Why did the Germans fight to the end?
In 1914, the Germans, hoping for a small victory, staged mass demonstrations in support of the war, all parties in a single impulse supported the Kaiser, Wilhelm gave out his “I don’t see a party here, only Germans here.” The enthusiasm was enormous. In particular, because no one was waiting for a big war, they were waiting for a small victorious restoration of justice.
In 1939, the Germans largely supported Hitler, but did so in silence. There were no amateur mass rallies: the Nazis were afraid of them, and people had mixed feelings about the war. After Hitler decided to “defend himself” against Poland (war had not been declared), the Germans waited in fear: would there be a war with France and England? The Great War again? Hunger, cold, death again?
But how so? Why was there no enthusiasm for the war that had begun, but there was resistance to the last German? Let’s find out!
After 1918, the Germans had a complex: many of them were ready to fight to the end, rather than surrender at the moment when German armies were fighting outside Germany.
But Ludendorff threw a tantrum on the political leadership: the army could not fight, it was necessary to seek peace.
As a result, the public opinion of militarists, such as the young corporal Adolf Hitler, was ignored by the state.
American President Wilson promised a just peace. It seemed to the government that it was better to surrender now, while Germany had an army and could bargain, than to surrender when the enemy was in Berlin.
But the Germans were cheated, we must admit it. Wilson wanted to give the nations a just peace, but the French and English did not fertilize the fields at Verdun and the Somme for this purpose. Peace was humiliating for Germany. She was blamed for all the horrors of the war.
As one tourist who visited Germany after the war wrote, the Germans were willing to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, but they were accused of organizing a series of brutal murders.
When Hitler started the war in 1939, he was able to convince the Germans that this time they were innocent of starting it. Poland, England and France attacked the Germans themselves.
The Germans met the war with no enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty to do their duty: to defend the fatherland by destroying Warsaw and that’s it.
And when the war turned out to be unpleasant for the Germans, there was not much talk about peace. They remembered what had happened in 1918, and it seemed that they had a better chance of getting justice by defending the Reichstag than by signing papers at Versailles. Hence the well-known German fortitude and the battle to the last German soldier.
Author – Alexander Shtefanov.