Germany Essay Partial 3

     Germany was the main country involved in World War Two. Actually, this country started all the problems in Europe and in the rest of the world. One of the causes of World War Two was the strong nationalism and feeling of superiority by the Germans implemented by Hitler. Everything started when Hitler didn’t follow the treaty of Versailles and wanted to conquer other places. The first movement made by the Germans was the creation of a military army and the demilitarization of the Rhineland zone. France and Great Britain didn’t care about the consequences of this events.

      In 1938, Hitler’s first move was the creation of Anschluss (union of Austria with Germany)in which he used propaganda and sent followers to spread the idea of Nazism to convince Austrians to join him. In the same year, Hitler also convinced France and Great Britain to ask Czechoslovaquia for Sudetenland but he took all the country. By 1939, the Policy of Appeasement made by the Allies to grant Germany some concesions for economic recovery and to avoid a new war, was completely broken. Also, Hitler signed up the Nazi-Soviet pact with the USSR, in which he would have a free hand in Poland without the counterattack of Stalin because they agreed to have peaceful relations. The Second World War officially started on September the 1st, 1939 when Germany attacked Poland having the pretext of a supposed attack to German borders. Great Britain gave Hitler two days to step out of poland but he didn't give up. war was finally declared in Europe.

     In 1940, Hitler did great advances. He invaded Norway, Luxemburg, Belgium, Netherlands and France. In May, he surprised the French by passing the Maginot line through the ocean by Belgium and on June 22 France signed an armistice with Germany giving up two thirds of France, named France of Vichy. On August of the same year, Hilter made the Operation Barbarosa, which purposa was attacking Great Britain and mainly London by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights. More than a million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed. One characteristic of his advances was that he focused his objective extremely to achieve his goals.

    Months later, he focused on the west side on Europe and made the Operation Barbarossa, he tried to attack against USSR by entering to Moscow, named the Batlle of Stalingrad, but he failed making the same mistake Napoleon did. The bad conditions of the weather and place many german soldiers died, weakening the army. This was the major defeat.In the other side, Hitler became really andry and stressed because he was losing and he couldn't be defeated and due to the defeats of Mussolini in North Africa, he created a Military trained and equipped army for war in the desert named Africa Korps leaded by Edwin Rommel. 

       The allied Victory in North Africa enabled the invasion of Italy, and when Italy surrenders, Germany took over the battle. On 1942 USA inviteew

d Mexicans citizens to participate in WW2, Mexico accepts. German Submarine attacks by sinking a oil tank of and a merchandise ship of Mexico. Mexico gets mad and declares war to Germany in May 1 in 1942.

      In 1945 Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Union. Hitler was much in stressed; he didn’t trust anyone, because of all the countries and persons that betray him. Defeated, Hitler on April 1945 decided to hide with his close followers and his wife and commit suicide. On February the “Yalta Conference” was created and they discussed about Germany, they were afraid of his actions so they supervised and make sure they were no more troubles there, no more war and no more troubles.. or that was what they thought. Germany was supervised from everywhere and Berlin was separated in two, the communist part and the capitalist part, having many social, economical and political problems. This events marked a new stage in this country.

     In one way, USSR sought to weaken Germany to avoid future war, and promote communism; on the other hand, the Western Allies (USA, UK, and France) wanted to reassert democracy and rebuild German industry against communist ideology. Germany was the country where the Cold War, manifested most clearly. With the assistance of the German Communist Party leadership, the Soviet occupying power pushed ahead with political and social change. This concentrated all political and social functions in the hands of the German communists and the persons they trusted. 

      After 1947 Germany was divided in two: East and West sectors, the division being formalized following the Berlin blockade 1948–49 and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Rapid militarization ensued on both sides of the East–West border as Germany became front line in the Cold War. Later East Germany disintegrated and the reunification of Germany took place in 1990. 

     The construction of the berlin wall began early in the morning of Sunday, August 13, 1961. It was a desperate & effective move by the German Democratic Republic to stop East Berliners escaping from the Soviet-controlled East German state into the West of the city, which was then occupied by the Americans, British and French.

