why do people people refer to Germany after ww1 as a defeated nation?

Question

For one Germany never surrendered they signed an armistice or a cease fire. Only because they needed the troops home to stop a rebellion that was starting to take place in Berlin and Munich. the Allys caught a lucky break that's it. So why do schools teach that soundly defeated?

they were not defeated the only reason why they did the treaty of Versailles is because her Allys had surrendered Germany never did it would be like us taking on the Germans and her Allys. all by our self's they had no choice but to accept the terms

Answer 1

Probably because Germany lost.

Answer 2

Germany was a defeated nation, but then again so was the rest of Europe. Only the U.S. was strong enough to keep on kicking butt by 1918.
Maybe Germany was called a defeated nation because the conditions of the armistice blew such a low blow to their self esteem. Part of the reason WWII happened is because Germany was so enraged by the humiliation inflicted by the treaty of Versailles. Germany had to give up territories to France (Alsace and Lorraine) that it had been fighting over since the Napoleanic wars. Also Germany was required to pay $1 billion dollars in reparations to the allies. In 1918, $1 billion dollars was more than the total world economy was worth.

Even if Germany didn't need the troops home they were really in no condition to keep on fighting. Trench warfare was sickening and futile. France, Russia, and Great Britain were all equally depleted. Also, the Great Influenza Pandemic broke out in 1918, so more soldiers were dying of the flu than in battles.

The U.S. had just joined the war in 1918, but by then everyone else was ready to call it quits.

Answer 3

At the time of the Armistice they were losing the war which was the reason for the riots in Berlin and Munich, the german people could take no more.
The late entry of the USA had tipped the balance against them for ever.
They agreed to the Armistice to save their country from being occupied by the enemy but they had to agree to svere terms dictated by the Allies which included the demilitarisation of the Rhineland, the return of Alsace/Lorraine to France and enormous reparations to the victors.
If that's not defeat, I don't know what is; it certainly felt like defeat to the German people and led to the social conditions for the rise of Hitler.

Answer 4

All of the answers about the one-sided Treaty are correct. Germany was, in addition, in a state of rebellion at the end of the war. Mutiny in the Navy was rampant and the army was no long trustworthy. The people and industry were being starved by the British blockade.

The entry of the US into WWI and the utter failure of the German offensive of 1918 was a death knell for Imperial Germany.

Do not listen to revisionists who claim things that have no basis in fact. The hardest thing about being a historian is dealing with all the mis-information that runs rampant on the web.

Answer 5

The armistice was more than a ceasefire. Germany was forced to make enormous payments to countries it had invaded, and to others of the victorious countries. Germany was also forbidden an army. These payments, which were as punishment, absolutely impoverished Germany. In fact it is generally considered that Germany's humiliation and impoverishment made it ripe for the likes of Hitler's Nazi party, the persecution of the Jews (blaming them for all of Germany's troubles) and the beginning of World War II. So yes, I believe we can justly say Germany was defeated in World War I. The victorious allies managed their victory very poorly.

Answer 6

I think...it's because, by signing the armistice, they gave up in a way. In the world's eyes, Germany had to stop killing millions of innocent people. Since the armistice guaranteed that, Germany would be considered "defeated." They were probably "defeated" economically as well.

Answer 7

If you actually read the treaty of Versailles, it's pretty clear that Germany lost and the Allies were dictating the terms.

Answer 8

They were never defeated. Actually they Trojan horsed their way into our lives without us knowing. Germans owned companies like IBM and various technology comp. Actually George Herbert Walker was George W. Bushes great grandfather and they used to run textile corporations during the war. Well George traded with the Nazis and allowed them right to their patents while denying the same patents to America. After the war the American Govt. seized all of their assets under the trading with the enemy act. So really they went nowhere, they just became silent.

Answer 9

They could not have held out any longer than they did. The troops were cold, and in bad shape. The soldiers did not have enough supplies,or food, or even boots for their feet. There was no way they could have continued fighting

Answer 10

tell your instructor which you have have been given no longer been taught a thank you to jot down an essay precise. First state your hypothesis approximately what you think of concerning to the war, then make that your thesis. Your paragraphs could then in easy terms be approximately proving that your thesis is right, making use of as many distinctive paragraphs as you may, it does not could be 3. international war one become previous the dimensions of something which you may imagine to human beings in the previous, or to human beings on the instant who did no longer see it, that to think of something worse could in easy terms be the apocalypse.