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223-708: Eastern Prussia had been separated from Germany following the Treaty of Versailles by the Polish Corridor of the Second Polish Republic . By 1939, Poland had already refused demands made by Nazi Germany, including one for an extraterritorial corridor within the Polish territory. This fact was eventually used by Adolf Hitler as one of the pretexts for the German invasion of Poland in 1939. The road

446-487: A League of Nations to guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity of all states. It called for what it characterised as a just and democratic peace uncompromised by territorial annexation . The Fourteen Points were based on the research of the Inquiry , a team of about 150 advisors led by foreign-policy advisor Edward M. House , into the topics likely to arise in the expected peace conference. During

669-691: A "peace without victory". This position fluctuated following the US entry into the war. Wilson spoke of the German aggressors, with whom there could be no compromised peace. On 8 January 1918, however, Wilson delivered a speech (known as the Fourteen Points ) that declared the American peace objectives: the rebuilding of the European economy , self-determination of European and Middle Eastern ethnic groups,

892-514: A 7 km (4.3 mi) stretch between Munich and the border were actually active. GEZUVOR presented its 788 volumes of plans to Todt on 1 June 1934. Despite initial promises that the first segment would open in September 1934, to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the ground-breaking and with the 7th International Road Congress, this did not happen until 19 May 1935, when the 22 km (14 mi) stretch between Frankfurt and Darmstadt

1115-710: A declaration of war by Britain on Germany on 4 August, creating the conflict that became the First World War . Two alliances faced off, the Central Powers (led by Germany) and the Triple Entente (led by Britain, France and Russia). Other countries entered as fighting raged widely across Europe , as well as the Middle East , Africa and Asia . Having seen the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in

1338-499: A dozen unfinished structures on the old route, most of them in the forest. In Rupboden, a district road crosses under the overgrown route, which is still clearly visible today. Near Gräfendorf , an unfinished pillar now serves as a climbing rock for alpinists. Although protected as a monument, apart from signs against damage to property, even today there is no memorial plaque commemorating the Reichsautobahn route, which ended as

1561-489: A dramatic gateway at the border near Salzburg. Bridges sometimes constituted dramatic gateways in themselves, such as the "Gateway of Thuringia" at Eisenberg , by Hermann Rukwied, and sometimes included sculpture, such as the 1937 bas relief 7.5 m (25 ft) high by Kurt Lehmann depicting a "worker of the fist" and a "worker of the brow" on the Hedemünden bridge. Josef Thorak executed and exhibited in 1938–39

1784-529: A fairer, better world are not written in this treaty". Lord Robert Cecil said that many within the Foreign Office were disappointed by the treaty. The treaty received widespread approval from the general public. Bernadotte Schmitt wrote that the "average Englishman ... thought Germany got only what it deserved" as a result of the treaty, but public opinion changed as German complaints mounted. Former wartime British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and

2007-542: A few months before that they should be as unnoticeable as possible, minimal in mass and in obstruction of view. Like the rest stops, they were also designed to reflect local building styles and materials. One exception that proved the rule was the bare steel bridges spanning the Dessauer Rennstrecke high-speed section, which expressed its high-tech purpose and also alluded to the Junkers aircraft company that

2230-516: A high speed car chase that was set on Berlinka (as at the time one of the few places in Poland where a high speed car chase was even plausible, given the execrable condition of other roads). In recent years that attraction has diminished as most of the stretches completed in the 1930s have been reconstructed to modern standards and largely lost their original appearance. Today the last remaining stretch in Poland that still has Nazi era construction features

2453-614: A highway through many different jurisdictions, or the funding problems of such a large undertaking. Moreover, legislators condemned it as a luxury project that would benefit only the few wealthy enough to own cars; the Nazi Party was against public spending on highways for this reason, as were the Communists and the Reichsbahn , the German national railroad, which feared highways would take some of its freight business. Even

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2676-657: A large bridge over the Vistula south of Tczew ( 54°03′07″N 18°49′00″E  /  54.05205°N 18.81676°E  / 54.05205; 18.81676 ). Construction began in late 1933, using unemployed German workers as part of the state's reforms to counteract the Great Depression , the construction of the Reichsautobahn (RAB) network. The first 113 kilometre (70 mile) long segment near Stettin (now Szczecin), Stettiner Dreieck to Stettin-Süd,

2899-464: A maximum of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions. The treaty laid down the organisation of the divisions and support units, and the General Staff was to be dissolved. Military schools for officer training were limited to three, one school per arm, and conscription was abolished. Private soldiers and non-commissioned officers were to be retained for at least twelve years and officers for

3122-437: A maximum working day and week; the regulation of the labour supply; the prevention of unemployment ; the provision of a living wage; the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment; the protection of children, young persons and women; provision for old age and injury; protection of the interests of workers when employed abroad; recognition of the principle of freedom of association ;

3345-430: A minimum of 25 years, with former officers being forbidden to attend military exercises. To prevent Germany from building up a large cadre of trained men, the number of men allowed to leave early was limited. The number of civilian staff supporting the army was reduced and the police force was reduced to its pre-war size, with increases limited to population increases; paramilitary forces were forbidden. The Rhineland

3568-561: A model camp at Werbellin on the Berlin-Stettin autobahn that was opened in December 1934. Kraft durch Freude entertainment, books, and propaganda movies were also provided from that point on. One worker wrote in 1975 of the camp where he had lived in 1937 that he would still describe the living conditions as "absolutely model". However, conditions remained very poor. Work sites were often remote, as far as two hours' march from

3791-472: A model for Piero Puricelli 's 1924 autostrada between Milan and the northern Italian lakes, the first true motorway in the world. In 1929–32, a highway some 20 km (12 mi) long that also resembled the Reichsautobahn except for the lack of a median strip was built between Cologne and Bonn using unemployed labor; on the basis of this, the then Lord Mayor of Cologne and chairman of

4014-586: A more imposing mass, allowed the reflection of regional building styles in their use of stone and brick, and embodied the Nazi claim to be the heirs to the great builders of ancient times. These included the Holledau Bridge by Georg Gsaenger (1937–38) and the bridges over the Saale at Hirschberg, Thuringia , and Jena ; in 1938 Friedrich Tamms  [ de ] designed a huge imitation Roman viaduct for

4237-462: A mutilated victory, replying at nationalists calling for a greater expansion that "Italy today is a great state....on par with the great historic and contemporary states. This is, for me, our main and principal expansion." Francesco Saverio Nitti took Orlando's place in signing the treaty of Versailles. The Italian leadership were divided on whether to try the Kaiser. Sonnino considered that putting

4460-461: A nationwide speaking tour in the summer of 1919 to refute them. But Wilson collapsed midway with a serious stroke that effectively ruined his leadership skills. The closest the treaty came to passage was on 19 November 1919, as Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to end

4683-598: A position opposed by the Dominions . Together with the French, the British favoured putting German war criminals on trial, and included the Kaiser in this. Already in 1916 Herbert Asquith had declared the intention "to bring to justice the criminals, whoever they be and whatever their station", and a resolution of the war cabinet in 1918 reaffirmed this intent. Lloyd George declared that the British people would not accept

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4906-413: A projected "transit autobahn" from Breslau to Vienna via Brünn ( Brno ). However, the emphasis on east–west connections and on attracting foreign tourists and promoting automobile touring meant that the completed sections did not constitute a useful network for freight transportation until 1937. In 1938, construction priorities shifted with the preparation for war. Todt was given responsibility for building

5129-540: A promised transfer of British Jubaland and French Aozou strip to the Italian colonies of Somalia and Libya respectively. Italian nationalists , however, saw the War as a " mutilated victory " for what they considered to be little territorial gains achieved in the other treaties directly impacting Italy's borders. Orlando was ultimately forced to abandon the conference and resign. Orlando refused to see World War I as

5352-522: A range of 600 m (660 yd) and 1,800 m (2,000 yd) in radius . One segment just south of Dessau of roughly 10 km in length was designed for speed record attempts (the Dessauer Rennstrecke ) and had six lanes in each direction. The network as planned had three east–west highways (between the Ruhr and Berlin via Hanover, between the Southwest and Munich via Stuttgart , and between

5575-607: A ruin and was completely suppressed for many years. Route 145. During the German occupation of Denmark , earthworks for a Reichsautobahn "Route 145" were started from the ferry port of Rødbyhavn to Majbølle on the Guldborgsund in September 1941. Some crossing bridges are still in use today. In the 1950s, this motorway was completed and has been part of the European Route 47 ( Europastraße 47 , Vogelfluglinie) since 1963. Foreign visitors reported generally favorably on

5798-467: A second telegram with a confirmation that a German delegation would arrive shortly to sign the treaty. On 28 June 1919, the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the immediate impetus for the war), the peace treaty was signed. The treaty had clauses ranging from war crimes, the prohibition on the merging of the Republic of German Austria with Germany without the consent of