      We must say that Germany was a very problematic country and was involved in so many troubles because its feeling of superiority implemented by Hitler. Although he was very intelligent, he didn't use his brain to do something good to the country or to the world, he was very ambicious but finally was defeated. He did terrible things to innocent people and created troubles that could be avoided. 


Video of the development of war*(:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5SxG68KSM

Bibliography

German Side of World War 2. 13 April 2011 <http://germanyinworldwar2.com/>.

History. 14 April 2011 <http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/ww2/nazi-germany.html>.

Jackson J. Spielvogel, PH.D. World History Modern Times. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008.

Team:

Gabriela Rivera   A01175709

Valeria Garza     A01175851

Carolina Garza   A01175854

Germany Essay Partial 2

Timeline

Year	Event
1919	Treaty of Versailles: Germany loses colonies and land to neighbors, pays large-scale reparations.
1923	Adolf Hitler, head of the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party, leads an abortive coup in a Munich beer hall.
1924	Hitler writes Mein Kampf - "My Struggle" - in prison.
1924	The Night of the Long Knives.
1929	Global depression, mass unemployment.
	Third Reich
1933	Hitler becomes chancellor. Weimar Republic gives way to a one-party state. Systematic persecution of Germany's Jews escalates. Hitler proclaims the Third Reich in 1934.
1935	Germany begins to re-arm. Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.
1935	Hitler creates new law ‘Nuremberg law’ that stated that all Jews born in Germany lose their rights and jobs.
1936	Hitler supported the Guernica Battle for testing weapons. & the same year creates an alliance with Mussolini.
1938	Annexation of Austria and Sudetenland.
1938	The night of the Broken Crystals. Objective: destroy everything Jews got.
1939-1945	Invasion of Poland triggers World War II.
1941	Hitler said that all jewish people had to wear a yellow star in public. Millions of people of all ages, mostly Jews but also large numbers of Gypsies, Slavs and other races, the disabled and homosexuals, die in the Holocaust as the Nazis implement an extermination policy in the death camps of eastern Europe.
1945	German army defeated. Allies divide Germany into occupation zones.
1945-1946	Nuremberg war crimes trials.

Holocaust

When talking about history, probably one of the countries which was involved in many problems or perhaps EVERY problem in Europe was Germany. During the twentieth century, Germany had a lot of troubles starting with World War One. As we commented in the blog before, Germany was one of the greatest powers during that war, and after it ended, the country was left completely destroyed, humiliated, with many deaths, poverty, and of course a big debt it had to pay to the countries affected by them.

The debt of Germany was approximately of $35,000 million dollars plus the money spent in the recovery of the country and after the stocks collapsed in US, 1929, disastrous effects were spread worldwide. The German economy was especially vulnerable since it was built over foreign capital, mostly loans from America and was very dependent on exportation and commerce. As production levels fell, German workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed throughout Germany. Savings accounts, the result of years of hard work, were instantly wiped out. Inflation soon followed making it hard for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued money. The Great Depression began and they were cast into poverty and deep misery and began looking for a solution, any solution.

During Totalitarian Regimes, Nazism emerged and was influenced by Benito Mussolini. Hitler was the ruler and he promised a new Germany that appealed to nationalism and militarism, Hitler became chancellor on 1933, he gave the enabling act where all the things he wished were granted and legal.

Hitler later on made a new kind of bodyguard army which was called The Schotzstaffel by short “SS”. Its purpose was to protect him from all of his enemies, but later on they were used to eliminate Jews. Then the Nuremberg law was made and proclaimed that all Jews had to wear the Star of David on top of their clothes. They were threaded badly, poorly, didn’t had rights, and they were sent to concentration camps, where horrible things happened to them.

