This is a natural flow of time but if to think of it from a perspective of a History class student it is a great fortune since the number of topics for a History term paper grows instantly. When selecting such a History term paper topic most of the students are guided by personal preferences however some are driven by the volumes of available information and data resources.

Let us not remember that at all times history was a subject foe arguments and the older it is the fewer facts are there to prove and support the so called historical justice. It is understandable that on one and the same event different peoples and people can have radically opposite views that are based on the cultural and also historical background. It all brings us to a very important fact that determines the topic choice for a good History term paper. The topic should be objective unless you are hitting for a personal view on purpose. It is also worth mentioning that history as a discipline can be subdivided to a World History and the History of a country by geographical factor. The devision can be also done in a chronological order starting with the Ancient History, Middle Ages and up to the Modern History.

Considering this segmentation a student can select a period or a state where his knowledge is the strongest and based on that start narrowing the subject to the well stated topic. Most of the times it is better to choose a topic on a less controversial subjects if you are not sure that the argumentation and facts that you have in your possession will be enough to handle the task.

The most popular History term paper topics:

• The other side of Civil War;
• The effects of slavery on the modern United States;
• Myth and facts in President Kennedy’s death;
• Hitler and Napoleon. Comparative historical characteristics;
• Predicting World War III

MidTerm.us term paper writing service will provide you with a custom History term paper written from scratch. Any History term paper topics!

In his Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton suggested that revolutions have a life cycle passing through phases of increasing fervor and zeal for radical transformation until they reach a climax of intensity, which is followed by the “Thermidorian” phase of disillusionment, declining revolutionary energy, and gradual moves towards the restoration of order and stability. The Russian Bolsheviks, bearing in mind the same French-Revolution model that lies at the basis of Brinton’s analysis, feared a Thermidorian degeneration of their own Revolution, and half suspected that one had occurred at the end of the Civil War, when economic collapse forced them into the “strategic retreat” marked by the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921.

Yet at the end of the 1920s, Russia plunged into another upheaval–Stalin’s “revolution from above,” associated with the industrialization drive of the First Five-Year Plan, the collectivization of agriculture, and a “Cultural Revolution” directed primarily against the old intelligentsia–whose impact on society was greater even than that of the February and October Revolutions of 1917 and the Civil War of 1918-1920. It was only after this upheaval ended in the early 1930s that signs of a classic Thermidor can be discerned: the waning of revolutionary fervour and belligerence, new policies aimed at restoring order and stability, revival of traditional values and culture, solidification of a new political and social structure. Yet even this Thermidor was not quite the end of the revolutionary upheaval. In a final internal convulsion, even more devastating than earlier surges of revolutionary terror, the Great Purges of 1937-8 swept away many of the surviving Old Bolshevik revolutionaries, effected a wholesale turnover of personnel within the political, administrative, and military elites, and sent more than a million people (by latest counts) to their deaths or imprisonment in Gulag.

In deciding on a timespan for the Russian Revolution, the first issue is the nature of the “strategic retreat” of NEP in the 1920s. Was it the end of the Revolution, or conceived as such? Although the Bolsheviks’ avowed intention in 1921 was to use this interlude to gather strength for a later renewal of the revolutionary assault, there was always the possibility that intentions would change as revolutionary passions subsided. Some scholars think that in the last years of his life, Lenin (who died in 1924) came to believe that for Russia future progress towards socialism could only be achieved gradually, with the raising of the cultural level of the population. Nevertheless, Russian society remained highly volatile and unstable during the NEP period, and the party’s mood remained aggressive and revolutionary. The Bolsheviks feared counter-revolution, remained preoccupied with the threat from “class enemies” at home and abroad, and constantly expressed their dissatisfaction with NEP and unwillingness to accept it as the final outcome of the Revolution.

A second issue that has to be considered is the nature of Stalin’s “revolution from above” that ended NEP in the late 1920s. Some historians reject the idea that there was any real continuity between Stalin’s revolution and Lenin’s. Others feel that Stalin’s “revolution” does not deserve the name, since they believe it was not a popular uprising but something more like an assault on the society by a ruling party aiming at radical transformation. In this book, I trace lines of continuity between Lenin’s revolution and Stalin’s. As to the inclusion of Stalin’s “revolution from above” in the Russian Revolution, this is a question on which historians may legitimately differ. But the issue here is not whether 1917 and 1929 were alike, but whether they were part of the same process. Napoleon’s revolutionary wars can be included in our general concept of the French revolution, even if we do not regard them as an embodiment of the spirit of 1789; and a similar approach seems legitimate in the case of the Russian Revolution. In common-sense terms, a revolution is coterminous with the period of upheaval and instability between the fall of an old regime and the firm consolidation of a new one. In the late 1920s, the permanent contours of Russia’s new regime had yet to emerge.

The final issue of judgement is whether the Great Purges of 1937-8 should be considered a part of the Russian Revolution. Was this revolutionary terror, or was it terror of a basically different type–totalitarian terror, perhaps, meaning a terror that serves the systemic purposes of a firmly entrenched regime? In my view, neither of these two characterizations fully describes the Great Purges. They were a unique phenomenon, located right on the boundary between revolution and postrevolutionary Stalinism. This was revolutionary terror in its rhetoric, targets, and snowballing progress. But it was totalitarian terror in that it destroyed persons but not structures, and did not threaten the person of the Leader. The fact that it was state terror initiated by Stalin does not disqualify it from being part of the Russian Revolution: after all, the Jacobin Terror of 1794 can be described in similar terms. Another important similarity between the two episodes is that in both cases the primary targets for destruction were revolutionaries. For dramatic reasons alone, the story of the Russian Revolution needs the Great Purges, just as the story of the French revolution needs the Jacobin Terror.

In this book, the timespan of the Russian Revolution runs from February 1917 to the Great Purges of 1937-8. The different stages – the February and October Revolutions of 1917, the Civil War, the interlude of NEP, Stalin’s “revolution from above,” its “Thermidorian” aftermath, and the Great Purges – are treated as discrete episodes in a twenty-year process of revolution. By the end of that twenty years, revolutionary energy was thoroughly spent, the society was exhausted, and even the ruling Communist Party was tired of upheaval and shared the general longing for a “return to normalcy.” Normalcy, to be sure, was still unattainable, for German invasion and the beginning of Soviet engagement in the Second World War came only a few years after the Great Purges. The war brought further upheaval, but not more revolution, at least as far as the pre-1939 territories of the Soviet Union were concerned. It was the beginning of a new, postrevolutionary era in Soviet history.

________________________

Warning! This is a free term paper example on Russian Revolution cannot be used as your own term paper research. This sample term paper can be easily detected as plagiarism by any plagiarism detection tool.

Our online term paper writing service MidTerm.us can provide college and university students with 100% non-plagiarized custom written term papers on any topic. All custom term papers are written from scratch by qualified writers. High quality, fast delivery and professional term paper help are guaranteed.

In 1897 a boy by the name of Josif Vissarionovich Djugashvili was born. He was born into a family ridden with poverty resulting in the death of his three older brothers and sisters. Djugashvili’s mother ensured, through self-sacrifice, that he would have an opportunity to succeed in life. She worked diligently to afford schooling for him. In 1888, at a small church school, Djugashvili began his education.

At this small school, Djugashvili, preformed well, and received good marks. In 1894, for his efforts, Djugashvili was rewarded a scholarship to the Georgian Orthodox Church to study priesthood. It was here that he learned to speak Russian, and was introduced to the works of Karl Marx. Djugashvili’s beliefs that Russia, under Tsarist rule was doomed, was reflected in the works of Marx. Djugashvili became consumed by the theories of Karl Marx and continuously read his works. The literature was banned from allowed school readings. When discovered Djugashvili was expelled.
It was during this period that Djugashvili changed his name to Joseph Stalin. Stalin is the Russian term for man of steel. Stalin helped to organize a series of rallies against the Russian government, and in 1901, he became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor (Marxist) Party. In 1903, although Stalin was imprisoned at the time, he was elected by the federation of Social Democrats to serve on its governing body. Stalin was then transferred to exile in Siberia.

During his exile, the Socialist party split into two groups: those that followed Lenin, the Bolsheviks, and the Mensheviks. In 1905 Stalin escaped from exile joined the Bolsheviks and was able to finally meet Lenin. During the ten-year span form 1907 until 1917, Stalin spent seven of them, either in exile or prison. Conditions were steadily diminishing in the USSR and in March 1917, Czar Nicholas II, gave up his throne. This led to the release of Stalin. The Bolsheviks organized the October Revolution, and by November, their party had governmental control of which Lenin became the leader.

Opposition to this new government led to a civil war. In 1920, the Bolsheviks, now known as the Communist Party, won the war. The Communist Party’s Central Committee elected Stalin as its general secretary. This position gave Stalin the power to expel “unsatisfactory” party members. Stalin used this power to weed out individuals that supported Trotsky, his competition for power. Lenin became worried of the power that Stalin was beginning to acquire and he discussed this with Trotsky. Lenin died in 1924 having no impact on Stalin’s future.

Trotsky became Stalin’s prime rival. Stalin was in support of Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) and rallied the support of followers in hope to shut down Trotsky. In 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the party. To ensure that Trotsky was no threat to his position, Stalin had him assassinated, and all traces of his life in the USSR destroyed. In 1929, Stalin became the Dictator of Russia.

Stalin’s plans for the USSR were already in place by the time he was appointed Dictator. Through a series of Five Year Plans, beginning in 1928, Stalin’s goal was to modernize the country. During his first five-year increment, he targeted the development of iron and steel, machine tools, electric power and transport. Stalin set extremely high quotas that each factory had to meet: coal production was to increase by 111%, iron production by 200%, and electric power by 335%. Stalin formed the Gosplans, a group of individuals established to execute the policies of the Five-Year Plans. Stalin was weary of the western powers, and justified his demands with the concern that if they should attack, the USSR would be defenseless.

The implementation of this plan completely changed the economic map of Russia. The Gosplans had many of the new industrial towns erected beyond the Ural Mountains to protect them from invasion should the time come. It was during this period that Lenin’s NEP was brought to an end. The NEP, which was established to allow a mixed economy of some private but mainly state operated enterprises, was abolished. The Central Government now had complete control of the economy.

