Chapter Twelve Continued: The Aftermath of Defeat

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

From the Heidelberger Platz onward, the streets were black with people. A great excitement lay upon them. The tension grew. People thought they heard distant drum-beats. A wave of shouts rolled along the streets. The stewards formed a chain to hold back the mass of people. And now the trumpets were indeed approaching.

And then came the sight that caused many in the crowd to weep. Men as well as women, moved by a feeling of humanity's common fate, remembering the long war and all the dead. Did the people see the troops? They were looking at the long war, at victories and at the defeats. Before them a piece of their own life was marching past, with wagons and horses, machine-guns and cannons. (1)

The joy at seeing the troops return from war in Germany was bittersweet, beause unlike the allied forces who would at least be going home victorious, Germany had been defeated. The Empire had lost more than two million to battle and disease, with another four million injured.

And they now had to deal with the humiliation of the victors claiming the spoils, not only in forced reparations but in the de-militarization of the country, as foreign soldiers now sought out and confiscated most of the means for the country to defend itself.

Armament factories were closed, throwing people out of work and many of the returning soldiers were forced to go on relief.

And as despair turned to anger, they began looking for someone to blame. In the beer halls talk turned to the "enemy within" and "being stabbed in the back", and a new enemy of "traitors" emerged. And to fight the traitors they began to stockpile weapons, "rescued" before the allied victors could take them and hidden in safe spots.

The struggle was nourished on a wild hatred from man to man.

No quarter was given, no prisoners taken. From a dark thicket in the Black Forest, Erzberger, the minister who induced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles, was shot. One night a few young men swore a mortal oath over their wine and beer; next morning, feverish and overwrought, they drove out in a car, overtook another car, and shot Minister Rathenau with an automatic. Deputy Gareis planned to attack the army of secret murderers in the Bavarian parliament; the night before the session he came home late. As he was opening the door, two shots rang out in the darkness. Gareis was dead, his murderers were never found.

Men vanished without trace; how many corpses the woods concealed can only be guessed; a woman was found dead at the foot of a tree, over her head a note was pinned with the words: 'Lousy bitch, you've betrayed the fatherland. So you are judged by the Black Hand.' One Pohner was president of the Munich police, a brilliant official, an extraordinary jurist; later he became a judge of the highest court in Bavaria. Someone said to him that beyond a doubt there were organizations of murderers at large. With an icy glance through his pince-nez, Pohner, the judge, replied: 'Yes, but too few!' (2)

This was the new Germany and this was the Germany where Adolfus Hitler, grandson of an unwed peasant girl, would find his true calling.

Sources:

1. Germany After the First World War, By: Richard Bessel, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1993, ISBN: 0-19-821938-5

2. Der Fhehrer, Hitler's Rise to Power, By: Konrad Heiden, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1944, Pg. 24

Chapter Eleven Continued: The German Revolution

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

The German Revolution began with the Wilhelmshaven Mutiny when a group of sailors refused orders to continue fighting, when the war was already clearly lost.

They felt that they would be risking their lives for nothing.

This mutiny led to further protest against the war and anger at the Kaiser for allowing it to go on as long as he had.

“It is often said that a true revolution in Germany in 1918 never took place. All that really happened was a breakdown. It was only the temporary weakness of the police and army in the moment of military defeat which let a mutiny of sailors appear as a revolution.

At first sight, one can see how wrong and blind this is comparing 1918 with 1945. In 1945 there really was a breakdown. Certainly a mutiny of sailors started the revolution in 1918 but it was only a start. What made it extraordinary is that a mere sailors' mutiny triggered an earthquake which shook all of Germany; that the whole home army, the whole urban workforce and in Bavaria a part of the rural population rose up in revolt. This revolt was not just a mutiny anymore, it was a true revolution ... As in any revolution, the old order was replaced by the beginnings of a new one. It was not only destructive but also creative. ... (1)

The anger spread across the country and resulted in the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the emergence of the Weimar Republic. Given the political climate, Germany officially surrendered and the Treaty of Versailles put an end to the war.

But the arbitrary nature of the treaty, was a devastating blow to the country and would become a rallying cry for the future Nazi Party. Germany under the treaty had to take sole responsibility for the war, and make reparations to other countries at a time when they were already heavily in debt.

It rendered them almost impotent and when the horrors of war faded, they were replaced with the horrors of that treaty.

The Weimar Republic was doomed to fail.

Chapter Twelve: The Aftermath of War

Sources:

1. Der Verrat, By: Sebastian Haffner, Berlin, 2000, ISBN 3-930278-00-6