post-War The factors which led to the eventual triumph of Fascism in Germany were many. First was the sense of humiliation arising from the defeat in War. Between and Germany had risen to dizzy heights of economic, political and cultural accomplishments. Germany’s universities, its science, philosophy and music were known all over the world.
Germany had surpassed even Britain and the US in several fields of industrial production. Then came the crushing defeat in the First World War. The German people were demoralised. The reparations and other clauses in the Treaty of Versailles caused acute discontent and hardship.
This was utilised by reactionary forces to spread the idea that Socialists and Jews in the government had let down the nation, and had even caused the Germany’s defeat. Germany had always been a military state. The army was the symbol not merely of security but of national greatness. Therefore Germany’s defeat and humiliation at the end of World War I caused a deep shock to Germans.
The Great Depression further deepened their frustration and prompted them to turn against the Republican government. Germany in the 1920s Germany after the First World War formed democratic governments through coalition of political parties. Socialist Ebert led the government from - and later. Stresemann as one associated with liberal democrats conducted the governance of the country until .
This period, until the rise of the Nazis in , is called the Weimar Republic. The ordinary German citizen in these years was concerned himself only with the problems of everyday life in an impoverished country under the burden of reparations. The occupation of the Ruhr by the French in infuriated the workers Hitler to organise strikes in protest. It provided an opportunity to certain underground movements to thrive.
There was already one in Berlin under Ludendorff, who had organised the former soldiers against the Republican government. There was another in Munich, a former corporal. He was Adolf Hitler, the leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Evolution of German Fascism During World War I, Hitler served in the Bavarian army.