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Last Year of the War
- a. Germany, Russia withdrawal gave new hope
- i. persuaded Ludenddorff and other Germans to try one more military move—offenseive in the west to break the military stalement
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German attack
- a. German attack was launched in March and lasted into July
- i. German forces succeeded in advancing 40 miles to Marne, but Alied counterattack by French General Ferdinand Foch and Americans, defeated the Germans at the Second Battle of the Marne on July 18
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Ludendorff
- a. Ludendorff failed and Allied forces advanced toward Germany
- i. Sept 29: Ludenddorff told German leaders that war was lost and demanded tha the government sue for peace
- ii. When Germans discovered Allies didn’t want peace, they instituted reforms to set up a liberal government, but it was too late
- 1. naval units mutinied
- 2. councils of workers and soldiers (similar to Russian soviets) formed and took over administrations
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Too late
- i. William II capitulated to public pressure and left the country, while the socialists under Friedrich Ebert announced the establishment of a republic
- 1. two days later, the armistice agreed to by the new German government went into effect
- a. war was over, but forces created by war were not
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Casualties
- i. devastating: 8-9 million soldiers died; 22 million wounded and later died
- ii. birthrate declined ue to death of men
- iii. WWI created lost generation of war veterans accustomed to violence and would form postwar bands of fighers in support of Musolini and Hitler
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Starvation
- i. Starvation, civil war, and war caused death
- 1. In 1915, using the excuse of a rebellion by the Armenian minority and their supposed collaboration with the Russians, the Turkish government began systematically to kill Armenian men and expel women and kids
- a. 600k Armenians kiiled; 500k deported; 400k died
- i. genocide
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