,183,143
772,522
France
1,427,800
700,000
2,344,000
453,500
Austria-Hungary
911,000
850,000
2,150,000
443,000
Great Britain
807,451
617,714
1,441,394
64,907
Serbia
707,343
322,000
28,000
100,000
Italy
507,160
500,000
462,196
1,359,000
Turkey
436,924
107,772
300,000
103,731
Rumania
339,117
200,000
......
116,000
Belgium
267,000
40,000
10,000
United States
107,284
43,000
148,000
4,912
Bulgaria
101,224
852,339
10,825
Greece
15,000
30,000
45,000
Portugal
4,000
5,000
12,000
200
Japan
300
907 3
Total
9,998,771
6,295,512
14,002,039
5,983,600