How far was the defeat in WW2 a turning point in the

development of Germany? Compare this to the defeat in WW1.

Which is more important?
The defeat in World War Two (WW2) was a huge turning point in the
development of Germany; it hindered Germanys development, socially,
politically, and especially economically.
The Potsdam Conference in 1945 led to Germany being split between the
powers; the western side was split between America, Britain and France,
and the eastern side was now under control of the Soviet Union. Berlin
was split into four zones between America, Britain, France and the Soviet
Union. It could be argued that this held Germany back politically, as she
was not united under on nation. The west zone came to be known as the
Federal Republic of Germany and was mainly allied with the US
contributing lots of funds to it, whereas the Russian occupied zone was
known as the German Democratic Republic, a Communist satellite
dominated by Stalin and the Soviet Union pretty much the opposite of
the western zone. The political views of the military occupying the
different sides of Germany conflicted which means the way they treated
the people under their control was very different. This led to the social
development on both sides varying greatly.
For example, in the western zone, a process known as De-nazification was
under way, being pushed in particular by the Americans. American troops
forced townspeople and ex-Hitler Youth members to view carnage from
concentration camps and German boys and girls were required to attend

showings of Allied education movies about concentration camps shown in

local theatres. Nazi leaders were also hunted down and taken into custody.
The Allies were trying hard to get rid of any trace of the Nazis.

In 1947, the Marshall Plan was put into action which meant that between
1947 and 1952, Germany was given $13 billion of economic assistance.
Much of this money was used to help rebuild the western side of Germany.
In contrast, in the eastern side, Soviets extracted 23% of East German
GNP for reparations which meant the people there had even less money.
This affected social development because when Germany re-unified after
the demise of the Soviets, it was extremely stressful trying to merge the
advance, built up West side with the much poorer East.
Overall, the defeat in the Second World War - while crippling Germanys
people and her economy (hyperinflation led to savings losing 99% of their
value) was in some sense good for Germany. It led to the Deutsche Mark
being introduced in 1948 and the Bundesbank in 1957 which both greatly
helped economic recovery. In a way, things had to get really bad in order
for Germany to get better and rebuild herself.
The defeat in the First World War was also a significant turning point in
terms of Germanys development. It cost Germany $38 billion and led to
over 7 million casualties. The Kaiser was forced into abdication, this left a
power vacuum which needed to be filled.

Between 1914 and 1918, industrial output fell by over 40%, millions of
working men were killed in war, and there were food shortages.
Germanys usual trading partners favoured doing business with the Allies
over her so not much money was coming in from imports and exports
either. All of this led to unrest and led to radicalisation of views, in
particular Communism was popular in industrial cities, not surprisingly.
Germany felt mistreated and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles by the
Weimar Republic in 1919 seemed to be the final push for the people of
Germany to start taking action, it led to several Left Wing uprisings in
1919. For all of these reasons, people started to support the Nazi party
more and more, Hitler was seen as a symbol of hope.
It can be argued that, ultimately, for all of these reasons, if there wasnt a
power vacuum to be filled after Germanys defeat in World War One, the
Nazis would never have risen to power and had the popularity they did,
and the Second World War wouldnt have happened. Therefore, the defeat
in World War One was a much more significant turning point in terms of
the development of Germany because without it, there wouldnt have
even been the turning point of World War Two.