The causes for revolutions in both Germany and the former Habsburg lands bear similarities at the core, yet an array of differences set them apart. In both cases revolutions would not have taken place during the years of 1918-1923, if not for the First World War. Mass discontent on the home front served as an overarching instigator; nevertheless, the similarities stop at the First World War being the primary catalyst for home front discontent and the differences begin with the specific reasons for discontent. In Germany, food and resource shortages ravaged the home front causing major loss of support for the war by the winter of 1916-1917, leading to the formulation of the “stab in the back” myth once Germany was defeated; in addition, mutineers, Bolshevized soldiers, and those soldiers that found it impossible to make the transition back into civilian life comprised the core of revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries. In the former Habsburg lands, the Empire’s formation of a police state in order to suppress ethnic groups, which were perceived to be traitorous elements, led to discontent on the home front, and this discontent only grew later in the war as mass unrest encompassed the working class as well as the peasantry; hard ethnic and political lines formed out of this discontent and were strengthened by a multitude of conflicts over newly formed national borders. However, Germany was able to avoid widespread revolution due to the parliamentary political system, which by the end of the First World War had become ingrained in German society; whereas, no such system had existed in the Habsburg Empire, and along with the dissipation of the Empire, after the war, inhibited the ability to finding a political solution, even if su...
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...tific Race-Protecting Society.” Thus, border conflicts were the final factor in tipping Hungary and the other former Habsburg lands into mass revolution.
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...s it liable and unique. It is descriptive and provides a lot of information but in the same time it is also analytical because it presents different aspects and primary sources of the Serb’s history. The parts of the book which relate to the origins of the First World War and the Balkan crisis are focused on the conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, so it does not analyze all origins of the War, but it does analyze in depth the influence of Balkan nationalism for the outbreak and provides a large number of evidences for his arguments. The book compares and contrasts political and cultural history of Serbs and it is credible and objective. Relating to the First World War he also provides many primary sources and perspectives of different scholars. The book is authoritative and it is easy to notice that Corovic is an acknowledged expert on the subject.
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The general public of Germany had never had any say in political matters; they allowed the Kaiser to make all the decisions regarding themselves and their once-prosperous country. The groups controlling Germany began to change during October and November 1918. More power began to fall into the hands of the people as they realised the blame for their involvement in the war was the Kaiser’s. People such as the armed soldiers, sailors and workers started protesting and going on strike. This was a far cry from before the war, when Germany was wealthy, proud and ambitious. So for a brief period, it seemed that a revolution would take place, with the people of Germany wanting a social and political revolution.
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The causes of the failure of the Weimar government are multi-faceted. However, I assert that the Weimar government's inability to keep the people's confidence in their capabilities, which eventually rendered them obsolete, was fundamentally due to the threats from within rather than the external hazards. Through exploring the flaws in the constitution and the threats to the WG's authority from the outside, it will be proven that what brought the WR down were its intrinsic vulnerabilities , and that the external threats were only catalysts of their downfall; without the presence of the internal weaknesses in the first place, the external perils would not have been able to threaten the rule of the government.
“On 2 August 1934, President Hindenburg died. Within an hour of his death Hitler announced that the offices of chancellor and president were to be combined and that he was the new head of state. Hitler’s adolescent dream of becoming Fuhrer of the German people had been realized” President Hindenburg’s death marked the official end of the Weimar Republic, a democratic ‘experiment’ that had lasted since 1918. The causes of the dissolution of the Republic are wide ranging and numerous, as was explained in the articles of both Richard Bessel, and John McKenzie. The two author’s agree on the sequence of events which led to the dissolution of the Republic, however, they disagree on what exactly caused the transition from Weimar to the Third Reich. The author’s disagreement stem from a differing view of the fundamental cause, political structure versus political leadership.
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