HISTORY 322 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Adolf Hitler, Weimar Republic, Nazism
HISTORY 322
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1:
● Historians and World War I:
● Interlocking alliances and (Im)Balances of Power
○ Germany was not in alliance with many people
○ Russia alliance with w austro-hungary and
○ Alliances don’t “start” anything, can still be allies without actually engaging in WWI
■ Provide justification to say
○ Germany felt encircled and paranoid
■ Flipside of interlocking alliance system
■ Really late as a player on the imperial playground
● Wanted to seize territory overseas to be competitive as a global power
scale
○ East as a territory for German expansion
○ East = russia - powerful and allies with -
■ Britain → had huge imperial reach
■ France
● Germany’s own lack of confidence viewed other countries as threats
■ Hadn’t been a unified nation for a long while
○ Fischer Controversy: Fritz Fischer challenged predominant interpretation of WOrld War I
by German historians in 1961
■ Because of sense of belatedness and thwarted in development, Germans felt like
they had to take a chance and act on the world stage to realize potential
● Feeling of being short handed provoked war when it was not necessary
■ Historians hated this → justified as necessity rather than sense of aggression
○ Explaining the first world war today: Fischer’s thesis remain widely accepted with some
important qualifications:
■ Nationalism run rampant
● Serbia
● Smaller cultural communities that were part of larger empires strived for
natural independence
● France, English, Italians celebrated progress (inspired smaller countries)
■ Technological ability to wage war
● Put new inventions to the test
● Late 19th century - Brits, French, Germans put their weapons of mass
destruction to test in the colonies
○ Technology led to belief in short war
■ Belief in a short war
● Allowed them to wage a different kind of war - however strategies were
built off of older wars
■ Inevitability of war
● So much tension bc people were wrapped up in nationalism
● “War was going to come anyway” - most Europeans view
○ Not if but when
○ When is most opportunistic moment to enter war?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ German’s wanted to be proactive, why they acted why they did
in 1914
■ Had most to gain from a war
● The Trigger and the Spirit:
● Blaming trigger makes it a top heavy story
● June 28th, 1914 - Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his
wife, only heirs to Hapsburg empire
○ Blamed serbian govt. For this
■ Worried how they would keep this empire together
● Short road to war - July Crisis:
○ July 23rd, Habsburg Monarchy issues ultimatum to Serbia
○ July 28th, Austria-Hungary rejects the serbian response and declares war on serbia
○ July 30th, Russia orders full mobilization
○ August 1st, Germany declares war on Russia
○ August 3rd, Germany declares war on France
○ August 4th, German troops march into neutral Belgium
● Germany gives Austria-Hungary carte blanche - will support them in war no matter what happens
● Was not clear what Germans were going to war for - had no war plans
○ One plan = Schlieffen Plan
● German Mobilization: in the first ten days, Germany mobilized a total of 185,000 volunteers
○ Outbreak of euphoria - so many volunteers that they can’t even accommodate / be
mobilized
○ Great Britain faces similar response - who school classes enlisted (fight with friends)
■ Problematic statement because it was not always true, many were weary
● Cautious voices pre-war - however once war broke out this was thrown out the window
● Kaiser Wilhelm II: no longer recognizes police, only recognizes Germans
○ Once declaration has been made, nationalism becomes the idea that countries rally
around
■ Produces spirit of war euphoria
● Burgfrieden = civil truce
○ Explained why the war was fought in this way in Germany
■ Agreement with socialists/trade unionists - imperial govt. made a deal that for the
duration of the war they would bury the hatchet and agree to put Germany first
● No strike
● No demand for higher wages
● No furthering of agendas pushed
■ Very important because germany had the strongest labor movements
■ Voted for war credits that allowed imperial govt. to go to war (important because
many socialists were in congress)
● Socialists disagreed with this decision
○ Socialists split between if this was the right move or not
■ Socialism = piece - don’t enable them
●
●
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Germany was not in alliance with many people. Alliances don"t start anything, can still be allies without actually engaging in wwi. Really late as a player on the imperial playground. Wanted to seize territory overseas to be competitive as a global power scale. East as a territory for german expansion. East = russia - powerful and allies with - Germany"s own lack of confidence viewed other countries as threats. Hadn"t been a unified nation for a long while. Fischer controversy: fritz fischer challenged predominant interpretation of world war i by german historians in 1961. Because of sense of belatedness and thwarted in development, germans felt like they had to take a chance and act on the world stage to realize potential. Feeling of being short handed provoked war when it was not necessary. Historians hated this justified as necessity rather than sense of aggression. Explaining the first world war today: fischer"s thesis remain widely accepted with some important qualifications:
