Germany Part 3 (The Evil End)

This is the final chapter. Last time, Germany had fallen in World War 1. This picks the story up from there and brings us to the evil end. 

After World War 1, the victors decided that Poland was allowed to exist. Before this, Poland had been split up between Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany. Austria-Hungary was split up. It became like we know today, 2 separate small nations. In fact, World War 1 was the war that for the most part created the current map of Europe. Germany's economy sunk after the war. The reparations they were asked to pay were brutal, and the leadership seemed to think that cranking up the ol' money printer was the best way out of it. So, can you say...inflation! The poor German people were made to choke on it. America stepped in with loans to Germany so they could pay Britain and France and then Britain and France paid America. Well, Germany rode that lifeline up up up, and then boom! Great depression, America pulled back sharply to deal with its own problems, and Germany was cut adrift.  Almost overnight, things reverted back to suck-Ville. Meanwhile, Russia had had a revolution, and become the Soviet Union. 

Along came a certain mustached man. What the German people saw was a man who would save them, and make Germany great again! In some ways, he did. Yet, he was also gripped by a demonically evil ideology. (I don't understand all those details of what he believed and how he got there for I never read Mein Kampf) Adolf Hitler got elected and set about restoring the economy. Then the ideology came up. All Jews were bad, in fact, anyone who wasn't a fair-skinned Anglo-Saxon was bad. Especially Jews though, they had concentration camps for them. (This is especially sad because Bismarck's Germany was a refuge for Jews fleeing antisemitism.) Then there was the revenge part. There was a desire to do World War 1 again but this time, win! Japan and Italy had both felt they got raw deals from World War 1 as well, so they were the allies this go around. 

Hitler started out by annexing part of Czechoslovakia, and Austria. (Austria's leadership essentially handed him the keys to their country!) He also signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Germany has always been working hard on their military, equipment, logistics, and tactics. They developed a military advance strategy called Blitzkrieg. When they unveiled Blitzkrieg in Poland, it was a beatdown. They took back "their" part of Poland and let the Soviet Union have "theirs" back as well because they invaded from the other side. Ultimately, in Europe, this was a straightforward war. Germany had such power and speed, that what they wanted they took. The countries that were ultimately conquered by them were many. So I will focus on a few "lowlights" and the ultimate demise. 

A constant theme throughout this series has been Germany's continual advance and France's continual stagnation. Germany had come up with a lot of new tactics under the realm of "blitzkrieg". France was still in World War 1 mode. They and Britain sought to defend the border. They didn't bother putting much effort into defending the Ardenne Forest region though, because no one could get through the Ardennes. Germany blitzed through it anyway. They punched a wedge of soldiers into the defensive line and separated the British and French. The British escaped back to their island, and France fell. For the second time in 80 years, Germany took Paris. 

I don't understand Blitzkrieg, but, it involved a very coordinated attack of infantry, backed by the latest and greatest tanks, and air support. It was designed to avoid trench warfare. Germany needed quick victories, not wars of attrition. Attrition and time in a war favored the British who were able to move soldiers and resources in from their holdings and friends like America. This blitzkrieg method worked in France. So Britain stood alone. Defiant, unbeaten but hard against it because the Soviet Union and Germany were still allies. Germany had to squash Britain somehow. They threw their air force against it, but to no avail, Britain survived. Another hat tip to the British. Once again, they held the line. In the First World War, they held the French trench, in the second, they held their island. This would be very important later.

Hitler made the decision that cost him everything. He attacked the Soviets. The blitz went deep into Russian territory but finally ground to a halt just before Moscow. Winter came and the soviets began to regroup with their huge reserves of manpower. Remember how Britain held their Island? America decided that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and opted to help the soviets. They began to ship the Soviets materials to fight with and then mass soldiers on the British Island. When the time was right they stormed into France and Italy. Germany, the world's most powerful nation (militarily wise) was overstretched. They fell back on 3 fronts. In the south, the British led an American/British invasion of  Italy. (Germany had been holding Italy when the regime fell. ) In the west, America led an American/British invasion of German-held France. In the east, the Soviets began to push back. All in all now is a good chance to drop in another quote from Bismarck, he said back in his day, 

"The Americans are truly a lucky people. They are bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors and to the east and west by fish."

Ultimately, Germany fell. The west was given to the western powers. The east was given to the Soviet Union. Berlin was divided into 2 zones. Germany ceased to exist for over 40 years.  Germany had strong neighbors, and this hurt it. This is something America didn't have to face after 1850. Still, Germany ended up being the victim of her own war in the end. 

Otto Von Bismarck had led the unification and creation of a powerful nation, but in 2 generations, through incompetence and evil, the men who came after managed to destroy it entirely. Otto had a clear vision. He wanted a united German nation. The greed, incompetence, and racism that came after ultimately destroyed it completely. Germany was built on the foundation of war and conquest. This was also how it died.

-Loren