Editing Germany (section)

== History ==

=== First World War ===

==== Outbreak ====
On June 28, 1914, [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] of [[Austria-Hungary]] was [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|assassinated]] by [[Young Bosnia]] and the [[Black Hand]], two military organizations funded by [[Serbia]]. Austria-Hungary responded by sending an ultimatum of ten demands to Serbia, of which Serbia only accepted nine. [[German Emperor]] [[Wilhelm II]] initially supported Austro-Hungarian retaliation against Serbia, however retracted his support after hearing that Serbia accepted 90% of the ultimatum. The Austro-Hungarian government viewed the Serbian response as unacceptable, declaring war on July 28, 1914. The [[Russian Empire]] and [[France]] intervened in favor of Serbia, forcing the [[German Empire]] to intervene in favor of Austria-Hungary, thereby starting the [[First World War]].

==== Communist involvement ====
The [[Bolsheviks]], a Russian [[Communism|Communist]] movement led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], endorsed the German war effort, enacting a policy of [[revolutionary defeatism]] to weaken the [[Feudalism|feudalist]] order in [[Russia]] through a German victory.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1reY72ktEc The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 2)]</ref> Lenin himself wrote that:<blockquote>"During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government. [...] Russia's defeat means desiring the victory of Germany."<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/jul/26.htm The Defeat of One’s Own Government in the Imperialist War]</ref> </blockquote>The German government likewise endorsed the Bolsheviks as a [[Revolution|revolutionary]] movement with potentional to weaken their Russian enemy. [[Marxism|Marxist]] leaders like [[Alexander Helphand]] within the Social Democratic Party, the ruling party of Germany at the time, openly promoted the idea that:<blockquote>"The interests of the German government are identical to those of the Russian revolutionaries."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hra5Gq8gF4&list=PLB2vhKMBjSxOBRaYtCTZ_MfV1njg2lGX1&index=3 In Dire Straits - Russia on Austro-Hungary's Doorstep I THE GREAT WAR Week 24]</ref></blockquote>However, the German Communists of the [[Spartacist League]] took the principle of revolutionary defeatism in reverse, fighting against the German war effort and German [[imperialism]]. [[Rose Luxemburg]], the leader of the Spartacist League, consistently wrote against the German war machine, even criticizing fellow socialists within the SPD for supporting it.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/ch08.htm Rosa Luxemburg: The Junius Pamphlet (Chap.8)]</ref> The [[Spartacism|Spartacists]] instead forged an alliance with the [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (USPD), a [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] movement formed in 1917 to oppose the perceived pro-war position of the SPD.<ref>[https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/revolution-191819/spartakusbund.html The Spartacus League]</ref>

==== Military effort ====
From 1914-1917, the German Empire seemed to be winning the war. Germany successfully invaded [[Luxembourg]] and [[Belgium]], then moving swiftly to occupy northeastern France. However, the [[United Kingdom]] (UK) responded to the German offensive of 1914 by joining the war on the side of France. A coalition of British and French soldiers, aided by the remnants of Belgium, managed to mount a successful defense of [[Paris]]. After Germany's failure to take the French capital of Paris, the Germans retreated further north and entrenched themselves. For the remainder of the war, [[Western Europe]] saw tens of millions die in brutal [[trench warfare]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/With_the_Allies/b72fAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 With The Allies]</ref> [[Eastern Europe]] saw major German advances against Russia until the outbreak of the [[Russian Revolution]] in 1917, which effectively ended Russian involvement in World War I as the country devolved into the [[Russian Civil War]] between the Communist Bolsheviks, [[Anarchism|anarchists]], and the [[White Movement]]. German positions in [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] were quickly overrun by the [[British Empire]] and the [[Empire of Japan]], the two empires having had an [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance|alliance]] since 1902.

However, in 1917, the [[Zimmermann Telegram]] was intercepted by the UK and forwarded to the [[United States]] (US). The telegram proposed an alliance between Germany and [[Mexico]] to launch a surprise invasion of the US. The American government responded by declaring war on Germany, sending four million soldiers to fight in [[Europe]] alongside the French and British. The American intervention eliminated the possibility of further German gains against the French. The Americans even aided in a counteroffensive that pushed the Germans back.

==== November Revolution ====
By 1918, the German economy was crippled by four years of warfare, the German people were generally tired of the war, and the German military was demoralized after suffering in the trenches for four years only to start losing ground. Many Germans were putting pressure on Wilhelm II to end the war, especially German Communists who felt that the war shouldn't have even started to begin with. The German government refused to give in, however, ordering the German military to launch a last-ditch suicide run against the French and British. German sailors were furious at the command, refusing to obey it. The [[Kiel Mutiny]] began on November 3, 1918, when the sailors officially took up arms against the German government to demand the end of the First World War and the abdication of Wilhelm II. When the German Empire attempted to crackdown on the mutiny, it erupted into the [[November Revolution]] as the Spartacists, SPD, and USPD rallied behind the sailors in a national uprising. The adbication of Wilhelm II was announced on November 9, shortly followed by the surrender of Germany to Britain, France, Japan, and the United States on November 11. The First World War came to an end, but fighting in Germany continued as the SPD established the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] [[Weimar Republic]], turned on the Spartacists and the USPD, and massacred Communists on the streets. The SPD murdered Rosa Luxemburg on January 15, 1919, weaponizing the [[Proto-fascism|proto-fascist]] ''[[Freikorps]]'' to attack Communists on the streets.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjK4YSH4XcI When Social Democrats betrayed the revolution | The Kieler Mutiny]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe7nFtJ7bLw What if the 1918 revolution succeeded? | AltHist]</ref>