Having an industrial based economy gave rise to the demand for higher education for the highly skilled jobs now available. Initially higher wages were offered to highly skilled workers, but the demand was too high. To solve this dilemma Stalin expanded education. He did this by building new colleges schools and universities. Through improved education a new “elite Soviet Russia” formed.

Initially, to provide an impetus for hard work, rewards, medals and subsidized holidays were offered to individuals who met their quotas. This program was successful for only a short period before it lost its effectiveness. Since positive reinforcement was unsuccessful, limitations were placed on those who did not reach their set goals: Sunday was no longer a day of Sabbath, wages were cut, and fines were enforced. Anyone who protested the program was accused of defeatism. Multiple offenses could lead to imprisonment or execution.

Since so many workers were needed to run the factories, food production decreased and crime began to rise. To solve this problem Stalin implemented a policy known as collectivization. The goal of collectivization was to modernize farming and allow rations to be distributed by the state. However, the plan for collectivization was implemented so quickly, and without proper knowledge of the states agricultural status, that the plan proved to be less successful then hoped. The move for collectivization was met with fierce resistance. To put an end to the upheaval, Stalin waged war against the peasants.

In 1929, food famine was more rampant. As a form of protest, peasants refused to plant their crops and to compound the problem half of the countries livestock had been destroyed. Five to six million individuals were killed; still others were sent north to labor camps. Chaos now engulfed the USSR. Famine was again taking over. Millions starved to death during the 1930’s.

However, Stalin inflicted fear in order to assure compliance. Stalin referred to this as purging, “a means of ridding the system of hostile elements.” During the 190 30’s over one millions people were executed and 10 million were sent to labor camps. It is estimated that between the years of 1936 and 1950 over 12 million deaths occurred. So began Stalin’s Reign of Terror. Three major outcomes resulted from the Reign of Terror: universal suffering, establishment of Stalin as the unchallenged leader, and a weakened people.

The USSR now had a Totalitarian government. This meant that the economy was controlled centrally by the state. One political party was allowed, which had control over media and the police force. Any foreign relations the USSR had prior to this point were dismissed and the USSR went into seclusion.

It was not until 1933 that Stalin realized the threat of Adolph Hitler, and then did he attempt to involve himself in western relations. However, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, was unenthused by Stalin’s request to form an alliance against Germany. Despite the support of Winston Churchill on USSR’s behalf, Chamberlain met with Hitler in 1938 in Munich. This led Stalin to believe that there was support from the British for Hitler to move west.

Stalin was faced with two options in 1939, either reach an agreement to resist German power, or come to agreement with Hitler. On August 23 1939, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed. Stalin did this with the forethought that a German invasion of Russia was inevitable. By buying himself time with the treaty, Stalin would be able to build up his military strength. In addition, by including secret clauses, half of Poland was to be turned over to USSR control after Germany’s invasion. On September 1, 1939, German invaded Poland. On September 3, 1939, France and Brittan declared war.

With war underway in Europe, Stalin took measures to protect his country. Finland was no longer USSR territory and one of Stalin’s primary military campaigns was to gain control of Finland. Gaining control of Finland accomplished two things for Stalin. One, Leningrad, a major Russian city was more protected. Two, although the Russians proved to be unforgiving, the three month battle displayed the poor training and equipment of the Soviet Army.

Stalin theorized that Hitler would not attack until both France and Brittan had fallen. He estimated that he had until 1942 to raise and prepare his military forces. However, France surrendered in 1940 forcing Stalin to recalculate his time line. On June 22, 1941, Germany moved to invade the Soviets. This shattered Stalin’s preparations for war.

The Germans moved in to the Soviet Union. The capture of three separate targets were the Germans’ goals: Leningrad, Moscow, and the Ukraine. Only six days after Hitler’s invasion Minsk fell to German forces. As a message to the Soviet army, Stalin had the Generals responsible for protecting that town shot and killed in public display. In fear of Hitler and of Stalin, the Soviets fought to their death.

During the first few months of the war, the Soviets suffered tremendous casualties. By September with the onset of winter in sight, Stalin encouraged his troops that upon retreat they burn and ruin anything that could be of use to the invading Germans. This was known as the Scorched Earth Policy. The Germans were traveling deeper into Soviet territory. More distance was between the thousands of troops and their supplies. Nevertheless, by October 1941, German forces were only fifteen miles from Moscow.

Stalin ordered a mass evacuation from the city. Within two weeks, over two million people had been relocated to the east. Stalin remained in Moscow to improve moral. When the Germans finally attacked Moscow, the Red Army was able to impede their progress. On the basis that victory would be achieved through assault on the enemy as often as possible, Stalin immediately ordered a counter-attack and was able to push back German troops 200 miles by January.

