Example research essay topic: Rise And Fall Social And Political - 1,416 words

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On November 18 th of 1918, Germany, a member of the Central Powers, surrendered unconditionally to the allies. World War I had ended with a total of 37 million casualties, including 9 million dead combatants. German propaganda had not prepared that nation for defeat, and its suddenness resulted in a sense of injured German national pride. Following the defeat of Germany in World War I and in the midst of a great worldwide depression, both the social and political climates were prime for a dictator such as Adolf Hitler to rise to power. A year later, in June of 1919, the leaders of the Allies met at the Palace of Versailles to decide on the peace settlement after World War I. The treaty, which was a compromise of ideas from George Clemenceau, Prime minister of France, David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Vittorio Orlando, the Prime minister of Italy, and Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States.

According to the terms of the peace agreement, Germany was forced to reduce its army to 100, 000 men, reduce the navy to 6 warships and was not allowed to have any submarines, destroy all of its air force and give land to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland. This was not all, however. The allies concluded the Germany must be forced to "pay" for it's mistakes against the rest of the world, so it was also forced to hand over all of it's colonies, agree to pay reparations to the Allies for all of the damage caused by the war, a sum totaling over 6 and a half billion marks, and to accept all blame for the war in the 'War Guilt Clause'. To Germany, the Treaty of Versailles seemed as if the Allies dictated it purely on revenge.

In such a war-ravaged country, it seemed impossible for the government to pay back this incredible amount of money. Although economists at the time declared that such a huge sum could never be collected without upsetting international finances, the Allies insisted that Germany be compelled to pay, and the treaty permitted the Allies to take punitive actions if Germany were to fall behind on its payments. Many Germans did not believe that the German army had actually been defeated in 1918 because Germany had not been invaded. Many Germans, including a young Adolf Hitler, came to believe that the army had been "stabbed in the back" by the "November Criminals", the politicians who had signed the armistice which had brought the Great War to an end on the 11 th of November in 1918. Also, Germany felt that it had been made a scapegoat by the other countries involved in the war.

After all, didn't the war start when a Serbian assassinated an Austrian ruler? In any case, the German people were getting more and more restless with their government. The reparation costs were incredibly high, and Germany felt no obligation to pay them because in their minds the Allies had betrayed them, forced them to sign the treaty once they could not continue fighting. When the subsequent peace-treaty did not reflect United States President Woodrow Wilson's lenient 14 points, the myth arose that Germany had not been defeated in honest battle but by dishonest deceit. By 1920, the economy of Germany was rapidly crumbling to an all-time low. As far as natural resources, Germany was only producing three-fourths of it's possible coal production and only one-half of it's steel.

Both small and large farms alike began to declare bankruptcy due to the lack of animals available, causing a lack of fertilizer and then, bad crops of food. Between 1913 and 1919 the national debt rose from five to 154 billion gold marks, while paper money in circulation increased from two to 45 billion. "On the occupation of the Run in January 1923, it fell to 18, 000 to the dollar; by July 1, it had dropped to 160, 000; by August 1, to a million. By November, when Hitler thought his hour had struck, it took 4 billion marks to buy a dollar, and therefore the figures became trillions. " (Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany) At five billion marks, interest on the national debt was larger than the budget had been in 1913. As the gap between receipts and expenditures continued to grow in 1919, the policy of reckless borrowing, inflation, and currency devaluation continued as well. "In reality, the postwar years were almost as bad as the war itself, as far as living conditions for civilians went. People in towns lived on starvation ratios, although country people usually had eggs and butter, bread and meat for which they charged high prices. " (Grey, Ronald.

Hitler and the Germans) Between 1922 and 1923, hyperinflation set in. The value of the German mark fell from $ 600 per mark to $. 01 per mark. "By 1923, wages were paid in millions of marks, and it was necessary to pay millions for quite ordinary things. " (Grey, Ronald. Hitler and the Germans) The government had betrayed its people once again and lost what little trust and faith the middle class had in the democratic system. The far left and the far right would always oppose the Weimar Republic for this, and when the worldwide depression hit in 1930, the middle classes, with nothing left to fall back on, would join them. As one economic philosopher stated, "What good where the standards and practices of such a society, which encouraged savings and investment and solemnly promised a safe return from them and then defaulted? Was this not a fraud upon the people?" (Shirer, William. "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich") Consequently, following the strong economic unrest at that time in Germany, political unrest quickly followed.

In Berlin and Munich, left-wing Communist groups proclaimed Russian-like revolutions, only to meet violent opposition from right-wing nationalist Freikorps along with regular Army troops. Both Communists and National Socialists argued that democracy had fatal weaknesses, and that a dictatorship was necessary. Although they agreed on this, they were bitter enemies, with rival armies of citizen volunteers who often engaged in street fights. Violence regarding social and political unrest eventually prevailed and it led to Communists, Socialists and even innocent bystanders being called to appear and murdered in January, 1919, in Berlin, and in May in Munich.

In early January of 1919, approximately six months prior to the signing of the peace treaties at Versailles, a small political party called the German Workers Party was formed. This anti-Semitic, high German nationalism party was led by Anton Drexler. As stated by Hitler the party was, "This absurd little organization with its few members seemed to me to possess the one advantage that it had not frozen into an 'organization, ' but left the individual opportunity for real personal activity. Here it was still possible to work, and the smaller the movement, the more readily it could be put into the proper form. Here, the content, the goal, and the road could still be determined... " (Hitler, Adolf. Mien Kampf) On 12 th September, 1919 Adolf Hitler became a member of this Party, and at the first public meeting held in Munich, February 24 th of 1920, he announced the Party's program.

That program, which remained unaltered until the Party was dissolved in 1945, consisted of 25 points, including these five which where the basic standings on which the German Worker's Party was based: "Point 1. We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany, on the basis of the right of self-determination of peoples. Point 2. We demand equality of rights for the German People in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the peace treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain. Point 3.

We demand land and territory for the sustenance of our people, and the colonization of our surplus population. Point 4. Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race... Point 22.

We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army. " Of these goals, the one that seems to most pertinent to the party was the removal of the "disgrace" of the Armistice, and the restrictions of the peace treaties of Versailles and Saint Germ...

Research essay sample on Rise And Fall Social And Political