6021-713: A separate peace treaty with Germany, albeit based on the Versailles treaty. The problems that arose from the treaty would lead to the Locarno Treaties , which improved relations between Germany and the other European powers. The reparation system was reorganized and payments reduced in the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan . Bitter resentment of the treaty powered the rise of the Nazi Party , and eventually

6244-420: A short speech ending with the command, " Fanget an! " ("Begin!") This was broadcast nationwide on the radio, after which his representatives opened work with the first shoveling of dirt at the other 14 locations: Hermann Göring at Finowfurth near Berlin, for example. A monument in the highway median at Unterhaching later commemorated the event: it took the form of a cylinder inscribed with Hitler's command and

6467-581: A similar proposal to the Senate . Clemenceau had told the Chamber of Deputies , in December 1918, that his goal was to maintain an alliance with both countries. Clemenceau accepted the offer, in return for an occupation of the Rhineland for fifteen years and that Germany would also demilitarise the Rhineland. French negotiators required reparations, to make Germany pay for the destruction induced throughout

6690-630: A speech at the Berlin Motor Show on 11 February, Hitler presented it as a necessity and as the future measure of a people, as railroads had been in the past. A law establishing the Reichsautobahn project under that name was passed on 27 June 1933, and the Gesellschaft Reichsautobahnen (Reichsautobahns Association) was founded on 25 August as a subsidiary of the Reichsbahn, thereby removing its objections. Todt

6913-511: A strip extending 500 m (550 yd) in either direction from the highway; gasoline was bought in bulk and sold by the Reichsautobahn, so that there were no brand names on the filling stations, and station attendants trained at a special school at Michendorf on the Berlin ring road so that they would correctly embody the autobahn. Straßenmeistereien (road governance stations) at roughly 50 to 100 km (31 to 62 mi) intervals maintained

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7136-487: A treaty that did not include terms on this, though he wished to limit the charges solely to violation of the 1839 treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality. The British were also well aware that the Kaiser having sought refuge in the Netherlands meant that any trial was unlikely to take place and therefore any Article demanding it was likely to be a dead letter. Before the American entry into the war, Wilson had talked of

7359-660: Is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years."; a criticism over the failure to annex the Rhineland and for compromising French security for the benefit of the United States and Britain. When Clemenceau stood for election as President of France in January 1920, he was defeated. Reaction in the Kingdom of Italy to the treaty was extremely negative. The country had suffered high casualties, yet failed to achieve most of its major war goals, notably gaining control of

7582-571: Is signed as voivodeship road 142, north-east of Szczecin . As that stretch is only a local road, it is unlikely to be rebuilt in the foreseeable future. On the Russian side, the remains of the old road are still visible ( 54°31′35″N 20°17′01″E  /  54.5264296°N 20.2836840°E  / 54.5264296; 20.2836840 ) next to the E28 highway from the Polish-Russian border to

7805-490: The Frankfurter Zeitung in 1938 of autobahn driving as overwhelmingly passive: "It is a mark of how passive we are, of how much the sweep of road affects our senses, that the relationship between driver and road seems to be reversed. The road takes the active role, moving toward us quickly and smoothly, ... sucking the car inexorably into itself." After the war, with the exception of the parkway aesthetic,

8028-921: The Judenberater for Slovakia, invited Slovak government officials to tour several Reichsautobahn camps in Upper East Silesia. During the trip, the Reichsautobahn made inquiries about the use of Slovak Jews on its construction projects. However, Izidor Koso , president of the Interior Ministry, commented that the Germans' methods were "un-Christian and inhumane" and Slovakia would have to find another way. The visitors understood that Jews in Poland lived under conditions that would eventually cause mass death. A speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) had been imposed in May 1939 to save fuel; during

8251-458: The Wochenschau (newsreel) formed part of theater programs. The autobahns also gave rise to several novels and a considerable amount of poetry. As Ernst Bloch wrote in 1937, the autobahns, despite their magnitude, were "rather flat". Photomontages attempted to impress upon the public the sheer volume of earth moved and materials used to build them, but the primary means of demonstrating

8474-622: The "Beetle" started only after 1945. Motorization clearly had a military application, providing trucks and drivers that could be used by the military. In addition, Todt's report cited troop transportation as a reason to develop highways: he stated that using 100,000 requisitioned vehicles, it would be possible to transport 300,000 shock troops the width of the Reich in two nights. A second memorandum written six months later by Gottfried Feder also stressed military uses. The military disagreed. Georg Halter, professor of road construction and railroads at

