The main roots of World War I and World War II began in Germany.
In fact, World War II is a continuation of World War I, which broke out only when many problems in World War I were not solved. They are a whole. Don't look at World War I and World War II separately.
As long as the whole thing is analyzed from Germany, the context is very clear.
This land in Germany belongs to the Holy Roman Empire, which is neither sacred nor imperial. During the Thirty Years' War, countries supporting Protestantism and Catholicism violently tore the whole of Germany, and the process was extremely bloody. 40% of the population in the whole area died, and even 75% of the population in Wittenberg died, almost dying.
China is a secular country. This kind of thing is rare for us. We don't understand the cruelty of the Pope's struggle, so every time we see them fighting for the Pope like crazy people, China people always look on with bewilderment.
Everyone watched the ancient movies, and people from other countries raised their swords and shouted "for God", "for Allah", "for the Pope" and "for the Holy Light" when they charged, and their blood poured in. These are all on-the-spot performances after adding religious BUFF. People in China generally don't shout these words when fighting. They just say "Let's go" at most. The slogan is very secular and religious fanaticism is going on.
Because of the tragic death, the small German country was marginalized, and only Prussia still had a breath, but Prussia couldn't get on the European stage at this time, just like China said that Thailand only felt harmless and had no sense of existence at that time.
But the macho man fell from behind Prussia in succession, paving the way for Prussia to become a powerful country.
The first macho man was Frederick II. He gets up at four o'clock every day and works until late at night. Every day at 0007, he first trained a powerful army. 1740, defeated Austria, Russia and France and captured Silesia (mainly in present-day Poland). Rich in natural resources, it is equivalent to opening a new mine, which can continue to explode soldiers and rest for ten years.
The Seven Years' War was that Prussia and Britain fought Austria and Russia, while Prussia fought France and Russia for 200,000 and 600,000, which almost collapsed. Frederick II began to doubt life, and Russia suddenly changed people and announced that it would not fight. Prussia saved her life, saved Silesia, an important mine, and saved the opportunity for further development.
The biggest beneficiary of the Seven-Year War was Britain. At that time, two great powers in the world were fighting for hegemony between Britain and France. France gave up India, Canada and the east of the Mississippi River, and France began to defeat Britain.
Prussia, after World War I, officially became the top five in Europe, laughing and laughing with Britain, France, Russia and Austria.
The second macho man is Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister after 120. 186 1 year, William I became king of Prussia and expanded his army to more than 600,000 people. The following year, Bismarck was appointed Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Bismarck was born in a noble family in Grand Juncker, and he was wild and rude. He fought with people 25 times when he was studying. He advocates cutting the crap and BB is not blind.
When he became prime minister, he first attacked Denmark, took two principalities from Denmark and beat Austria out of the union. Finally, at 1870, France was deliberately angered and challenged. At that time, France was complacent and ignored Prussia, making it half dead, saying that it "declared war with a relaxed and happy mood." The actual organization and mobilization ability and military hardware lag behind the rapid development of Germany, and Bismarck is on the ground for friction.
From Napoleon in France to now, his performance on the battlefield is unsightly.
5 billion francs ranks fourth in human war reparations, surpassing boxer indemnity in the Qing Dynasty (but not as good as the sum of boxer indemnity's principal and interest). Before the French paid the reparations, the Germans had already been stationed in France, and the military expenses should be borne by France. It can be said that it was humiliating the country and there was a deep hatred between France and Germany.
Prussia officially unified the States with this great victory, and everyone expressed their conviction. 187 1, 1 June, 2008, politically and administratively unified into a single country, and Germany came into being.
At this time, it was only more than 40 years since the First World War.
Frederick II made Prussia one of the top five countries in Europe, and Bismarck made Germany beat France to become the second power in Europe, threatening the top spot in the British Empire.
Of course, Tian Zi I can't tolerate others running wild in front of them. France has added new enemies, and Germany will face intimidation from two old forces.
Of course, both individuals and countries will certainly offend people in the process of development. You can't stop developing just because you don't dare to offend people. Anyway, people who scold you will find it boring to scold themselves, and finally get used to your strength.
At that time, the world structure, Britain and Germany in the first gear, France, Russia and the United States in the second gear slightly weaker, but Germany encountered a serious problem in the development process.
Before introducing Germany's problems, I want to briefly introduce four necessary conditions for the development of an industrial power.
These four conditions are: land, workers, minerals and market.