Through consistent requests, Stalin finally got the aid of Roosevelt and Churchill. It was determined that the Allies would mount a major offensive attack in the spring of 1942. Stalin completely dominated the conference. Alan Brook, Chief of the British General Staff, later stated, “I rapidly grew to appreciate the fact that he (Stalin) had a military brain of the very highest caliber. Never once in any of his statements did he make any strategic error, nor did he ever fail to appreciate all the implications of a situation with a quick and unerring eye. In this respect he stood out compared to Roosevelt and Churchill.” Although Stalin was submitting to the terms of the conference, he was still concerned that the goal of Churchill and Roosevelt was to defuse communism.

With negotiations in place, D-Day took place in June 1944. This created a second front that Germany now had to defend. This was Stalin’s hope from early on in the war. Without the harsh beating of Soviet forces upon the Germans, the prospect of D-Day would not have even been a possibility. Now that Germany was weakened, many countries fell into Soviet control: Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Hungry.

Churchill became concerned about the Soviets growing influence. A meeting was held between the “Big Three”, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt, to determine post-war influence on this area. It was determined at the meeting that three months after Hitler is defeated USSR, will join the war against Japan. The decision to form a United Nations was confirmed. In addition, it was decided that once Germany fell, it would divided among the Allies.

Although Stalin had agreed to enter the war against Japan, the arrival of the atom bomb and the election of Harry Truman and Churchill’s replacement, Clement Attlee, put an end to Stalin’s plan. Churchill had suspected that upon agreeing to aid the allies in the fight against Japan, Stalin was hoping to spread Communism. Stalin’s main concern, now that the war was over, became obtaining economic help and recreating stability in the USSR.

The Soviet Union had received extensive damage during World War II and felt it was Germany’s obligation to pay large amounts of compensation. Unfortunately, coinciding with the death of Roosevelt, both British and American leaders shrugged off Stalin’s plea. The same people he had helped to win the war betrayed Stalin.

Stalin immediately felt he was being threatened with a western invasion. Between the years 1945-1948, Stalin established communist regimes in Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany and Czechoslovakia. In reaction to Stalin, western forces established NATO and stationed troops in Western Europe. This was the beginning of the Cold War.

In 1948, Stalin ordered an economic blockade on Berlin, Germany in hopes to gain complete control over Germany. Stalin was unsuccessful in gaining control. In dealing with Korea Stalin also misjudged the USA’s reaction. Stalin encouraged North Koreas attack on South Korea in order to spread communism. The UN thwarted the move into South Korea when they voted. The Korean War ended in 1953.

Due to Stalin’s success in World War II, support for him was still high. Stalin’s health, however, had begun to decline. On March 6 1953, at four in the morning every broadcast was interrupted with drum roll. It was announced that Joseph Stalin had passed away. Stalin had been portrayed as a god-like figure; the entire country mourned his death. Stalin’s body was embalmed and placed next to Lenin’s outside of Kremlin.

Three years after Stalin’s demise, Nikita Khrushchev, The new Soviet leader renounced the ways of Stalin and criticized his role in Russian history. Stalin’s memorial was destroyed and he was moved to a simple burial site. Although Stalin’s memorial was destroyed, the impact he left on the twentieth century is irremovable. To this day 20% of Russian citizens believe that Stalin was a great man and a wise leader.

Stalinism lived on beyond the years of its founder. It flourished in countries “Behind the Iron Curtain” until the collapse of the Soviet Union and Communism in the 1980’s and 1990’s. “His was the steady, purposeful hand which, however dreadful the sacrifices, would guide the masses on the arduous path to Communism” (Wingrove, 1).

________________________

Warning! This is a free term paper example on Stalin cannot be used as your own term paper research. This sample term paper can be easily detected as plagiarism by any plagiarism detection tool.

Our online term paper writing service MidTerm.us can provide college and university students with 100% non-plagiarized custom written term papers on any topic. All custom term papers are written from scratch by qualified writers. High quality, fast delivery and professional term paper help are guaranteed.

Hitler’s great ambition in 1914 was to be an artist but the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand brought Germany to the brink of war. After a complicated series of miscues, Germany blunders into a declaration of war against Russia. This event gave Hitler’s aimless life a direction it previously lacked. He wrote in Mein Kampf, “I am not ashamed to say that, overcome with rapturous enthusiasm; I fell to my knees and thanked heaven . . . for granting me the good fortune of being allowed to live at this time” (60). Two days after war was declared on France, Hitler petitioned Ludwig III for petition to enlist in his army. On August 16th Hitler the Artist, who had previously been ruled unfit for military service, became Hitler the Soldier. By the summer of 1915, Hitler had impressed his commanding officers with his dedication and skill as a runner. He often took messages for other runners without being asked and because of his constant exposure to danger-escaped death many times. Hitler had no patience for the talk of the defeatists. Later in the war, the soldiers new to the front despised the ranting lunatic but those who served in the trenches with Hitler respected his zeal. In his book “Adolf Hitler”, John Toland writes, “Four years of trench warfare gave Hitler an abiding hatred of the pacifists and slackers back home that were betraying the Fatherland” (61). In October of 1918, Hitler’s luck ran out and his company was attacked by poison gas sending him to the hospital blinded. When Hitler was released from the hospital, the war was over and Hitler’s rage at the “November Criminals” began.