8697-548: The Allied Powers . It was signed in the Palace of Versailles , exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand , which led to the war. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties. Although the armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, and agreed certain principles and conditions including the payment of reparations, it took six months of Allied negotiations at

8920-706: The Atlantic Ocean . The Blockade of Germany was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers to stop the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs reaching the Central Powers. The German Kaiserliche Marine was mainly restricted to the German Bight and used commerce raiders and unrestricted submarine warfare for a counter-blockade. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that 763,000 German civilians had died during

9143-675: The Berlinka . Others were no longer useful because of the altered borders, including the occupation zone boundary that became the inner German border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic . A stretch of highway near Kaiserslautern became the access road to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base . Most of the destroyed bridges were either reconstructed or rebuilt in a different style, although

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9366-603: The Dalmatian coast and Fiume . President Wilson rejected Italy's claims on the basis of "national self-determination." For their part, Britain and France—who had been forced in the war's latter stages to divert their own troops to the Italian front to stave off collapse—were disinclined to support Italy's position at the peace conference. Differences in negotiating strategy between Premier Vittorio Orlando and Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino further undermined Italy's position at

9589-540: The Entente powers. The most critical and controversial provision in the treaty was: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." The other members of

9812-814: The February Revolution and the Kerensky government in the October Revolution , the new Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic under Vladimir Lenin in March 1918 signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , amounting to a surrender that was highly favourable to Germany. Sensing victory before the American Expeditionary Forces could be ready, Germany now shifted forces to the Western Front and tried to overwhelm

10035-402: The Fourteen Points . They outlined a policy of free trade , open agreements , and democracy. While the term was not used, self-determination was assumed. It called for a negotiated end to the war, international disarmament, the withdrawal of the Central Powers from occupied territories, the creation of a Polish state , the redrawing of Europe's borders along ethnic lines, and the formation of

10258-606: The Free City of Danzig . Article 119 of the treaty required Germany to renounce sovereignty over former colonies and Article 22 converted the territories into League of Nations mandates under the control of Allied states. Togoland and German Kamerun (Cameroon) were transferred to France, aside from portions given to Britain, British Togoland and British Cameroon . Ruanda and Urundi were allocated to Belgium, whereas German South-West Africa went to South Africa and Britain obtained German East Africa . As compensation for

10481-631: The German Revolution . The German government tried to obtain a peace settlement based on the Fourteen Points, and maintained it was on this basis that they surrendered. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice , which came into effect on 11 November while German forces were still positioned in France and Belgium . Many aspects of the Versailles treaty that were later criticised were agreed first in

10704-587: The Greater Poland Uprising , was also to be ceded to Poland. Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania), on historical and ethnic grounds, was transferred to Poland so that the new state could have access to the sea and became known as the Polish Corridor . The sovereignty of part of southern East Prussia was to be decided via plebiscite while the East Prussian Soldau area , which was astride the rail line between Warsaw and Danzig ,

10927-401: The Independent Liberal opposition in the British Parliament after the 1918 general election believed the treaty was too punitive. Asquith campaigned against it while running for another House of Commons seat in the 1920 Paisley by-election . Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald , following the German re-militarisation of the Rhineland in 1936, stated that he was "pleased" that the treaty

11150-419: The Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiations before signing the treaty. The treaty required Germany to disarm , make territorial concessions, extradite alleged war criminals, agree to Kaiser Wilhelm being put on trial, recognise the independence of states whose territory had previously been part of the German Empire, and pay reparations to

11373-484: The Polish Corridor —which would connect Germany to Eastern Prussia . This, alongside other demands, was refused by the Polish government, and Hitler used this as one of the pretexts for the invasion of Poland in September 1939 . By October 1939, Poland was defeated , and work on the Berlinka resumed. The labour pool was increasingly composed of conscript workers from Poland. The Bäderstraße (near Rzęśnica and Wielgowo ) to Stargard-Massow (near Łęczyca ) segment

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11596-431: The Quai d'Orsay in Paris. Initially, 70 delegates from 27 nations participated in the negotiations. Russia was excluded due to their signing of a separate peace (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ) and early withdrawal from the war. Furthermore, German negotiators were excluded to deny them an opportunity to divide the Allies diplomatically. Initially, a "Council of Ten" (comprising two delegates each from Britain, France,

11819-442: The Saale River Bridge at Rudolphstein , on the inner German border, was not replaced until the 1960s. The debris of the destroyed bridges still lies below the rebuilt series of viaducts at the Drackensteiner Hang in the Swabian Alps . Elsewhere, unfinished autobahn construction was left abandoned; the Wommen Viaduct , also on the inner German border, was completed in 1993, after German reunification . The specifications for

