"Sieg Heil"

In 1918, Germany emerged from war exhausted and disoriented. The fighting had ended, but the country that remained was not the one many Germans had been taught to expect. Four years of mobilization had pulled men from farms, factories, and offices, while shortages at home pressed daily life into a narrower, harsher shape. When defeat arrived, it landed not only as a military event but as a shock to national identity.
The armistice was followed by political collapse. The imperial order that h...