In 1919, Hitler began working as a political officer in the army in Munich. In September of that year, Ernst Roehm introduced Hitler to the German Workers Party, a nationalistic and anti-Semitic group. It was here that Hitler learned to be a great speaker and propagandist. By 1921, only two years after attending his first meeting, Hitler helped increase the membership of the party to 6,000. In April of that year he became the leader of the German Workers Party now named the National Socialist German Workers Party, the official name of the Nazi Party. Although Hitler was a charismatic speaker, his ability to increase the membership of his party comes mainly from the dreadful condition of the German economy at this time. Reparations were bringing Germany to bankruptcy, food riots were rampant and many families lived with little or no heat. The payments to the War Council were resented by many and viewed as taking away from the needy. Hitler began to receive a fraction of official recognition but, in an attempt to gain more power, resigned from the German Workers Party knowing they would be willing to grant him any request he made as long as he returned. Hitler demanded to be named the Chairman in order to obtain a dictatorship. As he knew they would, the party granted him the Chairmanship and Hitler returned to the party making changes for a revolution. Hitler wanted a system based on the concept of Fuhrerprinzip, absolute obedience to the commander. After gaining power, Hitler developed his own private army, the Sturmbteilung, or the SA, led by Ernst Rohm. Hitler wanted a revolution so he used revolutionary devices. He became a master of propaganda, staged a series of public provocations, and set the stage for his war against the Jews.

1923 was an important year in Hitler’s rise to power. By the end of 1923, Hitler’s party had risen to 56,000 members. The economic conditions and the ballooning inflation contributed to the party’s popularity. Hitler’s audiences felt they must join Hitler in his quest to save Germany. Germans felt they must expel the French from the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland, and the Jews must be dealt with in no uncertain terms. 1923 was also the year of Hitler’s attempted coup, the Beer hall Putsch, which although it failed, brought Hitler into the German spotlight and made him a national figure. Hitler was tried for treason and spent nine months in Landsberg prison where he developed many of his political ideas and recorded them in Mein Kampf. He also planned the reorganization of his now outlawed political party. Germany’s financial situation had changed from the early part of the nineteen-twenties. Almost every element that led to Hitler’s appeal to the German population was resolved when Hitler was released. Inflation was at an end, business was thriving, and the French had withdrawn from the Ruhr. Because of the prosperity, the Nazi Party made little progress in the 1920’s attracting only 2.5 percent of the vote. The 1930’s would see a different environment, not only in Germany, but also around the world. The arrival of the Great Depression would lead to an increase in Hitler’s followers and Hitler’s power.

In October of 1929, the stock market on Wall Street collapsed. This brought the world to its financial knees and Germany found itself back in its earlier position of poverty. The prosperity they were enjoying came to an end. Unemployment doubled from three million to six million by 1932. The depression hit at almost every level. The existing government, made up of a combination of left wing and conservative parties, collapsed and many saw Hitler as their only alternative. 1933 marks the first year of Hitler’s true power, as he becomes Chancellor of Germany. His first act was to dissolve the Reichstag and forgo new elections. In fact, Hitler outlawed all political opposition and declared The National Socialist German Workers’ Party “the only political party in Germany”(263). The German people were caught up in Hitler’s dream of a greater Germany and by the middle of 1933 the majority of Germans supported Hitler. Few knew of his use of strong-armed tactics. Hitler, still the master propagandist and deceiver, staged his murders as provocations against the German way of life. One of these events is the well-known “Night of the Long Knives” which took place in 1934. The SA, led by Ernst Rohm, had grown to four million soldiers. Hitler saw Rohm as a threat to his power and ordered him and his generals killed. At least 2,000 people died in this one night. One of the reasons Hitler was able to fool the German people was the remarkable recovery he almost single handedly brought about to the German economy. Part of the recover came from Hitler’s expansion of the German army, once a source of great national pride. He made Germany a nation of workers and the people loved him for this accomplishment. In August of 1934, German President Hindenberg dies and seventeen days later Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany. With his new power, Hitler calls on the German military to swear undying loyalty and unconditional obedience to Hitler alone. This begins the plans Hitler had formulated in prison and wrote down in Mein Kampf. In 1935, Hitler reintroduces conscription and rearms the German military in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Shortly after he reestablishes Germany’s military force, March 1936, Hitler orders the German troops to march into the Rhineland, which had been demilitarized since 1918. This begins a series of mistakes on the part of the Allies. Had France attacked, Germany would have been forced to retreat. Hitler gambled and it paid off. This also began Hitler’s plans for future invasions. In 1937, during his meeting with his high command, Hitler began to plan his attack on Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler sought Lebensraum, or living space, for German citizens. In his quest to take over Austria, Hitler handled the discussions the same way he handled his other affairs. In1938, he bullied the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, into signing a statement of surrender. If he had not signed the document, Hitler threatened to march his troops into Austria and through lies and deceit and bullying, Hitler was able to occupy Austria. Within a week, Hitler was the sovereign ruler of Austria. From 1939 to 1941, Hitler would invade Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, and Greece.