12042-403: The South African delegation) wrote to Lloyd-George, before the signing, that the treaty was unstable and declared "Are we in our sober senses or suffering from shellshock? What has become of Wilson's 14 points?" He wanted the Germans not be made to sign at the "point of the bayonet". Smuts issued a statement condemning the treaty and regretting that the promises of "a new international order and

12265-411: The Technical University of Munich and a Nazi Party member, wrote several pieces beginning in fall 1933 in which he contested Todt's report, with respect to strategic applications pointing out that road vehicles had less than a third of the weight capacity of railroad freight wagons, in addition to which the steel wheel-rims and treads of armored vehicles would severely damage the roadway. He also regarded

12488-492: The USSR and Riga , Latvia, and Leningrad were all being planned in 1940–41. Ground was broken by Todt himself on 14 September 1941, for the autobahn between Lübeck and Copenhagen . When construction was stopped, of the 3,870 km (2,400 mi) of completed highway segments, approximately 80% was surfaced in concrete, approximately 10% paved, and the remaining 10% surfaced with asphalt. This compared to approximately 565 km (351 mi) of concrete-surfaced roads in

12711-427: The Weimar Republic , and two had been constructed, but work had yet to start on long-distance highways. After previously opposing plans for a highway network, the Nazis embraced them after coming to power and presented the project as Hitler 's own idea. They were termed "The Fuehrer's roads" (" German : Straßen des Führers ") and presented as a major contribution to the reduction of unemployment. Other reasons for

12934-400: The Werra valley at Hedemünden . Another factor in this change in style was the shortage of steel caused by the policy of autarky and by rearmament and war; there was also a near failure of a continuously welded bridge, which had to be quietly reinforced and led to mistrust of steel construction. Many later bridges had a reinforced concrete core clad in stonework or brick. However, with

13157-403: The Westwall , and in 1939 only 237 km (147 mi) were added to the Reichsautobahn . In addition, Hitler ordered important sections of the autobahns to be widened, from 24 m (79 ft) to 26.5 m (87 ft) and ultimately to 28.5 m (94 ft), which further diverted resources from building new sections. Working conditions were hard and the pay very low, because it

13380-473: The " Ostmark ", and a second soil-breaking ceremony for the first Reichsautobahn on formerly Austrian territory took place near Salzburg on 7 April 1938. When work ceased in 1941 because of World War II , 3,819.7 km (2,373.5 mi) had been completed. Two controlled-access highways had been built prior to the Nazi era. The 10 km (6.2 mi) long AVUS (short for Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße – automobile traffic and practice road)

13603-421: The "Big Three" following the temporary withdrawal of Orlando). These four men met in 145 closed sessions to make all the major decisions, which were later ratified by the entire assembly. The minor powers attended a weekly "Plenary Conference" that discussed issues in a general forum but made no decisions. These members formed over 50 commissions that made various recommendations, many of which were incorporated into

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13826-399: The "inorganic architecture" of the 19th century associated with the Reichsbahn, and were not to obtrude into the motorist's view with high arches, so they were almost unnoticeable from the highway, and therefore viewing platforms were provided so that travelers could stop to see and admire them. Mitigating damage to the environment was a concern, as part of creating an authentic experience of

14049-477: The 11 November armistice agreement, whilst the war was still ongoing. These included the German evacuation of German-occupied France , Belgium , Luxembourg , Alsace-Lorraine, and the left bank of the Rhine (all of which were to be administered by the Allies under the armistice agreement), the surrender of a large quantity of war materiel, and the agreed payment of "reparation for damage done". German forces evacuated occupied France, Belgium, and Luxembourg within

14272-416: The 1970s there was a broad-based movement in West Germany to remove trees from beside the autobahns as a danger, greatly changing their appearance. All advertising was banned on the Reichsautobahn. Instead of advertising signs, noticeboards to be used to alert drivers to telephone messages were placed on the median near exits. The Reichsautobahn and its innkeeping subsidiary retained all commercial rights in

14495-437: The 4,000th kilometer was foreseen and a medallion designed to celebrate it, but that milestone was never reached. The engineers were put to work restoring bridges in the occupied territories and later, converting rail tracks in the USSR to standard gauge . In 1942 Albert Speer , who succeeded Todt after his death, folded the Reichsautobahn completely into the war-oriented Organisation Todt . In July 1941, Dieter Wisliceny ,

