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To What Extent Did the Social and Political Tensions in Germany Increase During the First World War

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To what extent did the social and political tensions in Germany increase during the First World War?
The tensions that existed socially and politically in Germany at the beginning of the First World War were minimal, only consisting of biases carried forward from the pre-war era. However as the war progressed, the general consensus initially created by the government which portrayed the conflict as a necessary defensive campaign to protect against Slav aggression began to wear thin and obvious divides in society and the political system began to emerge. Initially, the Kaiser’s speech and the concept of national unity created through Burgfrieden masked the tensions within government that had existed previously. However, by 1918 the growing list of war casualties had seemed in vain after the failed ‘last push’ of the Ludendorff offensive, along with the food shortages which gripped Germany these were some of the factors which caused an even further divide in society.
When the First World War broke out 100,000 anti-war campaigners demonstrated in Berlin, the strong sense that Germany should not get embroiled in a war stemming from a conflict in the Balkans was apparent from the beginning. Despite this clear lack of support, the Kaisers announcement ‘I know no parties anymore, only Germans’ followed by the Reichstag passing the enabling act was clearly effective in uniting Germany, glossing over the divides in political ideology that had previously existed and creating a political nation. The victories in sweeping through Belgium despite fierce resistance and almost wiping out the British expeditionary force served as evidence that Germany could potentially benefit from a continental war that it was possible to win, given the unprecedented triumphs that the army was achieving until the end of September when the German advance was halted before Berlin. Therefore

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