The reason World War Two surged is simple: Hitler wanted to gain territories and conquer the world. WWII also is the most disastrous war in history of mankind, there were fifty million people lost their lives at battles. There are three major events or turning points that marked the start and the middle stage of the war were: the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Japanese attacks to China in 1931 & 1937, and the attacks to Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Since Germany was completely humiliated and forced to follow the Treaty of Versailles, their desire of vengeance and its superiority grew. Hitler secretly conspired against the Treaty of Versailles to accomplish his goals and wishes. He first built up an army and in 1936 sent them into the demilitarized zone of Rhineland, then persuaded Austrians and annexed them to Germany with an Alliance named Anschluss. After this nothing happened, because France and Great Britain, which signed the policy of appeasement, thought nothing would happen. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the allies agreed to give Sudetenland to Germany and Hitler took all Czechoslovaquia and invaded Poland.

When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was created. The Nazis began arresting communists, socialists and labor leaders. Dachau became a training center for concentration.

Jewish people were threaded badly, they were being sent at concentration camps and didn’t have rights, they were humiliated and they felt very isolated by the German population. They had to live by the rights of the Nuremberg law in which they were separated by the Germans legally and also The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor." In which they were consisted under a race.

To conclude, we must say that Germany has been very brave and strong to begin both world wars and after each of them, with hard work and effort, recover and raise its economy. Its nationalism and spirit of prosperity both benefited them because its economy increased but also harmed them thanks to their desires and thoughts of having more power. Germany became very powerful when the Nazi party surged and was popular, but with the holocaust and Hitler's ambition of expansion and "purification of the Aryan race" all its respect and power fell down.

Bibliography

A teacher's guide to the Holocaust. 13 March 2011 <http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/timeline/nazifica.htm>.

BBC NEWS. March 2011 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1053880.stm>.

German Side in World War Two. 13 March 2011 <http://germanyinworldwar2.com/>.

The History Place. 13 March 2011 <http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/begins.htm>.

team: 

Gabriela Rivera      A01175709

Valeria Lopez        A01175851

Carolina Garza       A01175854

Germany Essay

Germany

Germany was involved in many troubles during certain periods in time, mainly in the XX Century. Some of this events were the Imperialism, the World War I, and the Russian Revolution. However, after all this events that happened to the world, Germany had a full-recover and nowadays is the biggest economic power in Europe. But behind that economic stability is a big story to tell.

Aproximately from the end of latest XIX's and early XX's, Germany participated in the stage of Imperialism. One of the main reasons it entered was its propaganda, which made their Nationalism increase and became stronger by time. Later on, some countries began to feel humiliated and inferior. This caused a lot of tension and controversy. In the other hand, the owning of many colonies in Africa caused rivalries and problems among European countries.

Most of the modern writers use the world imperialism in the sense of control over other territories, especially in Asia and Africa. In other words imperialism is when a country conquest new lands and rules them as they want.  Germans had a short duration overseas colonial empire (from the 1880s to the end of the First World War). They ruled over many territories in Africa as well as some Pacific Islands, they were uncertain if their colonies should serve as white settlement areas or for economic exploitation.

Modern Statistical studies of overseas investment in the period of 1914 have shown that only a certain proportion of the money was invested in the subtropical territories in Asia and Africa. Germans invested just 2 percent in their colonies. With the increasing of industrialization the countries needed new markets so the amount to territories governed by Britain and France increased rivalry with Germany, who by the way entered lately to the ‘scramble to acquire colonies’ and only had small territory of Africa. The major powers that had interest in the scramble and partition of East Africa were:  Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Italy.

In the stage of World War I, one of the principal causes was the strong military forces and armies built by Germany during the Armed Peace (1871-1914). After the stroke in Autria-Hungary, Germany supported them became a member of the Triple Alliance along with Italy.

The War became official when Great Britain declares war to Germany on August 4 1914, when Germany declared war on France, saying that they were upon Germany’s territory. But before all of this, on June 22 1914 Gavrilo Princip killed the Archeduke Francis Ferdinand and his Wife Sophie, Austria got very angry with the Serbian’s because of the Death of Ferdinand, so they wanted to fight them. Austria declared that they would go against Yugoslavia but they hesitated a lot because Yugoslavia held a defensive treaty with Russia. Austria had a defensive treaty with Germany, Germany told Austria to begin the war and if became a big conflict, Germany would help.  Germany wanted this to happen because if Austria declined Germany offer, they would have a lot of enemies. Also Germany thought that Russia was going to back down and they would win. Germany allied with Turkey and both said that they could defeat any European country and Germany also had the help of England, England wouldn’t enter war if Russia was the aggressor.

