Figure 1.--Wothdrawing German soldiers from the Western Front paraded in Berlin a few days after the Armistuce. Tey cwere ell rcreived by the population. The enormity of the Germany's defeat had not yet sunk in. Details of the Armistice were not yet availabke, especially that they were designed to make it impossible for Germany to resume the War. This had been what Ludenndorf had intended when he helped begin the process od seeking termns.

Unlike the celebrtions in the llied capitals, the stuation was very different in the capitals of the Central Powers (Berlin, Vienna, Sofia, and Ankara). All were affected by serious food shortages. The German people were shocked. Only a few months earlier, they thought they had won the War. And they were not being fully informed of the extent of the military reversals on the Western Front. And the details of the Armistice were not immediately released. German troops back from the front paraded in Berlin a few days after the Armistice. They were well received by the people of Berlin, still not aware of the severity of the Armistice. The officials involved would come to be known in Germany as the November Criminals, but at the time there was relief that the War was over. The Allies, however, maintained the blockade to enforce compliance, meaning that Germany could still not import food and the terrible shortages continued. The reaction was also affected by the wiff of revolution. The Social Democrats were essentially handed control, but the radical socialisrs (not yet called Communists( wer following the Bolsheik game plan were setting up worker's Soviets--a major dufference was that few soldiers joined the workers. Elements of the Navy had mutinied (the surface fleet), but not the U-boats fleet. The Army remained loyal to the Government to a degree. Their main political orientation was still largely monarchist. The Kaiser, however, had fled to the Netherlands and a republic had been declared. The Allies refused to deal with the General Staff and insisted on a civilian government being established. The Siutuation in Austria-Hungary was even worse. They had all previously agreed to armistices: Bulgaria (September 29), the Ottomans (October 30, Austro-Hungary (November 3). Germany was the final member of the Central Powers to sue for peace. The Aystro-Hungarian Empire was disentegrating and the various national groups moving toward independence. In effect, the Armistice essentially for the Poles, Czechs, Hugarians, southern Slaves (Yugoslavia) was more like independence day than a defeat as was the case in Austria and Germany. The situation in the Ottoman Empire was that the non-Turkic territories were lost and the Armenian Genocide had largely murdered or expelled non-Turkic elements except the Greeks in the West.

Sources

Created: 9:40 PM 10/26/2021
Last updated: 9:41 PM 10/26/2021