Impact of the war on Germany by 1918
By 1918, Germany was in a state of chaos – the war was crippling its economy and the citizens of Germany were suffering. Its army had been overpowered by the Allies, many men were killed and by the 8th August, the Allies had broken through the ‘impregnable’ Hindenburg Line. The German population was also suffering a national bout of Spanish influenza and this, combined with the lack of food and hygiene, caused a fatal blow for many of Germany’s citizens with millions of deaths.
The war had left Germany bankrupt with nearly all of its money being used in the war effort. With the war coming to a close, Germany had to begin restarting a non-wartime procedure for the returning soldiers and its citizens. With so many men lost in the war, a third of the states budget was being used by widowed families and soldiers no longer fit to serve in the army. Whilst this allowed families to recuperate after the war, it put the country’s budget into a dilemma. The state could not afford to pay all of its workers and so many Germans were dismissed and many of the remaining Germans had a pay-cut. This, in turn, meant that there was not a lot of money to be spent on the industry and other parts of the citizen’s lifestyle. The German industry was suffering as with a low population and no money remaining in the country’s budget, many factories, which brought money into Germany, were forced to shut down due to debt and a lack of funding. The Treaty of Versailles was introduced at a chaotic time and the reparations forced on Germany were not advisable for a country in a major economic plunge.
