AQA GCSE History 8145
America, 1840–1895: Expansion and ConsolidationPeriod study
America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and InequalityPeriod study
Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918–1939Wider world depth
Elizabethan England, c1568–1603British depth
Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and DictatorshipPeriod study
Health and the People in Britain, c1000 to the Present DayThematic study
Medieval England: The Reign of Edward I, 1272–1307British depth
Migration, Empires and the People in Britain, c790 to the Present DayThematic study
Norman England, c1066–c1100British depth
Power and the People in Britain, c1170 to the Present DayThematic study
Restoration England, 1660–1685British depth
Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and CommunismPeriod study
Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
Impact of the First World War
- 3 things to know
- Paper 1 section A
Overview
War weariness and the blockade, how the war was paid for, the Kiel mutiny and the Kaiser's abdication, the November Criminals, reparations, the occupation of the Ruhr, passive resistance and hyperinflation.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Who were called the November Criminals, and why was the accusation unjust?
What were reparations, and what was Germany finally told to pay?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is meant by war weariness, and how did it show itself in Germany by 1918?
Model answer
Exhaustion with a war that seemed endless; it showed in strikes in munitions plants, mutinies in the fleet and collapsing morale among the troops.
- 2
Why were German civilians close to starvation in the last winters of the war?
Model answer
The British naval blockade cut off imported food and fertiliser while men and horses had been taken from the farms, so rations fell to little more than turnips and bread.
- 3
How had the government paid for four years of fighting, and why did that store up trouble?
Model answer
It borrowed heavily and printed money instead of raising taxes, gambling on victory and reparations from the defeated; far more marks were in circulation than there were goods to buy.
- 4
What began at Kiel in November 1918?
Model answer
Sailors ordered out on a last suicidal sortie refused to obey and mutinied, and their revolt spread within days to workers and soldiers in cities across Germany.
- 5
How did the monarchy come to an end?
Model answer
With revolution spreading and the army no longer behind him, Wilhelm II abdicated in November 1918 and went into exile in the Netherlands, and a republic was declared in Berlin under Friedrich Ebert.
- 6
Who were called the November Criminals, and why was the accusation unjust?
Model answer
The politicians who signed the armistice and were accused of stabbing an undefeated army in the back; in fact the generals had already told the Kaiser the war was lost and then let civilians sign for them.
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