14718-406: The Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000 people. The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919. Foodstuffs imports into Germany were controlled by the Allies after the Armistice with Germany until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. In March 1919, Churchill informed

14941-467: The Allies declared that war would resume if the German government did not sign the treaty they had agreed to among themselves. The government headed by Philipp Scheidemann was unable to agree on a common position, and Scheidemann himself resigned rather than agree to sign the treaty. Gustav Bauer , the head of the new government, sent a telegram stating his intention to sign the treaty if certain articles were withdrawn, including Articles 227 to 231 (i.e.,

15164-482: The Allies. It failed. Instead, the Allies won decisively on the battlefield, overwhelmed Germany's Turkish, Austrian, and Bulgarian allies, and forced an armistice in November 1918 that resembled a surrender. The United States entered the war against the Central Powers in 1917 and President Woodrow Wilson played a significant role in shaping the peace terms. His expressed aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions. On 8 January 1918, Wilson issued

15387-400: The American peace delegation, and the overall American position echoed the Fourteen Points. Wilson firmly opposed harsh treatment on Germany. While the British and French wanted to largely annex the German colonial empire, Wilson saw that as a violation of the fundamental principles of justice and human rights of the native populations, and favored them having the right of self-determination via

15610-411: The Americans differed to the British and French in that Wilson's proposal was that any trial of the Kaiser should be solely a political and moral affair, and not one of criminal responsibility, meaning that the death penalty would be precluded. This was based on the American view, particularly those of Robert Lansing , that there was no applicable law under which the Kaiser could be tried. Additionally,

15833-424: The Americans favoured trying other German war criminals before military tribunals rather than an international court, with prosecutions being limited to "violation[s] of the laws and customs of war", and opposed any trials based on violations against what was called " laws of humanity ". Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and his foreign minister Sidney Sonnino , an Anglican of British origins, worked primarily to secure

16056-620: The Articles related to the extradition of the Kaiser for trial, the extradition of German war criminals for trial before Allied tribunals, the handing over of documents relevant for war crimes trials, and accepting liability for war reparations). In response, the Allies issued an ultimatum stating that Germany would have to accept the treaty or face an invasion of Allied forces across the Rhine within 24 hours. On 23 June, Bauer capitulated and sent

16279-664: The British Empire. Lloyd George also intended to maintain a European balance of power to thwart a French attempt to establish itself as the dominant European power. A revived Germany would be a counterweight to France and a deterrent to Bolshevik Russia. Lloyd George also wanted to neutralize the German navy to keep the Royal Navy as the greatest naval power in the world; dismantle the German colonial empire with several of its territorial possessions ceded to Britain and others being established as League of Nations mandates ,

16502-405: The Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles. This article, Article 231 , became known as the "War Guilt" clause. Critics including John Maynard Keynes declared the treaty too harsh, styling it as a " Carthaginian peace ", and saying the reparations were excessive and counterproductive. On the other hand, prominent Allied figures such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized

16725-510: The Commonwealth and British Government had mixed thoughts on the treaty, with some seeing the French policy as being greedy and vindictive. Lloyd George and his private secretary Philip Kerr believed in the treaty, although they also felt that the French would keep Europe in a constant state of turmoil by attempting to enforce the treaty. Delegate Harold Nicolson wrote "are we making a good peace?", while General Jan Smuts (a member of

16948-510: The Dominions. The four Dominions and India all signed the Treaty separately from Britain, a clear recognition by the international community that the Dominions were no longer British colonies. "Their status defied exact analysis by both international and constitutional lawyers, but it was clear that they were no longer regarded simply as colonies of Britain." By signing the Treaty individually,

17171-407: The Fourteen Points, because Europe would eventually have to reconcile with Germany. Lloyd George wanted terms of reparation that would not cripple the German economy, so that Germany would remain a viable economic power and trading partner. By arguing that British war pensions and widows' allowances should be included in the German reparation sum, Lloyd George ensured that a large amount would go to

17394-514: The French and Germans held separate talks, on mutually acceptable arrangements on issues like reparation, reconstruction and industrial collaboration. France, along with the British Dominions and Belgium, opposed League of Nations mandates and favored annexation of former German colonies . The French, who had suffered significantly in the areas occupied by Germany during the war, were in favour of trying German war criminals, including

17617-580: The German invasion of Portuguese Africa, Portugal was granted the Kionga Triangle , a sliver of German East Africa in northern Mozambique . Article 156 of the treaty transferred German concessions in Shandong , China, to Japan, not to China. Japan was granted all German possessions in the Pacific north of the equator and those south of the equator went to Australia, except for German Samoa , which

