Trauma and Change: 1902-1962

The assassination attempt gave the Austrian government an excuse to launch a retaliatory war against Serbia. The German government gives a blank check for Austria to start a war. This launches a cascade of events that marks the beginning of World War I.
Source: Chancellor Theobald Von Bethmann-Hollweg in Sources Reader, p. 403.

By 1919, the German army had been entirely demobilized. Moreover, the Allied naval blockade remained in place until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I on June 28, 1919.
Source: Benjamin Sax and Dieter Kuntz in Sources Reader, p. 418.

In response to the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, the German government ordered the people of the Ruhr to stop working. As the cost of supporting the striking workers increased beyond control, the government began printing money, which resulted in runaway inflation.
Source: Universal History Archive in Hyperinflation in Germany in Sources Reader, p. 428.

As the Great Depression took hold, unemployment and economic insecurity grew, European governments struggled to respond to the crisis. All European governments were unable to ameliorate the suffering of millions of their citizens.
Source: Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart in Parliament Addresses the Great Depression in Britain in Sources Reader, p. 430.

Anti-Semitism was never a mere aspect of Hitler’s political ideology; it was central to his vision of a new Germany. In Hitler’s view, the achievement of Germany’s national potential, its historical destiny, depended on the exclusion of the Jews from German life.
Source: U.S. Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression in Sources Reader, p. 450.

Germany held the deep-water ports along the English Channel crucial for an invasion, and lead the most feared air force in Europe. Facing these grim prospects, Churchill addressed the House of Commons to rally a nation against another war.
Source: Winston Churchill in Speech Before the House of Commons in Sources Reader, p. 448.

“When communist parties began to win elections in France and Italy, George Marshall used a speech to Harvard University’s graduating class to propose spending billions to rebuild Europe, an initiative he believed would curtail the appeal of communist parties..”
Source: George C. Marshal in “An American Plan to Rebuild a Shattered Europe” in Sources Reader, p. 456.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen was the most famous flying ace in Germany during World War I. In 1917, at the request and direction of military officials, Richthofen wrote a brief autobiography titled “The Red Battle Flyer.”
Source: Baron Manfred von Richthofen in “The Red Battle Flyer” in Sources Reader, p. 407.

British economist Jon Maynard Keynes warned Europe’s leaders that their actions would lead to economic disaster: he was right when the “the German economy collapsed, and again in 1929 with the U.S. stock market crashed and the ensuing Great Depression.”
Source: John Maynard Keynes in “The Economic Consequences of the Peace” in Sources Reader, p. 445.

While in prison for a failed 1923 coup attempt, Hitler dictated his autobiography, Mein Kempf (My Struggle), detailing his views on politics and society. Hitler argued that Germany would need stronger propaganda in the next world war.
Source: Adolf Hitler in Mein Kempf in Sources Reader, p. 427.