=== Interwar Period ===

==== Direct aftermath of the First World War ====
On April 7, 1919, [[Bavaria|Bavarian]] Communists from the Spartacist League, SPD, and USPD seceded from Germany in opposition to the Weimar government, founding the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]]. Many veterans of the First World War who lived in Bavaria, including [[Adolf Hitler]], sided with the Bavarian secessionists in defense of their homes. [[Max Levien]] emerged as a leading figure of the Bavarian rebels, however he was tortured and beaten to death after the ''Freikorps'' invaded and occupied Bavaria on May 1. The dream of an independent Bavaria under socialism died with him, and Bavaria was annexed back into Germany.<ref>[https://spartacus-educational.com/GERbavarian.htm Bavarian Republic]</ref><ref>[https://spartacus-educational.com/GERlevienM.htm Max Levien]</ref> Similar socialist attempts to secede from Germany also occurred [[Saxony]] with the [[Saxon Soviet Republic]] and in [[Bremen]] with the [[Bremen Soviet Republic]].<ref>[https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/german-soviet-republics/ THE GERMAN SOVIET REPUBLICS]</ref> The November Revolution had effectively died with Rosa Luxemburg, however the failure of Communist insurgents in Bavaria, Saxony, and Breme effectively ended the revolution permanently.

On June 28, 1919, the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was signed by Germany with Britain, France, [[Italy]], [[Japan]], Belgium, [[Bolivia]], [[Brazil]], [[China]], [[Cuba]], [[Ecuador]], [[Greece]], [[Guatemala]], [[Haiti]], [[Hejaz]], [[Honduras]], [[Liberia]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Panama]], [[Peru]], [[Poland]], [[Portugal]], [[Romania]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Thailand]], [[Czechoslovakia]], and [[Uruguay]].<ref>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles/Preamble Treaty of Versailles/Preamble]</ref> The treaty stripped Germany of large swaths of territory, granting land to a newly created Polish state, [[Denmark]], France, and Belgium. Germany's territories in Africa and Asia were annexed into the British, Japanese, and [[French Empire|French empires]]. The German economy was terribly crippled and in debt, being forced to pay millions of dollars in reparations to Britain and France. The nation was demilitarized, throwing millions of Germans who previously saw service in the First World War into poverty and unemployment. Furthermore, the German people were left feeling bitterly humilated.<ref name=":0">[https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1 Treaty of Versailles]</ref>

==== Political realignment ====
After the Treaty of Versailles, the people of Germany were left with much frustration over the degrowth of their nation by the British, French, and Americans.<ref name=":0" /> The remnants of the Spartacist League reorganized into the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) under the principles of Communism and later [[Marxism-Leninism]], which was officially synthesized by [[Joseph Stalin]] in 1923. However, the mass murder of Communists during the November Revolution by the SPD and the ''Freikorps'' made it difficult for the KPD to effectively organize. Meanwhile, the [[National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany]] (Nazi Party) was founded in 1920 as a movement astroturfed by the British Empire.<ref>[https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-british-royal-family-supported-hitler-and-the-nazis/5383589 The British Royal Family Supported Hitler and the Nazis]</ref><ref>[https://journal-neo.org/2015/12/23/the-nazi-connected-british-royal-family-still-wields-incredible-power/ The Nazi-Connected British Royal Family Still Wields Incredible Power]</ref> Despite the socialist rhetoric used by the Nazis, they followed a German interpretation of [[fascism]] they called "[[National Socialism]]." Adolf Hitler rose through the ranks of the Nazi Party by blaming the Communists and the [[Judaism|Jews]] for the downfall of Germany in the First World War, promoting the idea of "[[Judeo-Bolshevism]]."<ref name=":1">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd1JUTA7Ijc Hitler - OverSimplified (Part 2)]</ref>

On November 8, 1923, the Nazis attempted a coup in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]], however it was put down by German police officers. Hitler was temporarily arrested, 16 Nazis were killed, and a dozen Nazis were injured. While imprisoned, Hitler published the book ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' ("My Struggle"), lying out the ideological principles of National Socialist German fascism. The book became a national bestseller in Germany, enabling the Nazi Party to rise from an isolated [[Political extremism|extremist]] group in Bavaria to a major political party.<ref name=":1" /> The KPD responded by trying to organize a [[popular front]] against the Nazis, but the Weimar government of the SPD refused to work with Communists. Instead, the SPD increasingly became aligned with anarchists and, covertly, the Nazis in the "[[Iron Front]]" against Communism.<ref>[https://zeitgeschichte-digital.de/doks/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/1033/file/lokatis_rote_faden_2003_de.pdf Siegfried Lokatis, The Red Thread. Communist Party History under Walter Ulbricht, Böhlau Cologne, 2003 (Contemporary Historical Studies. Published by the Center for Contemporary Historical Research Potsdam. Volume 25), ISBN 3-412-04603-5]</ref>