         The battle of Tannenberg was caused when 2 Russian Armies Invaded German East Prussia in August 1914. One army was under General P.K Rennenkampf and the 2^nd was under A.V Samsonov. German Commanders Paul Von Hindenburg and Eric Ludendorff, use the a plan devised by Lieutenant Max Hoffman, they threw all their strength to Samsonov’s army near Uzdowo, he lost half of his army, and on August 29 he commit suicide. This was a crushing defeat to Russia and a Victory to Germany.

     At the end of August the 3 armies of Germany were seeping south towards Paris. The French 5^th and 6^th armies and Brithis Expeditionary Force were in retreat.  Joffre the commander in Chief of French army planned to attack Germany on September 6^th the commander of the Brithis Army agreed to join the attack on the German Forces. On September 9^th General Helmuth Von Moltke German commander to Germany retreat. By September 10^th the Battle of Marne was over.

      German General Erich Von Falkenhayn developed a battle plan for attacking Verdun, France a city protected of underground forts, This began in mid February 1916 and ended in December, this battle symbolized the French the strength of their armed forced and the solidarity of their nation.

        Germany Came with the Schlieffen Plan.  The plan basically called for quick, encircling movements that would surround and destroy the enemy. This plan was use for Attacking, it was Germany’s wish to end this war quickly by attacking France immediately and before Russia had the chance. The plan involved attacking Belgium and the go to South into France. The Belgians fought back, making it hard for Germany to carry the plan.

        The treaty of Versailles affected a lot Germany, Germany was to blame for all the causes and damages that occurred, Had to pay for damages, had to give some of its lands, even their weapons. Their Dept was of 3500 million dollars and they were being observed by the allies.

 Countries started to collapsed, so on November 11 an armistice was signed, this was when the world war 1 came to an end, years after suffering.

         When talking about the Russian Revolution, we may think that Germany had nothing to do with it, but that’s not true. During the great War, Lenin was in neutral Switzerland, but he needed to get back to Russia. But to get there, he had to pass through a big fighting country: Germany. Given that the Germans at that time hated communism, Lenin thought they wouldn't let him pass.

 The German government hoped that sending Lenin to Russia would destabilize Russia further and force it to stop hostilities with Germany, so they did it. As soon as he arrived on April 16, 1917, he was greeted by a cheering crowd of followers. Soon, he became the leader of the Bolshevik movement. later on was  “October Revolution" and one of his first acts, once in power, was to end Russia’s involvement in the war, so Russia asked Germany for peace. in the other hand, Germany left Russia with no choice than giving up their territories to step down the war. 

On March 3, 1918, Russia gave up its claims to its lost territory in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This left Germany able to concentrate more on its Western Front against France and Great Britain. Unfortunately, it was too late for Germany. Maybe the October Revolution would have helped the Germans more if it had come sooner. However, by 1918, Germany’s ability to make war had been greatly reduced and it was only a matter of time before it would have to gave up.

As a conclusion, we must say that Germany had a really big influence in the World and made a lot of changes mainly in Europe. Germans by nature feel superior and always want more and more than they have. Also, they work hardly to improve their country and be the greatest. But this beliefs also brought awful consequences to its country and many others.

Bibliography

Sociberty. 21 December 2007. 10 February 2011 <http://socyberty.com/history/germanys-involvement-in-russias-communist-revolution/>.

Frontline. Great War. 9 February 2011 <http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_verdun.html>.

Korsmo, Joseph and Giddings Owen. First World War. 9 February 2011 <http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/germanyduringww1.htm>.

Spielvogel, Jackson J. World History Modern Times. Columbus: McGrawHill, 2008.

 History on the net. 9th de February de 2011 <http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/causes.htm>.

Lowe, John. «Imperialism.» Lowe, John. The great powers, imperialism, and the German problem, 1865-1925. USA & Canada: Routledge, 1994.

 Team:

Gabriela Rivera      A01175709.

Valeria Lopez       A01175851.

Carolina Garza      A01175854.