Talk:Stab-in-the-back legend
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[edit] Edit war
This is regularly being taken out and put back in. Please give evidence for your assertion before putting it back yet again. Proxima Centauri (talk) 12:47, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
- Sorry, I'm the person who most recently patrolled the edit by the BoN. I'm not surprised the Nazis would take a quote and present it out of context -is it possible this quote is completely fabricated? --TheLateGatsby (talk) 12:51, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
However, the allies stalled this offensive, and the German High Command realized that the Spring Offensive was their last throw of the die; the German Army no longer had the reserves or supplies left to stage further offensives, and they were faced with a slow, grinding eventual withdrawal and then eventually total defeat. Erich Ludendorff and Paul Von Hindenburg, Germany's chief generals, realised that if the army and the monarchy surrendered to the allies, they could be facing a similar situation as to what happened in Russia, with the old order being blamed and then violently overthrown by radical forces. Therefore the generals planned a secret 'revolution from above'. This involved the abolition of the German Hohenzollern monarchy and its client provincial monarchies and their replacement with a civilian government that would surrender to the allies. This way the army could escape with it's reputation intact and the blame for the capitulation placed on the succeeding republic. A quote from Ludendorff at the time generally shows both their plan, and the seeds of the 'stab in the back' theory beginning to emerge: "I have asked His Excellency to now bring those circles to power which we have to thank for coming so far. We will therefore now bring those gentlemen into the ministries. They can now make the peace which has to be made. They can eat the broth which they have prepared for us!" The German Kaizer reluctantly agreed to their plan, believing that it would spare a later violent revolution. On the home front though, German losses had been significantly underreported and gains exaggerrated, and with the German Army still in France and having recently made the Spring Offensive, it made the German surrender seem like it had come from nowhere to those on the home front.
Above is the contested material, with a small amount of material that stayed in the article to complete sentences. Proxima Centauri (talk) 12:54, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
It's very likely the whole thing if as fabricated, it should on no account go back without reliable evidence that it's true. Proxima Centauri (talk) 12:56, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
- Ludendorff's role in Germany's surrender is discussed in sections II and III in this article. I'll look for this "broth" quote.--TheLateGatsby (talk) 13:05, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
- Much of this is accurate on the face of it--the German High Command knew that they no longer had the means by which to pursue the war, especially after the fall of the Balkans. And Ebert acknowledged the need for Wilhelm to abdicate to avoid a bloody revolution. I don't really know about the idea that the general staff trying to save the army's reputation. JubalHarshaw (talk) 13:12, 2 October 2012 (UTC)