German Empire
The high command under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff increasingly controlled the country, but in October after the failed offensive in spring 1918, the German armies were in retreat, allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution with the abdications of its monarchs. This left a postwar federal republic and a devastated and unsatisfied populace, which later led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
Events preceding World War II in Europe
World War II is generally viewed as having its roots in the aftermath of World War I. In that war, the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II, with its allies, was defeated, chiefly by the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.