Editing Weimar Republic (section)

===Background===

Germany and the [[Central Powers]] fought the [[Allies of World War I|Allies of WWI]] between 28 July 1914 and 11 November 1918. The war ended with 20 million military and civilian deaths,<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">{{cite web |title=World War I&nbsp;– Killed, wounded, and missing |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=7 January 2021 |archive-date=5 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005123722/https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/ |url-status=live }}</ref> including 2,037,000 German soldiers<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=John |title=The World War I Databook |publisher=Aurum Press |year=2001 |isbn=9781854107664 |location=London |pages=269}}</ref> and from 424,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grebler |first=Leo |title=The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1940 |location=New Haven |pages=78}}</ref> to 763,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vincent |first=C. Paul |title=The Politics of Hunger: The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915–1919. |publisher=Ohio University Press. |year=1985 |location=Athens (Ohio) and London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Archives – Exhibitions & Learning online – First World War – Spotlights on history |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/blockade.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406162610/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/spotlights/blockade.htm |archive-date=6 April 2018 |access-date=14 April 2018 |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom}}</ref> civilians, many of them from disease and starvation as a result of the Allied [[Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)|blockade of Germany]].

After four years of war on multiple fronts in Europe and around the world, the final [[Hundred Days Offensive|Allied offensive]] began in August 1918, and the position of Germany and the Central Powers deteriorated,<ref name="Herwig-1997">{{cite book |title=The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914–1918 |last=Herwig |first=Holger H. |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=London |year=1997 |series=Modern Wars |isbn=978-0-340-67753-7 |oclc=34996156 |pages=426–428}}</ref><ref name="Tucker-2005">{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |title=World War I: A–D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA1256 |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara |page=1256 |isbn=978-1-85109-420-2 |oclc=162257288}}</ref> leading them to sue for peace. After initial offers were rejected by the Allied Powers, the hunger and privation of the war years came together with the awareness of an impending military defeat<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 August 2015 |title=Die Revolution von 1918/19 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/revolution-191819.html |access-date=23 March 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> to help spark the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]]. On 9 November 1918, [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|a republic was proclaimed]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haffner |first=Sebastian |title=Die deutsche Revolution 1918/19 |publisher=Kindler |year=2002 |isbn=3-463-40423-0 |location=Munich |pages=90 |language=de |trans-title=The German Revolution 1918/19}}</ref> and the abdication of [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] was announced,<ref name="Stevenson-2004">{{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=David |title=Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSc9CraE4OQC&pg=PA404 |year=2004 |page=404 |isbn=978-0-465-08184-4 |oclc=54001282 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York}}</ref>{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|pp=85–86}} marking the end of [[Imperial Germany]] and the beginning of the Weimar Republic. The [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] that ended the fighting was signed on 11 November.

Germany lost the war because its allies were facing defeat and its economic resources were running out, while by late summer 1918 fresh American troops were arriving in France at the rate of 10,000 per day. Support among the population had begun to crumble in 1916, and by mid-1918, many Germans wanted an end to the war. Increasing numbers of them began to associate with the political left, such as the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] and the more radical [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|Independent Social Democratic Party]], which demanded an end to the war. When it became obvious to the generals that defeat was at hand, General [[Erich Ludendorff]] convinced the Kaiser that Germany needed to pursue an armistice and that the majority parties in the Reichstag, not the OHL, had to take responsibility for it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Heinrich August |title=Weimar 1919–1933 Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie |publisher=C.H. Beck |year=1993 |isbn=3-406-37646-0 |location=Munich |page=23 |language=de |trans-title=Weimar 1919–1933 The History of the First German Democracy|ref=none}}</ref> Although in retreat, the German armies were still on French and Belgian territory when the war ended on 11 November. Ludendorf and [[Paul von Hindenburg]] then began proclaiming that it was the defeatism of the civilian population – especially the socialists – that had made defeat inevitable. The [[stab-in-the-back myth]] was spread by the Right throughout the 1920s and ensured that many monarchists and conservatives would refuse to support the government of what they called the "November criminals".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Alexander |date=November 2008 |title=Stabbed at the Front |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/stabbed-front |url-status=live |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=58 |issue=11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613102520/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/stabbed-front |archive-date=13 June 2020 |access-date=13 June 2020}}{{subscription required}}</ref> The destabilizing effect of the stab-in-the-back myth on the Weimar democracy was an important factor in the rise of [[National-socialism|National Socialism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barth |first=Boris |date=8 October 2014 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Stab-in-the-back Myth |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/stab-in-the-back_myth |access-date=1 April 2023 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref>