The Weimar government is said to be a democracy giving power to the people. I don’t hear my voice being heard? Who asked me whether I wanted to take Germany out of the war? No one. The November Criminals were only in power for two days before they decided to take our great nation out of the war. Were we losing? No. We were nowhere close to losing yet. Yes maybe things could have gotten even worse, but maybe things would have looked up! France and Great Britain claimed that they would invade Germany. We have already shown the strength or our military in France. I will admit that we probably could not take both Great Britain and France but we could have held off a little longer so that we did not look like such a weak nation. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles made this nation look like it was basically diminished. The allied powers took anything and everything they wanted and the Weimar government agreed without even making a stand! And don’t even get me started on the war guilt clause! How can they blame Germany for causing the war? Yes our military built up considerably before the war but Great Britain’s navy was growing rapidly as well. The Schiefflin plan was only a plan of action so that Germany would never have to fight on two friends. It was a defensive measure not a means of attack. The Weimar government should understand this and get the point out to the allied powers. But instead the government just stepped aside and let them have all of the control.
The Treaty of Versailles basically cut up all of Germany and just spread it out all over the place. How can the Weimar government just let them do this? Germany has worked hard and built up its military in order to keep the land that it has and the government is just going to give it up without a fight? In the Franco-Prussian War we won Alsace-Loraine but now the Weimar government has given it up? Not to mention the 100% of pre war colonies that we had to give back! I do know that trying to keep all of the land would have been impossible but putting up a fight would have at least showed us the people that they tried to do what was best for our country. All around the country we have different groups of people, while most support the Weimar government many do not. The government is supposed to protect the people of its country but so far they have only shown their weaknesses. When the spartacists began to uprise and revolt against them they had to call in for help from the freikorp. What kind of government cannot only protect themselves but also its people? Also how do they expect the working class to be able to pay for the necessities with the inflation the way it is because of the reparations? Milk is now a fortune but the fortune that many people make now is useless because money is basically useless. I understand that we have never been a democratic country but how did they not know printing more money would cause inflation? I have begun to burn the money now just to stay warm because it is otherwise useless. People everywhere are just like me, trying to survive in an economy that is dwindling because of the horrible Weimar government!
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Maddison,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on the economy and the land distribution. In my opinion, the Weimar Republic did do a terrible job managing the economy. Printing more money was not a good idea and that was obvious from the massive inflation that took place. I also agree with your points on the land and the Weimar being to weak to keep its country/people together. I brought up that point as well in my piece. I didn't understand either how a government could just let their people get taken from them without some sort of protest. However, I don't agree with you 100% about the War. You said that Germany, "could have held off a little longer so that we did not look like such a weak nation." So does that mean you think Germany would not have looked weak if they would have been defeated a month later by the allies? I think that no matter what, Germany was going to lose their nationalistic pride. The people wanted victory and nothing else. Either way, surrendering now or surrendering later, the Weimar Republic was going to be seen as a weak government.
Brad
Oh but Brad...who said they would have to surrender if they stuck in the war longer?? Germany started this war going full steam ahead. This confidence and determination gave them a critical advantage over their opponents. They basically tore through Belgium like butter and made quick work of France and even got within just miles of Paris. The Government made the decision to lessen their efforts. In their minds they had the war "in the bag" and did not strictly follow the Shleiffen Plan. However, when the Allied Powers stepped up their resistance, German troops were taken aback. They were finally encountering opposition and did not know what to do. They got pushed back. They lost many men. BUT...hope was not lost! They had made some major progress and as soon as someone "whipped" them back into gear, they could have kept on going full steam ahead! The war was not lost untill the November Criminals signed that document. No one will never know if Germany could have won the war. I must admit it was looking a little rough for them but there was still a chance to finish what they started and the Weimar Government did not have enough faith in their troops to give them a chance to do so.
ReplyDeleteAnd Maddison...I completely agree with what you have said here. The Weimar Government gave up on their country. It is ridiculous to have accepted the terms of that treaty. They should not have had to take FULL credit for the cause of war. The amount of debt they were left with was ridiculous. They let their lands get divided into other countries. The government failed the people of Germany.
First of all editing is your best friend maddison, use it ;). But, past that I agree with a lot of what you said. I too thought accepting the TOV was a poor decision on the part of the government, but you make it seem almost like the Weimars did it out of spite. Could it not have been that they realized (as you've said) that Democracy was a new concept in Germany and that it would be almost impossible to put in place a brand new type of government AND fight the largest war in the history of the world at that time? If you think about it that way, dont you have to be a little bit nicer to the Weimar's? I mean sure they did give up a lot, but wasnt it because they had the best of intentions to give the German people freedoms they hadnt experienced since the founding of their country?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I completely agree that printing money to solve the economic problems was a horrible idea. Instead of throwing money at the problem, which never works, they should have focused on public relations to turn around their trade deficit and jump start their economy
I agree with Kyle and Maddison. The government accepting the TOV was a poor decision. which isnt a big surprised based on all the other decisions that had been made.The weimar republic wasnt ready to be in control. They took control and then didnt know what to do. This is shown by them printing off the mass money and causing inflation. Why would any government pull out of a war they were winning. The weimar government made several critical mistakes that hurt germany which is why i dont agree with kyle about being nicer to the weimar republic. no they didnt do any of these things out of spite, but they did them without thinking the plan all the way through. They should have thought about their citizens more and though their decisions through.
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