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HIST2134 The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945

HIST2134 The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945. Lecture 11: The downfall of the Third Reich, 1943-45 30 April 2013. NS Economy: 3 Phases. NS ‘economic miracle’ & rearmament, 1933-36 Four Year Plan & early war economy, 1936-42 Total War economy : Era Speer, 1942-45.

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HIST2134 The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945

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  1. HIST2134The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945 Lecture 11: The downfall of the Third Reich, 1943-45 30 April 2013

  2. NS Economy: 3 Phases • NS ‘economic miracle’ & rearmament, 1933-36 • Four Year Plan & early war economy, 1936-42 • Total War economy: Era Speer, 1942-45

  3. Total War Economy (1) • Albert Speer as minister for total war economy ↓ → Strict centralisation to increase industrial output → Minimum freedom of private industry → ‘Slave work’ by forced labour & camp prisoners = Initially very successful strategy: Speer most powerful Nazi & possible successor of Hitler

  4. Total War Economy (2) • Weapon + ammunition + aircraft production (3 x higher) - Tanks production (7 x higher) • Limited modernization + rationalization effects • Not all industrial capacities fully exploited = Compared to USA: 3 x lower production = General inferiority of Axis powers’ war economy ≠ Allies: Impossible to overcome

  5. Foreign policy 4-phase-model • Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics, 1933-36 • Expansionist foreign politics, 1938/39 • Blitz Wars and ideological warfare, 1939-42 • Total War and downfall, 1943-45

  6. ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Allied GB-US-SU conference in Casablanca, 25 Jan 1943 • Strict demand of G’s ‘unconditional surrender’: → Increased popular support for NS regime → Weakened inner-German resistance → Stimulated Goebbels’ Total War propaganda, 18 Feb 1943 • Ambivalent effects: Short-term pro NS regime, long-term contra NS

  7. Battle of Berlin, Apr-May 1945 Successful operation of SU armies vs. German capital: • Marriage of Hitler & Eva Braun followed by joint suicide • Last Reich government under Admiral Dönitz arrested by GB forces • Successive military capitulations in Italy, 29 Apr 1945, + South & Northwest Germany, 4 May 1945 = Unconditional surrenders in Reims, 7 May 1945 (for West) + Berlin-Karlshorst, 8 May 1945 (for SU) = End of WW II in Europe + downfall of Third Reich

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