Land is used to build factories and infrastructure, and changing farmland will lead to serious social tears. India's current development is stuck here; As long as a large number of workers with basic education are willing to enter the factory, just like the British "eat sheep and encircle the land" movement, some farmers are forced to become workers. Before the reform and opening up, China popularized knowledge among young people and eliminated illiteracy. As soon as the door was opened, a large number of high-quality workers were guaranteed to enter the factory; Minerals refer to coal, iron, oil, etc. In the early industrial revolution, coal and iron were more important. Germany just has these on its own land, and its industry is developed. However, when there is a big stall behind and more mines are needed, it is necessary to expand the colony and dig mines in the colony. Finally, the factory was built and something was produced. Someone has to buy it. If no one buys it, the factory will close down and the workers will lose their jobs. What about industrial upgrading? Generally speaking, the powerful countries directly dump in the colonies, so that the people in the colonies and their factories form an internal cycle.
Almost all the above four elements are related to colonies, but Germany is a late-developing country. When it developed, it was found that there were not enough colonies in the world.
I can't help it The world is mainly divided up by old powers such as Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. You came to Germany too late to squeeze in.
Why not come earlier next time? It's impossible to give you territory now anyway.
1880s, the relationship between Britain and Germany was good, because both sides needed to suppress France. 1890, Bismarck left, William II came to power, and he decided to fully expand the colony and strive for "territory under the sun".
Before the outbreak of World War I, 19 13 years, Germany occupied 540,000 square kilometers with a population of over 60 million, and its overseas colonies reached 2.59 million square kilometers, but none of them were the best colonies. They only took some islands in the Pacific Ocean, some places in East Africa and West Africa, Qingdao, China and so on. It can be said that some leftovers of the world colonies are cold, far from being compared with the old colonial powers Britain and France.
In order to continue to upgrade, Germany and Britain had a direct conflict of interest and began to grab territory in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America and other regions.
This has shaken the core interests of Britain. Britain turned its finger at France and decided to unite with its old rival France. 1903, Britain and France signed an understanding agreement, ending the conflicts of interest in Morocco, Egypt, Sudan and other places, so as to kill Germany together before it really became the world's number one.
1903, Germany officially built the Berlin-Baghdad railway, and World War I was inevitable.
The Berlin-Baghdad railway is mainly to avoid the Suez Canal controlled by the British. It is planned to pass through Constantinople from the inland of Central Europe, then go deep into Iraq through Asia Minor, and finally reach the Persian Gulf port. In this way, Germany's powerful army can go straight to West Asia from Europe, with the help of the navy's port in Tanzania, unite the Ottomans to suppress the British empire, shake Britain's rule over India, the cornerstone of the world, and cut off the route from London to Cape Town to Mumbai. British and French control of the Mediterranean will also be invalid.
Because the major cities at both ends of this subway start with the letter B, this railway is also called the 2B railway.
The Germans carefully pushed forward the whole 2B plan, pretending to be a Turkish company to run the railway line, and Osman also quietly cooperated with him, which was once ignored by Britain.
But this 2B was discovered by the British.
The shrewd Englishman calculated that the whole railway could not be profitable, which must have a deeper strategic purpose. That port also poses a great threat to Britain. This 2B is not an ordinary 2B, but it must be a visionary 2B.
The Englishman broke out in a cold sweat: Shit, I'm going to stab Lao Zi in the back. I've never been the only one who makes trouble in this world. How can I be provoked by others!
I would rather stir up the whole world than teach the whole world to stir up me!
French students, I'm sorry about what happened before. It was all a misunderstanding. Now that Germany has done this to us, it also threatens your overseas colonies. Otherwise, we will kill him together.
At this point, Britain, France, Germany and Osman can only hit their faces.
The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife is just an excuse for everyone to get angry with each other. At that time, the whole of Europe was already a huge powder keg, and the tension between empires was almost suffocating. If you are not satisfied, you can detonate it at will.
Crown Prince Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were shot dead by local youths in Serbia. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, everyone began to take sides. Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary stood on one side, while Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, Belgium and Japan stood on the other side and began to fight.
The brutal First World War broke out in this way.
The war potential of the British Empire broke out completely in World War I. In the face of Britain, which has a quarter of the world's land and population and a large supply of colonial materials, only Germany, which had the advantage of land war and abandoned colonies, was slowly bled to death.
I won't talk about the specific process, otherwise it will be as thick as a book. In short, after the upgrade of human weapons, people were killed miserably. In World War I, 65 million people participated in the war, 6.5438 million people died, 20 million people were injured, 908,000 people died in Britain, 6.5438+0.24 million in France, and 6.5438+0.7 million in Russia and Germany.