Looking back on Hitler’s reign of terror, it is amazing that one man could do so much harm. While he returned the German nation to their prosperity he gassed and imprisoned millions of its Jewish citizens. The 1940’s led to Hitler’s downfall as well as the downfall of a great nation. Hitler’s power ended April 30, 1945 when he commits suicide as Berlin falls to the Soviets. We look back now with the supreme condensation of hindsight and wonder how a man like Hitler ever came to power but to the people of Germany he was, at the time, a savior who only sought to return their nation to glory.

________________________

Warning! This is a free term paper example on Hitler cannot be used as your own term paper research. This sample term paper can be easily detected as plagiarism by any plagiarism detection tool.

Our online term paper writing service MidTerm.us can provide college and university students with 100% non-plagiarized custom written term papers on any topic. All custom term papers are written from scratch by qualified writers. High quality, fast delivery and professional term paper help are guaranteed.

A new republic was created in the wake of the Kaiser’s departure from Central Europe and German politics. The new German republic was created and named after the city of Weimar, where it’s constitution was drafted. The Weimar Republic took control of the affairs of Germany the same day Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne on November 9, 1918. This new government broke away from the monarchical Wilhelmine Empire and sought to create a new democratic German Republic in the midst of international turmoil and domestic infighting. The Weimar Republic came to suffer hardships from a number of international and domestic issues, which constantly challenged its authority over Germany. A thoughtful examination of events surrounding the Weimar Republic gives greater insight into the challenges it faced and accounts for its ultimate collapse.

In mid January 1919 there was a call in Germany for the election of a constituent assembly. This assembly met in Weimar and drew the new German republic’s constitution. The primary framers of the Weimar constitution were Friedrich Ebert, and a left wing liberal named Hugo Preuss. Friedrich Ebert became the Reich Chancellor in November 1918 and the first provisional president of the Weimar Republic in February 1919. (2) Ebert was a member of the Social Democratic party of Germany and sought to combine the best features of the British, French and American constitutions into the new Weimar constitution. (3). From January to July of 1919 Ebert, Preuss and representatives in government created Germany’s new constitution. The constitution granted the German people the opportunity to elect their own president of the republic. The Weimar constitution declared that the president would be elected by universal suffrage. The new government’s principle of universal suffrage bestowed political efficacy to all men and women over the age of twenty.

The many egalitarian provisions established in the Weimar constitution set a very democratic tone for the new republic, but many safeguards were emplaced to insure the president’s control over the republic. The president of the republic was given the right to select his own chancellor. The chancellor was the chief minister of state, whose power was concentrated on governing domestic issues. The constitution made Germany a federal state, thereby allowing elected representatives to form a congress known as the Reichstag. Members of the Reichstag were elected by universal suffrage and displayed the highly diverse political community that was Germany from 1919-1933. (4)

The Weimar government was a democracy that encouraged a high level multiparty involvement in government. In the Reichstag all political parties had some level of representation. Any political party, no matter how small, that could maintain two percent of the popular vote in general elections would be granted at least one representative in the Reichstag. (5) The Weimar constitution’s drafting of minority representation in the Reichstag fostered the existence of controversial parties within government. In addition to the representation of minority parties in the Reichstag, the Weimar constitution also allowed for initiatives, where laws can be passed by popular vote. (6)

The Weimar constitution can be described as a bipolar document that varies from one extreme to the other. The Weimar Republic was very democratic, but it also wanted insured government stability behind a strong leader. The president would be elected to terms of office that were to last seven years. Article 48 of the Weimar constitution insured the president supreme power over Germany in emergency situations. Article 48 declares that the president, if he wishes, can dissolve the Reichstag and dismiss the Chancellor if he felt the republic was threatened. (7) The Weimar government would come to use Article 48 a number of times throughout its turbulent existence.

The constitution and its emergency clauses served to aid Germany in creating a modicum of stability in governance. Germany was marked by internal strife immediately following its surrender to the Allies in November of 1918. Political parties viewed the fall of the Kaiser’s government in November 1918 as their opportunity to take control of Germany. The Liberal, Conservative and radical parties of Germany vied to become the dominant influence in the Reichstag. In February 1919 Friedrich Ebert officially became the provisional president of the Weimar Republic. The Weimar government immediately faced opposition from the communist party of Germany. Violent uprisings were taking place throughout Germany and Ebert knew that a display of force was the only way to stop these daily threats to the new Democratic Republic. Ebert had to back the Weimar government with military force.

In early November 1918 Friedrich Ebert reached an agreement with the commander in charge of the armed forces General Wilhelm Groener. (8) In the agreement between Ebert and Groener, Groener agreed to assist the government in maintaining order at home and would administer the demobilization of the troops on the front. (9) The Ebert-Groener pact became highly criticized because it created a “state within a state”(10) but Ebert had immediate issues to deal with including the demobilization of a mass number of troops from France and Belgium and the Weimar Republic’s lack of internal security. (11)

In early January of 1918 Ebert enlisted the aid of Groener’s army to put down a violent revolution incited by the newly formed German Communist Party. Ebert enlisted the aid of the Freikorps, also known as free soldiers of vigilantes, to suppress the communist rebellion. (12) Ebert had shown that the strength of the Weimar government through the military suppression of the Communists during what became known as Spartacus Week, which lasted from January 5 through January 12, 1920. (13) Through the midst of political and social turmoil in founding a new republic and creating a constitution in Germany, Ebert and other political leaders were obliged to address the peace terms to end World War One.

