Editing German Empire (section)

===World War I===
{{See also|History of Germany during World War I}}

====Origins====
{{Main|German entry into World War I}}
[[File:WWI-re.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Map of the world showing the participants in World War I. Those fighting on the [[Triple Entente|Entente]]'s side (at one point or another) are depicted in green, the [[Central Powers]] in orange, and neutral countries in grey.]]

Following the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]] by [[Gavrilo Princip]], the Kaiser offered Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]] full support for Austro-Hungarian plans to invade the [[Kingdom of Serbia]], which Austria-Hungary blamed for the assassination. This unconditional support for Austria-Hungary was called a "blank cheque" by historians, including German [[Fritz Fischer (historian)|Fritz Fischer]]. Subsequent interpretation – for example at the [[Versailles Peace Conference]] – was that this "blank cheque" licensed Austro-Hungarian aggression regardless of the diplomatic consequences, and thus [[War Guilt Clause|Germany bore responsibility for starting the war]], or at least provoking a wider conflict.

Germany began the war by targeting its chief rival, France. Germany saw the French Republic as its principal danger on the European continent as it could mobilize much faster than Russia and bordered Germany's industrial core in the [[Rhineland]]. Unlike Britain and Russia, the French entered the war mainly for revenge against Germany, in particular for France's [[Franco-Prussian War|loss]] of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] to Germany in 1871. The German high command knew that France would muster its forces to go into Alsace-Lorraine. Aside from the very unofficial [[Septemberprogramm]], the Germans never stated a clear list of goals that they wanted out of the war.{{Sfnp|Stibbe|2006|pp=176–178}}

====Western Front====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R19231, Berlin, Mobilmachung.jpg|thumb|German troops being mobilized, 1914]]

Germany did not want to risk lengthy battles along the Franco-German border and instead adopted the [[Schlieffen Plan]], a military strategy designed to cripple France by [[Rape of Belgium|invading Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], sweeping down to encircle and crush both Paris and the French forces along the Franco-German border in a quick victory. After defeating France, Germany would turn to attack Russia. The plan required violating the official neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, which [[British Empire|Britain]] had guaranteed by treaty. However, the Germans had calculated that Britain would enter the war regardless of whether they had formal justification to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Schlieffen Plan {{!}} German military history |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Schlieffen-Plan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802075838/https://www.britannica.com/event/Schlieffen-Plan |archive-date=2 August 2019 |access-date=18 May 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> At first the attack was successful: the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] swept down from Belgium and Luxembourg and advanced on Paris, at the nearby river [[Marne (river)|Marne]]. However, the evolution of weapons over the last century heavily favored defense over offense, especially thanks to the machine gun, so that it took proportionally more offensive force to overcome a defensive position. This resulted in the German lines on the offense contracting to keep up the offensive timetable while correspondingly the French lines were extending. In addition, some German units that were originally slotted for the German far-right were transferred to the Eastern Front in reaction to Russia mobilizing far faster than anticipated. The combined effect had the German right flank sweeping down in front of Paris instead of behind it exposing the German Right flank to the extending French lines and attack from strategic French reserves stationed in Paris. Attacking the exposed German right flank, the [[French Army]] and the [[British Army]] put up a strong resistance to the defense of Paris at the [[First Battle of the Marne]], resulting in the German Army retreating to defensive positions along the river [[Aisne (river)|Aisne]]. A subsequent [[Race to the Sea]] resulted in a long-held stalemate between the German Army and the Allies in dug-in [[trench warfare]] positions from [[Alsace]] to [[Flanders]].
[[File:Karte Brigadestandorte des Deutschen Heers 1914.png|thumb|left|German Army positions, 1914]]{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