The bitter World War I left a legacy to some countries. For example, France said nothing in World War II, and the dead were afraid of death. I will surrender if I can't beat anyone I love, saying that I have no backbone. Anyway, I will never get ahead.
After the defeat, Germany suffered extreme retaliation. 191/The Treaty of Versailles in June, 2000 stipulated that Germany should pay 226 billion gold marks in war reparations, plus 269 billion gold marks in interest, and pay it off in 42 years.
This is the most expensive compensation in the history of human war, equivalent to the price of 964 16 tons of gold. Germany used tariffs, tobacco, alcohol and grain monopoly tax, railway income and industrial and commercial enterprise tax to fill the hole of compensation.
Germany also returned Alsace and Lorraine to France, North Schleswig to Denmark, West Prussia and Posen to Poland, Silesia to Czechoslovakia, Salmedi to Belgium, Clay Pether to Lithuania, and even the hometown of Teutonic knights came to Poland.
All the overseas colonies have been carved up, not an inch left.
Later, because the Germans lost their colonies and mines, the National Government came up with the concept of "ordnance division" and exchanged weapons with China for resources.
Germany also handed over 5,000 cannons, 1700 planes, 150 submarines, all ships and150,000 carriages, and the United States alone took away more than 500,000 tons of ships.
Germany can no longer have an air force and navy, and can't import and export weapons. Only 654.38 million troops are allowed.
In order to avoid future troubles and return Germany to the holy Roman era, France intends to completely dismember Germany. However, at this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were all finished in Eurasia. If Germany is dismembered again, the whole of Europe will be unified by France or Russia.
The British always want to keep the balance in Europe. Britain was the first to refuse. The United States agreed with the British idea and issued many goodwill cards, advocating self-determination of all ethnic groups. Germany survived, but was skinned alive.
1923, Weimar government, which desperately issued money to pay off debts, created terrible inflation. Today, the inflation phenomenon in Venezuela is a little brother to the Germans at that time. Everyone lit the paper and gravel, and immediately rushed to the bakery to buy bread after the payment was completed, otherwise the price might rise tenfold, and it would cost one trillion marks to buy a loaf.
I thought the figure of "one trillion marks" was wrong, until I saw that the coins of one trillion marks they issued at that time were actually true.
Germany, which was oppressed but strong in its bones, was finally forced out alive by Hitler.
1933 when Hitler came to power, World War I had just ended. 15, there were 6 million unemployed people in Germany, 4 million people did odd jobs, and with their families, almost 66 million Germans, half of whom lived on the poverty line.
On the third day after Hitler came to power, he published a letter to German nationals, saying that he would save German farmers and workers and "launch a large-scale all-round attack on unemployment!"
It took only five years, and by 1938, Hitler really controlled the unemployment rate in Germany at 1.3%, which was lower than that in the United States (1.89%) and Britain (8. 1%).
Doing a good job in the economy is an important reason why Hitler can get such a high support rate in Germany.
1933, Hitler came to power in Germany and Roosevelt came to power in the United States at the same time. In fact, their methods of saving the economy are basically the same, but I don't know why no one mentioned it, as if it had tarnished Roosevelt's reputation.
Generally speaking, the governments of both sides intervened in the market economy and saved the whole country.
Roosevelt cleaned up the banking industry and devalued the dollar. Hitler encouraged exports and allowed barter trade. Roosevelt built large-scale infrastructure to create jobs, and Hitler also built large-scale infrastructure to create jobs; Roosevelt paid attention to welfare policy, and Hitler also promoted universal welfare.
What we should pay attention to is that the United States itself does not only engage in a free economy at any time and place, and uses whatever works well. The argument that "as long as it is not a free economy, it is an evil country" we hear now is because they are now very powerful and can crush developing countries, and it is beneficial for them to engage in a free economy. When others publicize a thing, they should look at their own interests and avoid being led by the nose.
Unlike Roosevelt, Hitler was more difficult to deal with and his living environment was worse.
Therefore, in order to meet the needs of survival, Germany has produced some very extreme phenomena.
In the first wave, Germany invested in large-scale projects and industries, so that everyone had a job, but after these were completed, Germany still could not export. Because it has no colony, can't sell anything, and is locked in the upper limit, it can only take the road of expanding its army and solve the problems of employment and industrial overcapacity by developing military industry.
The question is, why does Germany only develop military industry and not other profitable industries?
Because Germany wanted to curb hyperinflation at the early stage of Hitler's coming to power, schacht, its economic adviser and former governor of Dresden Bank, suggested closing the economy and binding the country's land and industrial products through "land rent marks" to solve the inflation problem.