The first international order of business for the Weimar government was to complete the terms of the peace treaty. The peace treaty was held in France near Paris at the royal palace of Versailles. Germany had unconditionally surrendered to the Allies and was at their will when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were being created. The main goal of Britain and France in the treaty making process was to hold the Germans responsible for paying the war and for hindering further German aggression by weakening them economically, militarily and in international affairs. Under conditions of the Versailles treaty France came to occupy parts of Germany. In addition to French occupation of German lands, Germany lost vast amounts of territory to its neighbors and lost control its colonies. The Weimar government was forced to accept the conditions of the Versailles treaty including the humiliating War-Guilt clause, where Germany accepted full responsibility for the war and agreed to pay the Allies, namely Britain and France, 132 billion in gold marks. (14)

The Versailles treaty can be seen as a punitive and preventative act against Germany. The Allies punished Germany for its past aggression and created provisions to weaken Germany economically and militarily. The Weimar government was forced with an ultimatum, either sign the Versailles treaty or face a possible invasion by Allied forces. The government was deadlocked whether to accept or reject the Versailles treaty and became such a controversial issue in Germany that the DDP, the Democratic Party, cabinet resigned from government along with the Weimar’s the first Chancellor Phillip Scheidemann. (15) Scheidemann was replaced by Gustav Bauer, a social democrat, and the cabinet was filled with social democrats and Center party ministers. (16). The new Weimar cabinet was not beholden with a rakish or self-destructive mindset and came to the sensible conclusion that the best course of action was to accept the treaty and remain a sovereign nation. The Versailles treaty substantially diminished Germany’s level of prestige and influence in Europe. Germans from all political parties met the acceptance of the Versailles treaty with great dissent.

The German people felt the Versailles treaty’s terms were too severe in their appraisal of reparations and seizure of German lands. The Weimar government encountered their next great crisis; the issue was how would Germany pay the indemnities for World War One. The level of payments was set so high that it devastated the German economy and did not allow for any growth. Reparations were further complicated for the Weimar Republic because of the subsequent inflation from the imperial government’s war spending. “The imperial government had decided to finance the war almost entirely with credits. By the end of the war, the German mark had fallen from a value of 4.2 to the dollar in July 1914 to 8.9 in January 1919.” (17) The German mark’s value was diminishing and Germany’s industrial potential was limited because of “the loss of… seventy five percent [its] pre-war iron reserves and a significant portion of her coal mining capacity in the areas of Silesia, Alsace-Lorraine, and the Saar” (18).

The Allied governments were constantly fighting with the Weimar government to fashion the most immediate timetable for paying war indemnities. Germany was reluctant to pay the debts asked of them by the Allies because of the impoverished state of the German economy and the underdeveloped German industries. In 1922 the French government felt that the Germany was not paying its war debt fast enough so the French government decided to move into an industrial region of Germany known as the Ruhr valley to take German reparations in kind. The Weimar government’s response, under Chancellor Cuno, was to passively resist French occupation of the Ruhr valley by encouraging German workers in the Ruhr to strike. (19)

France’s response the German workers strike was to bring the armies of France and Belgium to work in the factories in the Ruhr valley. Another method of passive resistance employed by the Weimar Republic under the domestic leadership of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno was to pay off war debts not in kind or from solidly backed German marks from a stable German economy, but by simply printing more German currency. Germany began exponentially increasing the production of German marks, which subsequently devalued the Deutschmark to the point where it became virtually worthless. Tables estimate that from January 1923 to November 1923 the German mark went from 18,000 DM to the U.S. dollar to 4.2 trillion DM to the U.S. dollar. (20) German experienced a period of hyperinflation from January to November of 1923. The strategy was employed by Cuno and other members of the Weimar government to show the allies that firstly, war debts were almost impossible to pay and secondly, expedient efforts could not be made towards reparations with the weakness of German economy and industry.

The period of hyperinflation and passive resistance to the Allied powers marks the lowest point of the Weimar Government. Germany was politically and economically weak and required some level of cooperative assistance from the Allies. In the years preceding World War One Germany was the strongest economy in Central Europe and the entire region depended on the economic prosperity of Germany for the economic well being of Central Europe. The collapse of the German Empire after the war sent shockwaves through the economy of Central Europe and many leading statesmen throughout Europe and America argued that the German economy should rebuilt for the economic well being of the region. In December of 1923 private investors from America began to invest money. (21)

December 1923 to October 1929 is marked as the golden years of the Weimar Republic. Chancellor Cuno resigned from office and was replaced by Gustav Stresemann in August of 1923. (22) Under Stresemann was a finance minister named Hjalmar Schacht. (23) Schacht worked to alleviate Germany’s economic problems by calling in the hyper inflated Deutschmarks and began issuing a new currency known as the Rentenmark. (24) The resignation of Chancellor Cuno and the issuing of the new mark were definite signs to the Allies and the world that the Weimar government was serious about economic recovery and paying their war debts. Subsequently, an influx of foreign investment had begun to rebuild and strengthen the German economy under Ebert and Stresemann.

