carlos h upegui | World War II | | | HIS122 | 11/27/2012 |
Middlesex County College. |
At the end of world war one Germany was left broken battered and insulted. Germany lost over 1.5 million lives during the war and almost as many after the war due to famine and starvation caused by the allied blockade, as well as an economy devastated by the reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The loss of human life added to the cripple economy was only made worse by being forced to take full responsibility for the war. These were some of them reasons the German people felt backstabbed and betrayed by those who sign the peace terms. The Allies failed to realize that they were opening the door and creating the right circumstances for new conflict. Adolf Hitler recognized the opportunity and wasted no time in taking advantage of the circumstances set by the Allies to take over Germany and carry out his plan. Germany sustained the most casualties in the war; they lost more than 1 million soldiers in what was the deadliest conflict to date. Industrialization and new modern inventions such as tanks and artillery helped generate a larger death toll than ever expected. Neither side expected so many casualties as new technologies became available to the military they weaponize and send out to the front lines without the proper testing or technique to effectively use these weapons. They only generated more casualties. As well as trench warfare resulted in added disease and injuries such as trench foot, pneumonia and battle fatigue generated additional casualties behind the lines. The inventions of chemical warfare in the form of mustard gas also help to increase the death toll. As the war machine torture the countryside it increase civilian death toll due to famine and starvation, as his new war machines since tanks and artillery destroyed countless fields. Estimated totals list killed or missing in action and died of wounds as high as 1,796,000, the official German medical were history listed 2, 036, 897 military dead including colonial troops and missing presumed dead.
By December of 1918 German officials estimated civilian deaths totaling 762,796 due to the allied blockade this figure did not include deaths do to the Spanish flu epidemic brought to Europe by the American troops in 1928 a German academic study sponsored by day Carnegie for international peace providing a thorough analysis of the German civilian deaths during the war. The study estimated 424,000 war related civilian over the age of one deaths in Germany not including Alsace-Lorraine. Civilian deaths were attributed to food and fuel shortages from 1917 to 1918 the study also estimated in 1918 and additional to 209 000 deaths attributed to the Spanish flu. Dr. Max Weber in an April 1919 article claims that 100,000 German civilians had died due to continue blockade of Germany after the armistice.
The blockade imposed by the Allies and Germany has most noticeably been blame for the deaths of most civilian Germans doing and after the war. The blockade prevented valuable supplies such as food medicines and many other items intended for a test the population from reaching his destination. The Allies maintain the naval blockade of Germany had begun during the war. As Germany was dependent on imports the terms of the armistice did I allow food to be shipped into Germany with allies required Germany to provide the ships. German government was unable to secure the resources it needed to do so. Allied warships remain in place against a possible resumption of hostilities, and relief effort was finally organize 1919 before shipments were still dependent entirely in allied goodwill. The Treaty of Versailles cover different areas, it took away lands that were again over the war but I gave Germany a strategic advantage. The following lands were taken from Germany Alsace-Lorraine which was given to France, Eupen and Malmedy given to Belgium, North and
