Germany's Radical Changes

The impact that the First World War had on Germany is very substantial to the way German society developed during the war years. World War I effected Germany socially, economically and politically. German society was vastly impacted by the war. A few examples of these changes include women and their importance in the workforce.

During the war women in the workforce were much needed, displaying the role they play in the German economy. Once the war ended, many German soldiers insisted to believe that they had not lost the war, but that the army had been cheated. Germans looked to lay the blame in the hands of emperor, and most blamed the new Government steaming from the unification. They fought for peace and accepted a truce, leading the Germans to believe that they were to blame. The soldiers also believed that they were cheated as a result of Communists of Jews. Post war lead to a lot of suspicion in Germany. The first President of the Weimar republic, Friedrich Ebert, worked to win back the supp

Friedrich Ebert

ort of armed forces. He was looking to have their supports to capitalize on the stability of the new republic. The worked for the army’s support because there need his support to survive as a significant political power in the years after the peace settlement.

The economic consequences of the war were dreadful for Germany. The cost of the war was close to forty billion. The industrial output of the German economy fell tremendously and machinery was outdated by the end of the war and run by minimally trained people because most of the working many had been killed in the war. Although the working men were not physically fit enough to work as hard as required, due to food shortages. Most were scrounging for food, eating dogs, cows, zoo animals and rodents. Front-line troops were even reduced to meager portions of horse-meat. “Until 1944 no serious food shortages existed, for the occupied countries were ruthlessly stripped of their own resources. But the war intensified the tendencies of the totalitarian state, bringing with it a militarization of public life, increasing organization of the formerly private sphere, and social leveling. When rationing was introduced, the government understood how to exploit envy and class differences for its own purposes” (Schulze 270).  The economy also had shortages of raw materials. From 1915 until the end of the war, Germans were forbidden to drive a car. Even after the truce after the war, the Germans couldn’t purchase fuel in bulk and found it hard to obtain raw materials of any sort because the international community shunned them as a consequence of the war.

Flag of Weimar Republic

Above all, the war impacted Germany politically. The war lead to the emperor being forced to resign. This power spot was filled by the Weimar Republic. The food shortages across Germany led to an extreme expressions of people’s views. Communism became widely supported in industrial cities. Germany was extremely isolated at the end of the war. Trade was hard to obtain because most of Germany’s previous trading partners now sunned Germany, preferring to do business with the victorious allies. There was a massive loss of life, suffering the death of 1.7 million young men, with another 4.3 million men being wounded, totaling over 7 million, including men who were prisoners or listed as missing. Germany has such a dense history that this period, although very important, is only part of Germany’s historical events that have impacted the society Germany has today.

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