what would have happened if germany had won ww1?
de
entailment
 The German army 's manpower had been severely depleted after four years of war , and its economy and society were under great internal strain . The Entente now fielded a total of 216 divisions against 197 understrength German divisions . The Hundred Days Offensive beginning in August proved the final straw , and following this string of military defeats , German troops began to surrender in large numbers . As the Allied forces broke the German lines , Prince Maximilian of Baden was appointed as Chancellor of Germany in October to negotiate an armistice . Because of his opposition to the peace feelers , Ludendorff was forced to step aside and he fled to Sweden . Fighting was still continuing , but the German armies were in retreat when the German Revolution put a new government in power . An armistice was quickly signed , that stopped all fighting on the Western Front on Armistice Day ( 11 November 1918 ) . The German Imperial Monarchy collapsed as General Groener ( Ludendorff 's successor ) backed the moderate Social Democratic Government under Friedrich Ebert , rather than face the possibility of a revolution like that in Russia the previous year . 

neutral
 The war along the Western Front led the German government and its allies to sue for peace in spite of German success elsewhere . As a result , the terms of the peace were dictated by France , Britain and the United States , during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference . The result was the Treaty of Versailles , signed in June 1919 by a delegation of the new German government . 

neutral
 a ) German rearmament , following upon the complete re @-@ militarisation of Italy and Russia ( the Soviet Union ) , caused most other states , even those that were deliberately pacifistic , like Switzerland and the Netherlands , to take exceptional precautions . 

neutral
 Germany reoccupied the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in March 1936 , in violation of the Versailles Treaty . Hitler also sent troops to Spain to support General Franco during the Spanish Civil War after receiving an appeal for help in July 1936 . At the same time , Hitler continued his efforts to create an Anglo @-@ German alliance . In August 1936 , in response to a growing economic crisis caused by his rearmament efforts , Hitler ordered Göring to implement a Four Year Plan to prepare Germany for war within the next four years . The plan envisaged an all @-@ out struggle between " Judeo @-@ Bolshevism " and German national socialism , which in Hitler 's view required a committed effort of rearmament regardless of the economic costs . 

entailment
 With victory , the initiative firmly passed to the Red Army . For the remainder of the war the Germans were limited to reacting to Soviet advances , and were never able to regain the initiative or launch a major offensive on the Eastern Front . The Western Allied landings in Italy opened up a new front , further diverting German resources and attention . 