This economic method is only a temporary expedient to get rid of the economic crisis. 1936, schacht suggested stopping, but Hitler was addicted and felt good. Germany has developed rapidly and can continue to develop.
Hitler wanted to carry the closed economy to the end. He wants to bring Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and Poland into this system, seize their military industry, oil, army, ore, coal and iron, and let Germany grow rapidly without worrying about the economic crisis.
So Germany's funds and resources all fell to the military field. 1936, Germany's military strength began to catch up with Britain and France. By 1938, Britain's military expenditure accounts for 4% of GDP, the United States 1%, and Germany accounts for 50% of the total fiscal budget, which is more than the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France combined. By 1939, Germany, which annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, was fully equipped and became the world's largest military power.
Germany has also begun to see the morbid phenomenon of killing Jews. Essentially, there is no cash flow and a lack of a benign economic cycle. If you want to rob, you have to kill.
Jews also learned a lesson after World War II and began to enter the political and media fields. By deeply binding the United States, they have become a special group in the United States today. Before World War II, Jews didn't know the importance of controlling politics and media.
Why did Germany go to war? It is because his military production capacity is full and overcapacity, so he wants to expand abroad, solve the market and resources through aggression, and prevent the country from returning to the situation of high unemployment.
If Germany has colonies all over the world like Britain and France, and if Germany has a huge land and consumer market like the United States, Germany will not easily wage war.
Only by waging war can Hitler ensure that the factory can survive, the workers will not be laid off, and the living standards of Germans will not decline. From the beginning, Hitler's economic development path made him have to make such a choice.
It is Germany's deformed economic form that makes it a country that relies on war to support war.
Germany's economic form comes from the failure to compete for world colonies before World War I and the harsh exploitation after the defeat, which made Germany have a huge reaction.
The rise of Germany before World War II was also related to the massive assistance from the United States. In addition, the Soviet Union's industry was actually raised by the United States, but this matter is also very complicated. I'll just mention it briefly here, not in detail.
There are no natural lunatics in the world. There must be a reason why a person is crazy and a country is crazy.
Germany, with its military industry as its pillar industry, finally detonated World War II.
I won't talk about the later things. This paper only discusses the causes of the two world wars.
According to the custom, we should find some rules from historical materials.
The rulers of this world, in recent hundreds of years, only Britain and the United States.
Before the rise of the Soviet Union, Germany was the first to challenge British and American hegemony, and the Soviet Union was the second. Now it's China's turn.
When Germany and the Soviet Union challenged Anglo-American hegemony, they both chose internal circular economy, Germany chose closed economy and the Soviet Union chose mutual economic union.
Of course, this is what the two countries have to do. Britain and the United States have locked the external channels of the two countries, so they have to engage in internal circulation. Moreover, when this thing is effectively implemented, it develops rapidly, that is, it is easy to be possessed, addictive, not easy to fade, and it is easy to collapse if it is not careful.
If we look back at the defeat of Britain and the United States by Germany and the Soviet Union, we will find that the defeat of China today is different.
First, China is determined not to engage in a single internal circulation, but to embrace the world and engage in internal circulation and external circulation together. It is determined not to decouple from the world. Unlike Germany, things made can't be sold overseas, and unlike the Soviet Union, things made are circulated internally. China's industrial products should be sold to both the domestic market and the international market.
China keeps in touch not only with the world, but also with the world.
Second, is the fracture of the Belt and Road in China today a bit like that of the German 2B Railway?
Yes, just a little, because China is on the road of common prosperity for people all over the world and wants to be a "community of human destiny", China does not engage in bloody colonialism in the capitalist world, the people of China have completed industrialization with their own blood and tears, and the people of China have embarked on another new development path, helping developing countries along the Belt and Road to build infrastructure, share dividends and win-win results, and are exploring new ways to treat the whole world.
What China is trying to do is to rise peacefully, not to rule the world by plunder, colonization and bloody violence.
In addition, we should learn from the failure of Germany and the Soviet Union to challenge Anglo-American hegemony. The United States, like Britain, has huge global resources. They can suck the blood of the world and consume every country that challenges them. Don't fight with them easily We should be neither arrogant nor arrogant. We should calmly wait for the opportunity and not be easily dragged down.
Looking back at the history of Germany's rise and the two world wars triggered by Germany, we are not going to criticize or attack anyone, but to learn from history and find an effective and correct path for the peaceful development of all mankind and the people of China, so as to avoid a huge social disaster caused by every collision of great powers.
This is the way we study history, and it is also the purpose of our study of history.