German attempts to break through failed at the two battles of [[Ypres]] ([[First Battle of Ypres|1st]]/[[Second Battle of Ypres|2nd]]) with huge casualties. A series of allied offensives in 1915 against German positions in [[Second Battle of Artois|Artois]] and [[Second Battle of Champagne|Champagne]] resulted in huge allied casualties and little territorial change. German [[Chief of Staff]] [[Erich von Falkenhayn]] decided to exploit the defensive advantages that had shown themselves in the 1915 Allied offensives by attempting to goad France into attacking strong defensive positions near the ancient city of [[Verdun]]. Verdun had been one of the last cities to hold out against the German Army in 1870, and Falkenhayn predicted that as a matter of national pride the French would do anything to ensure that it was not taken. He expected that he could take strong defensive positions in the hills overlooking Verdun on the east bank of the river Meuse to threaten the city and the French would launch desperate attacks against these positions. He predicted that French losses would be greater than those of the Germans and that continued French commitment of troops to Verdun would "bleed the French Army white." In February 1916, the [[Battle of Verdun]] began, with the French positions under constant shelling and poison gas attack and taking large casualties under the assault of overwhelmingly large German forces. However, Falkenhayn's prediction of a greater ratio of French killed proved to be wrong as both sides took heavy casualties. Falkenhayn was replaced by [[Erich Ludendorff]], and with no success in sight, the German Army pulled out of Verdun in December 1916 and the battle ended.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====Eastern Front====
[[File:Map Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-de.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] at the time of the cease-fire and the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]]]

While the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] was a stalemate for the German Army, the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] eventually proved to be a great success. Despite initial setbacks due to the unexpectedly rapid mobilisation of the Russian army, which resulted in a Russian invasion of East Prussia and Austrian [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], the badly organised and supplied [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]] [[Battle of Tannenberg|faltered]] and the German and Austro-Hungarian armies thereafter steadily advanced eastward. The Germans benefited from political instability in Russia and its population's desire to end the war. In 1917 the German government allowed Russia's communist [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] to travel through Germany from [[Switzerland]] into Russia. Germany believed that if Lenin could create further political unrest, Russia would no longer be able to continue its war with Germany, allowing the German Army to focus on the Western Front.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In March 1917, the [[Tsar]] was ousted from the Russian throne, and in November a [[Bolshevik]] government came to power under the leadership of Lenin. Facing political opposition, he decided to end Russia's campaign against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Bulgaria]] to redirect Bolshevik energy to eliminating internal dissent. In March 1918, by the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], the Bolshevik government gave Germany and the Ottoman Empire enormous territorial and economic concessions in exchange for an end to war on the Eastern Front. All of present-day <!--three Baltic countries--> [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]] was given over to the German occupation authority ''[[Ober Ost]]'', along with [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]]. Thus Germany had at last achieved its long-wanted dominance of "Mitteleuropa" (Central Europe) and could now focus fully on defeating the Allies on the Western Front. In practice, however, the forces that were needed to garrison and secure the new territories were a drain on the German war effort.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====Colonies====
Germany quickly lost almost all its colonies. However, in [[German East Africa]], a guerrilla campaign was waged by the colonial army leader there, General [[Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck|Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck]]. Using Germans and native [[Askari]]s, Lettow-Vorbeck launched multiple guerrilla raids against British forces in [[Kenya]] and [[Rhodesia]]. He also invaded [[Portuguese Mozambique]] to gain his forces supplies and to pick up more Askari recruits. His force was still active at war's end.<ref>{{Harvp|Hoyt|1981}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

