Editing Stab-in-the-back myth (section)

==Background==
{{further|War guilt question|German entry into World War I}}
{{Antisemitism sidebar|Canards}}
In the later part of World War I, the Supreme High Command (''[[Oberste Heeresleitung]]'', OHL) controlled not only the military but also a large part of the economy through the [[Auxiliary Services Act (1916)|Auxiliary Services Act]] of December 1916, which under the [[Hindenburg Programme]] aimed at a total mobilisation of the economy for war production. In order to implement the Act, however, ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'' [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and his Chief-of-Staff, First [[Quartermaster general|Quartermaster General]] [[Erich Ludendorff]] had to make significant concessions to labour unions and the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]].{{Sfn|Tipton|2003|pp=291–292}} Hindenburg and Ludendorff threatened to resign in July 1917 if the [[German Emperor|Emperor]] did not remove [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]]. He had lost his usefulness to them when he lost the confidence of the Reichstag after it passed the [[Reichstag Peace Resolution]] calling for a negotiated peace without annexations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lerman |first=Katharine Anne |date=28 September 2016 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/bethmann_hollweg_theobald_von |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref> Bethmann Hollweg resigned and was replaced by [[Georg Michaelis]], whose appointment was supported by the OHL. After only 100 days in office, however, he became the first chancellor to be ousted by the Reichstag.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=Bert |date=22 December 2016 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Michaelis, Georg |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/michaelis_georg |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}</ref>

After years of fighting and having incurred millions of casualties, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[French Third Republic|France]] were wary about an invasion of [[German Empire|Germany]] with its unknown consequences. However the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] had been amply resupplied by the [[United States in World War I|United States]], which had fresh armies ready for combat.<ref name="Frank Herbert Simonds 1919 p. 85">Simonds, Frank Herbert (1919) ''History of the World War, Volume 2'', New York: Doubleday. p. 85</ref> On the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], although the [[Hindenburg Line]] had been penetrated and German forces were in retreat, the Allied armies had only crossed the 1914 German frontier in a few places in Alsace-Lorraine (see below map). Meanwhile, on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], Germany had already won its war against [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]], concluded with the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. In the West, Germany had successes with the [[German spring offensive|Spring Offensive]] of 1918 but the attack had run out of momentum, the Allies had regrouped and in the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] retaken lost ground with no sign of stopping. Contributing to the ''Dolchstoßlegende'', the overall failure of the German offensive was blamed on strikes in the arms industry at a critical moment, leaving soldiers without an adequate supply of [[materiel]]. The strikes were seen as having been instigated by treasonous elements, with the Jews taking most of the blame.<ref name="Steigmann-Gall 2003 16" />

The weakness of Germany's strategic position was exacerbated by the rapid collapse of the other Central Powers in late 1918, following Allied victories on the [[Macedonian front|Macedonian]] and [[Italian front (World War I)|Italian]] fronts. [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] was the first to sign [[Armistice of Salonica|an armistice]] on 29 September 1918, at Salonica.<ref name="indiana.edu-1918">{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiana.edu/index.html|title=Indiana University Bloomington|website=Indiana University Bloomington}}</ref> On 30 October the [[Ottoman Empire]] capitulated [[Armistice of Mudros|at Mudros]].<ref name="indiana.edu-1918" /> On 3 November [[Austria-Hungary]] sent a [[White flag|flag of truce]] to the [[Royal Italian Army|Italian Army]] to ask for an armistice. The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austro-Hungarian commander and accepted. The [[Armistice of Villa Giusti|armistice with Austria-Hungary]] was signed in the [[Villa Giusti]], near [[Padua]], on 3 November. Austria and Hungary signed separate treaties following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Importantly the Austro-Hungarian capitulation left Germany's southern frontier under threat of Allied invasion from Austria. Indeed, on 4 November the Allies decided to prepare an advance across the Alps by three armies towards Munich from Austrian territory within five weeks.{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1930|pp=385–386}}

After the last German offensive on the Western Front failed in 1918, Hindenburg and Ludendorff admitted that the war effort was doomed, and they pressed Kaiser [[Wilhelm II]] for an armistice to be negotiated, and for a rapid change to a civilian government in Germany. They began to take steps to deflect the blame for losing the war from themselves and the German Army to others.{{sfn|Kershaw|2016|p=61}} Ludendorff said to his staff on 1 October:

<blockquote>I have ... asked His Majesty to include in the government those circles who are largely responsible for things having developed as they have. We will now see these gentlemen move into the ministries. Let them be the ones to sign the peace treaty that must now be negotiated. Let them eat the soup that they have cooked for us!<ref name="Siedler Verlag--Verlagsgruppe 2011">{{Cite web |title=Erich Ludendorff Admits Defeat: Diary Entry by Albrecht von Thaer (October 1, 1918) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=814&language=english |access-date=25 August 2023 |website=German History in Documents and Images}}</ref>{{efn|Original: {{lang|de|Ich habe aber S.M. gebeten, jetzt auch diejenigen Kreise an die Regierung zu bringen, denen wir es in der Hauptsache zu danken haben, daß wir so weit gekommen sind. Wir werden also diese Herren jetzt in die Ministerien einziehen sehen. Die sollen nun den Frieden schließen, der jetzt geschlossen werden muß. Sie sollen die Suppe jetzt essen, die sie uns eingebrockt haben!}}{{hairspace}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Erich Ludendorff gesteht die Niederlage ein: aus den Tagebuchnotizen von Albrecht von Thaer (1 Oktober 1918) |access-date=25 August 2023 |website=[[:de:Deutsche Geschichte in Dokumenten und Bildern]] |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=814&language=german |language=de}}</ref>}}</blockquote>

In this way, Ludendorff was setting up the republican politicians – many of them Socialists – who would be brought into the government, and would become the parties that negotiated the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice with the Allies]], as the scapegoats to take the blame for losing the war, instead of himself and Hindenburg.{{sfn|Kershaw|2016|p=61}} Normally, during wartime an armistice is negotiated between the military commanders of the hostile forces, but Hindenburg and Ludendorff had instead handed this task to the new civilian government.{{sfn|Hett|2018|pages=21–22}} The attitude of the military was "[T]he parties of the left have to take on the odium of this peace. The storm of anger will then turn against them," after which the military could step in again to ensure that things would once again be run "in the old way".{{sfn|Kershaw|2016|p=86}}

On 5 October, the German Chancellor, [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]], contacted [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wilson]], indicating that Germany was willing to accept his [[Fourteen Points]] as a basis for discussions. Wilson's response insisted that Germany institute parliamentary democracy, give up the territory it had gained to that point in the war, and significantly disarm, including giving up the German [[High Seas Fleet]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2016|pp=85–86}} On 26 October, Ludendorff was dismissed from his post by the Emperor and replaced by Lieutenant General [[Wilhelm Groener]], who started to prepare the withdrawal and demobilisation of the army.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-07-11|title=Biographie: Wilhelm Groener, 1867–1939|url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/GroenerWilhelm/index.html|access-date=2021-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711071623/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/GroenerWilhelm/index.html|archive-date=11 July 2014}}</ref>

On 11 November 1918, the representatives of the newly formed Weimar Republic – created after the Revolution of 1918–1919 forced the abdication of the Kaiser – signed the armistice that ended hostilities. The military commanders had arranged it so that they would not be blamed for suing for peace, but the republican politicians associated with the armistice would:{{sfn|Hett|2018|pages=21–22}} the signature on the armistice document was of [[Matthias Erzberger]], who was later murdered for his alleged treason. In his autobiography, Ludendorff's successor Groener stated, "It suited me just fine when the army and the Supreme Command remained as guiltless as possible in these wretched truce negotiations, from which nothing good could be expected".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schulze |first=Hagen |title=Weimar. Deutschland 1917–1933 |publisher=Siedler |year=1994 |isbn=978-3-886-80050-6 |location=Berlin |page=149 |language=de}}</ref>

Given that the heavily censored German press had carried nothing but news of victories throughout the war, and that Germany itself was unoccupied while occupying a great deal of foreign territory, it was no wonder that the German public was mystified by the request for an armistice, especially as they did not know that their military leaders had asked for it,{{sfn|Hett|2018|pages=21–22}} nor did they know that the German Army had been in full retreat after their last offensive had failed.{{sfn|Kershaw|2016|p=61}}

Thus the conditions were set for the "stab-in-the-back myth", in which Hindenburg and Ludendorff were held to be blameless, the German Army was seen as undefeated on the battlefield, and the republican politicians – especially the Socialists – were accused of betraying Germany. Further blame was laid at their feet after they signed the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, which led to territorial losses and serious financial pain for the shaky new republic, including a crippling schedule of reparation payments.

Conservatives, nationalists, and ex-military leaders began to speak critically about the peace and Weimar politicians, socialists, [[Communism|communists]], and Jews. Even [[Catholic Church in Germany|Catholics]] were viewed with suspicion by some due to supposed fealty to the [[Pope]] and their presumed lack of national loyalty and patriotism. It was claimed that these groups had not sufficiently supported the war and had played a role in selling out Germany to its enemies. These ''November Criminals'', or those who seemed to benefit from the newly formed Weimar Republic, were seen to have "stabbed them in the back" on the home front, by either criticising [[German nationalism]], instigating unrest and mounting strikes in the critical military industries, or by profiteering. These actions were believed to have deprived Germany of almost certain victory at the eleventh hour.