In the spring of 1924 The Weimar government replaced the Rentenmark and issued a new permanent national currency named the Reichsmark. In addition to the new permanent national currency the Weimar government came to an agreement with American investors in the Dawes plan of 1924. (25) The Dawes plan arranged for loans for Germany from American investors and negotiated fairer conditions to Germany’s reparation plan. In addition to domestic economic progress made by the Weimar government, events occurred from 1925 to 1929 that signaled Germany’s rebirth as an internationally powerful European nation. In October of 1925 the treaty of Locarno was signed between Germany, France and Belgium. The Locarno treaty stabilized western frontiers and called for the peaceful negotiation of further disputes. (26)

The continual growth in German economics and international relations from 1924 to 1929 allowed the Weimar government to branch out to other fields. A Weimar culture began that put value in the fields of art and literature. (27) “(The Weimar government was) [c]onvinced that a spiritual and cultural regeneration would provide a vehicle for Germany’s return to greatness” (28). Berlin became the capital of cultural modernism and Art and literature flourished at this time. (29)

It seemed as if Germany would return to glory under the guidance of the Weimar Republic, but German prosperity was at the will of the American stock market. In October of 1929 over speculation caused a crisis in the American stock market and millions of stockholders who had bought stock on credit were losing everything when they could not pay their dues. Banks closed and corporations collapsed. American investment in Germany had virtually ceased to exist and the Weimar government was held responsible with the new economic crisis that had befallen the German people. The international relations and the subsequent economic progress made by the Weimar government were seen as the root of Germany’s economic downfall in October 1929.

The reality of the hollowness of Germany’s economic progress came to light when it was revealed that the Weimar government was completely dependent upon American investment and the American economy. The artistic and literary advancements made that symbolized the Weimar government were now seen as superficial markers of a completely ineffective government. The President of the Weimar that succeeded Ebert, Gustav Stresemann had died leaving Paul von Hindenberg as the new President of the Weimar Republic. Hindenberg faced immediate problems when entering office. He received a nation in a severe economic depression with a high level of popular discontent at his government and its policies. Hindenberg asked a conservative member of the Catholic Center Party, Heinrich Bruning, to be the new Chancellor of the Weimar Republic. (30)

Bruning’s policies towards Germany came to please the conservatives in Germany, but angered and further alienated the German working class from the Weimar government. (31) Hindenburg and Bruning were not equipped to handle all the problems they inherited. Hindenberg was an aging and ineffective president that depended on his cabinet to advise him on the complex economic and political problems facing Germany. (32) Bruning’s term as Chancellor is marked by the Weimar government’s move towards a modified version of authoritarian government. Bruning’s government attempted to severely curtail the powers of the Reichstag. (33). The unpopularity of the Weimar Republic’s previous policies and continuing ineptitude led to the rise of other political parties that could gain popular support by denouncing the recent actions of the government and offer promises of jobs, security and prestige to Germany.

The Weimar Republic was very democratic in nature in that it allowed for a multiparty system of democracy; even to the smallest and most controversial political parties, but by the end with the aid of Article 48 of the Weimar constitution it proved to be as authoritarian as the Wilhelmine Empire. The Weimar government was beset with a multitude of domestic and international crises to attend to in a politically disjointed and war ravaged country. The Weimar government depended on unstable mechanisms for economic growth and faced the ultimate consequences of these high-risk choices. The government entered into unpopular agreements with the Allied powers which came to be resented as the reasons for Germany’s ills, founded or unfounded. In addition, the unresponsive actions taken by the Weimar government after the great depression only furthered its unpopularity and insured its eventual demise.

________________________

Warning! This is a free term paper example on World War I (WWI) cannot be used as your own term paper research. This sample term paper can be easily detected as plagiarism by any plagiarism detection tool.

Our online term paper writing service MidTerm.us can provide college and university students with 100% non-plagiarized custom written term papers on any topic. All custom term papers are written from scratch by qualified writers. High quality, fast delivery and professional term paper help are guaranteed.

Developing a good History term paper requires a lot of information, particularly from sources with different viewpoints, because often historical studies are developed from limited information, and while different experts may agree to different things, they all have a piece of the puzzle. Most important to your successful completion of your paper is to be aware of many different values. There is controversy over many different historical facts – such as who Shakespeare truly was, or creation versus evolution, or even the Mayan calendar. These types of controversies are excellent sources for your History term paper, because they demonstrate a personal involvement in the final development of the paper.

When writing your History term paper, you may find that you need help. This is normal, everyone finds a time in their life when their obligations become larger than their ability to meet the needs of all the requests and demands placed upon them. If you opt to find a service online to help you, be very careful, you don’t want one little paper to be the end of your educational adventure. Select a site that offers you personal assistance from a professional writer who will work with you as much as you need, select a History term paper writing service that provides custom assistance and money-back guarantees in case you are not satisfied. Turn in a paper you are proud of!

MidTerm.us is a professional term paper writing service which is committed to provide college and university students with 100% non-plagiarized custom History term papers written by professional academic writers.