====1918====
[[File:German Empire in 1918.png|thumb|The German Empire during [[World War I]], shortly before its collapse:
{{Legend|#336733|Home Territory (1871–1918)}}
{{Legend|#48a448|[[Puppet states]] (1917–1918)}}
{{Legend|#77c977|Occupied territory (1914–1918)}}]]
The defeat of Russia in 1917 enabled Germany to transfer hundreds of thousands of troops from the Eastern to the Western Front, giving it a numerical advantage over the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]]. By retraining the soldiers in new [[infiltration tactics]], the Germans expected to unfreeze the battlefield and win a decisive victory before the army of the United States, which had now entered the war on the side of the Allies, arrived in strength.<ref>{{Harvp|Herwig|1996}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> In what was known as the "Kaiserschlacht", Germany converged their troops and delivered multiple blows that pushed back the allies. However, the repeated German offensives in the spring of 1918 all failed, as the Allies fell back and regrouped and the Germans lacked the [[military reserve|reserves]] needed to consolidate their gains. Meanwhile, soldiers had become radicalised by the [[Russian Revolution]] and were less willing to continue fighting. The war effort sparked civil unrest in Germany, while the troops, who had been constantly in the field without relief, grew exhausted and lost all hope of victory. In the summer of 1918, the British Army was at its peak strength with as many as 4.5&nbsp;million men on the western front and 4,000 tanks for the Hundred Days Offensive, the Americans arriving at the rate of 10,000 a day, Germany's allies facing collapse and the German Empire's manpower exhausted, it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied offensives destroyed the German army.<ref>{{Harvp|Paschall|1994}}.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

The concept of "[[total war]]" meant that supplies had to be redirected towards the armed forces and, with German commerce being stopped by the Allied [[naval blockade]], German civilians were forced to live in increasingly meagre conditions. First [[food prices]] were controlled, then rationing was introduced. During the war about 750,000 German civilians died from malnutrition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=German Historical Museum |author-link=German Historical Museum |title=1914–18: Lebensmittelversorgung |url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/wk1/wirtschaft/versorgung/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001102140012/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/wk1/wirtschaft/versorgung/index.html |archive-date=2 November 2000 |access-date=23 July 2007 |language=de}}</ref>

Towards the end of the war, conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. The causes included the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, combined with the overburdened railway system, shortages of coal, and the British blockade. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter", because the people had to survive on a vegetable more commonly reserved for livestock, as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the soldiers' rations.{{Sfnp|Chickering|2004|pages=141–142}} The morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink. The population of Germany was already suffering from outbreaks of disease due to malnutrition due to Allied blockade preventing food imports. [[Spanish flu]] arrived in Germany with returning troops. Around 287,000 people died of Spanish flu in Germany between 1918 and 1920 with 50,000 deaths in Berlin alone.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

=====Revolt and demise=====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 175-01448, Berlin, Reichskanzlei, Philipp Scheidemann.jpg|thumb|The [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] leader [[Philipp Scheidemann]] [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|proclaims the republic for Germany]] from the [[Reichstag building]] on 9 November 1918.]]
Many Germans wanted an end to the war and increasing numbers began to associate with the political left, such as the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD) and the more radical [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|Independent Social Democratic Party]] (USPD), which demanded an end to the war. The [[American entry into World War I|entry of the U.S.]] into the war in April 1917 tipped the long-run [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] even more in favour of the Allies.

The end of October 1918, in [[Kiel]], in northern Germany, saw the beginning of the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]]. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost, initiating the uprising. On 3 November, the revolt spread to other cities and states of the country, in many of which [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers' councils]] were established. Meanwhile, Hindenburg and the senior generals lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] signed the [[Armistice of Salonica]] on 29 September 1918. The [[Ottoman Empire]] signed the [[Armistice of Mudros]] on 30 October 1918. Between 24 October and 3 November 1918, Italy defeated [[Austria-Hungary]] in the [[battle of Vittorio Veneto]], which forced Austria-Hungary to sign the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] on 3 November 1918. So, in November 1918, with internal revolution, the Allies [[Hundred Days Offensive|advancing toward Germany on the Western Front]], Austria-Hungary falling apart from multiple ethnic tensions, its other allies out of the war and pressure from the German high command, the Kaiser and all German ruling kings, dukes, and princes abdicated, and [[German nobility]] was abolished. On 9 November, the Social Democrat [[Philipp Scheidemann]] [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|proclaimed a republic]]. The new government led by the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|German Social Democrats]] called for and received an [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] on 11 November. It was succeeded by the [[Weimar Republic]].<ref>{{Harvp|Ryder|2008}}.{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Those opposed, including disaffected veterans, joined a diverse set of paramilitary and underground political groups such as the [[Freikorps]], the [[Organisation Consul]], and the Communists.