The Last Years of the War

About the lecture

In this module, we trace events in the final years of the First World War, focusing in particular on: (i) the enthusiasm with which Germany had entered the First World War in 1914, and the extent to which that enthusiasm had all but disappeared by 1918; (ii) the severe food shortages in Germany; (iii) the extent to which political power in the country had shifted to the German High Command, in particular the figures of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff; (iv) the extent to which the political establishment supported Germany's continued participation in the war; (v) the split of the SDP in December 1915; (vi) the deteriorating military situation and the attempts by German to negotiate a peace settlement; (vii) the extent to which the Kaiser was seen as an obstacle to peace by 1918; (viii) the increasing unrest in the cities by 1918; and (ix) the Kiel mutiny.

About the lecturer

Dr Nadine Rossol is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Essex. Her research focuses on German history, especially the social and cultural history of Weimar and Nazi Germany, and her recent publications include (as co-editor) The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic (2021), Kartoffeln, Frost und Spartakus (2018) and Performing the Nation in Interwar Germany (2010).