17840-500: The Gestapo participated increasingly, and the few SA members among the workers were organized into Baustürme ("construction storms") that provided both example and intimidation at work sites. There were nonetheless several further strikes in 1935, and increasing numbers of fires were ascribed to sabotage by disgruntled workers. Todt attempted to make worker housing into "worthy lodgings", and had camps specially built, beginning with

18063-466: The House of Commons, that the ongoing blockade was a success and "Germany is very near starvation." From January 1919 to March 1919, Germany refused to agree to Allied demands that Germany surrender its merchant ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies. Some Germans considered the armistice to be a temporary cessation of the war and knew, if fighting broke out again, their ships would be seized. Over

18286-476: The Kaiser on trial could result in him becoming a "patriotic martyr". Orlando, in contrast, stated that "the ex-Kaiser ought to pay like other criminals", but was less sure about whether the Kaiser should be tried as a criminal or merely have a political verdict cast against him. Orlando also considered that "[t]he question of the constitution of the Court presents almost insurmountable difficulties". In June 1919,

18509-414: The Kaiser. In the face of American objections that there was no applicable existing law under which the Kaiser could be tried, Clemenceau took the view that the "law of responsibility" overruled all other laws and that putting the Kaiser on trial offered the opportunity to establish this as an international precedent. Britain had suffered heavy financial costs but suffered little physical devastation during

18732-655: The League of Nations confirmed the change of status on 20 September 1920, with the line of the German-Belgian border finally fixed by a League of Nations commission in 1922. To compensate for the destruction of French coal mines, Germany was to cede the output of the Saar coalmines to France and control of the Saar to the League of Nations for 15 years; a plebiscite would then be held to decide sovereignty. The treaty restored

18955-431: The League of Nations, freedom of navigation on major European rivers , to the returning of a Quran to the king of Hedjaz . The treaty stripped Germany of 65,000 km (25,000 sq mi) of territory and 7 million people. It also required Germany to give up the gains made via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and grant independence to the protectorates that had been established. In Western Europe , Germany

19178-593: The Main- Neckar region and Breslau via Erfurt and Leipzig ), two north–south (between the Hanseatic cities and Basel via Frankfurt and between Königsberg and Munich via Stettin —now Szczecin in Poland—;Berlin, and Nuremberg ), and diagonal connections between Berlin and Hamburg and Breslau. HAFRABA's main north–south route was truncated; it was only completed in 1962. However, in addition to

19401-480: The Ministry of Transportation became involved in trying to establish guidelines for the building of a highway network. Most notably, the organization known as HaFraBa or HAFRABA (an acronym for Verein zur Vorbereitung der Autostraße Hamburg–Frankfurt–Basel - Association for the preparation of the motorway Hamburg [later Hansestädte , Hanseatic cities, after Lübeck and Bremen were added] – Frankfurt – Basel),

19624-483: The Reich in 1938 resulted in an extension of the previously Vienna-centered road system and major planning and construction efforts in the Alpine regions. The West Autobahn between Vienna and Salzburg was started within weeks with much publicity, but only a few kilometers around Salzburg were finished by 1942. After the war began in September 1939, a further 560 km (350 mi) of autobahn were completed, bringing

19847-470: The Reich in 1933. Some stretches were only completed in one direction; in some low-traffic areas, particularly in Thuringia and Silesia , this was planned. The Reichsautobahn was initially to be financed by a road use tax, but in 1936 this was rejected and instead fuel taxes were raised and car owners taxed. In addition, the Reichsbahn and the national bank provided loans. However, approximately 60% of

20070-533: The Reich under the Nazis; Albert Speer stated that the autobahns were uniform in design to express the unity of the Reich. In 1933 Todt hired Alwin Seifert , a landscape architect, as his deputy on the Reichsautobahn project and gave him the title Reichslandschaftsanwalt (Reich supervisor of landscape protection). Seifert called for architects, rural planners, plant sociology experts and ecologists to contribute to

20293-675: The Reich) exemplified the growth of central authorities in the Third Reich and inevitably led to conflicts, but only on 1 January 1941 was the Gesellschaft Reichsautobahnen removed from the Reichsbahn and placed directly under Todt. On 5 August 1933, a radio play by Peter Hagen and Hans Jürgen Nierenz, Wir bauen eine Straße ("We are Building a Road"), was broadcast throughout the Reich. On 23 September 1933,

20516-539: The Reichsautobahn became the model for highways in other countries, and the practical experience gained—in logistics, mechanized construction, and bridge-building—was also used by others. Dwight D. Eisenhower realized the benefits of the Reichsautobahn during his time as an officer in the US Army, and as president, used those ideas to bring about the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. through

20739-400: The Reichsautobahn landscapers had performed pioneering analyses of local ecosystems that led them to plant intensively in order to reconstruct what they determined would have been naturally present at the site, but at the end of 1936, as a result of cost overruns as well as his personal philosophy, Todt severely curtailed plantings, calling for an emphasis on open views. From the 1950s through

20962-642: The Rhineland and bridgeheads east of the Rhine were to be occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years. If Germany had not committed aggression, a staged withdrawal would take place; after five years, the Cologne bridgehead and the territory north of a line along the Ruhr would be evacuated. After ten years, the bridgehead at Coblenz and the territories to the north would be evacuated and after fifteen years remaining Allied forces would be withdrawn. If Germany reneged on

21185-610: The State of Michigan observed, "Germany has the roads while we have the traffic." Car ownership was a "powerful public desire". Motoring and the use of the autobahn for outings were heavily promoted. German manufacturers produced touring buses for the non-car-owning public, and the Volkswagen (then called the KdF-Wagen , Strength Through Joy car, for the Nazi recreation organization) was developed and marketed in association with

21408-435: The United States, Italy, and Japan) met officially to decide the peace terms. This council was replaced by the "Council of Five", formed from each country's foreign ministers, to discuss minor matters. French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau , Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando , British Prime Minister David Lloyd George , and United States President Woodrow Wilson formed the " Big Four " (at one point becoming

21631-597: The Versailles conference, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson claimed that "at last the world knows America as the savior of the world!" However, Wilson had refused to bring any leading members of the Republican party, led by Henry Cabot Lodge , into the talks. The Republicans controlled the United States Senate after the election of 1918, and were outraged by Wilson's refusal to discuss the war with them. The senators were divided into multiple positions on

21854-575: The Versailles question. It proved possible to build a majority coalition, but impossible to build a two-thirds coalition that was needed to pass a treaty. A discontent bloc of 12–18 " Irreconcilables ", mostly Republicans but also representatives of the Irish and German Democrats, fiercely opposed the treaty. One bloc of Democrats strongly supported the Versailles Treaty, even with reservations added by Lodge. A second group of Democrats supported

22077-537: The area to the Republic of China 's control. Further confounding the Americans, was US internal partisan politics. In November 1918, the Republican Party won the Senate election by a slim margin. Wilson, a Democrat , refused to include prominent Republicans in the American delegation making his efforts seem partisan, and contributed to a risk of political defeat at home. On the subject of war crimes,

22300-439: The association of German car manufacturers did not support highway projects; they were concerned that long-distance driving would overtax their vehicles. After the Nazis came to power at the end of January 1933, their position changed rapidly. Fritz Todt produced a report arguing for the building of highways, Straßenbau und Straßenverwaltung , known as the "Brown Report" ( Braune Denkschrift or Brauner Bericht ), and in

22523-462: The autobahn at Gyhum went on strike; the 141 who could not be talked into resuming work were transported to Berlin for interrogation by the Gestapo . To avoid a recurrence of such problems, a policy was put in place of investigating men for political reliability before they were hired for work on the autobahn, access to the workers' camps was restricted, a surveillance network was instituted in which

22746-560: The autobahn to promote car ownership; Hitler first publicly called for its development at the opening of the first Reichsautobahn segment. The war effort put an end to efforts at mass motorization, as savings and production cability for the KdF-Wagen instead went into the Kübelwagen , the military version for all the branches ( Wehrmacht Heer , Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe ) of the combined Wehrmacht armed forces. Mass production of

22969-463: The autobahn to represent the Arbeitsschlacht and Nazi reduction of unemployment in general and emphasized the project's role. This included misleading graphs and exaggerated statistics. For the first two years of construction, mechanization was avoided so far as possible in order to create more work (although lack of machinery was also a factor). Numerous celebrations all over the Reich kept

23192-635: The autobahn, but increasingly the project used forced labor of various kinds. Several times, up to 1,400 youths fulfilling their obligation to work through the Reichsarbeitsdienst were used as autobahn workers, mostly doing simple hard labor, in November 1937, women and school-age children were put to work at a site in Silesia , and soon after, 17 and 18-year-olds in Hanover . Eventually,

23415-456: The autobahns were based on those developed by HAFRABA. They were designed as four-lane limited-access highways, with a central median, road surfaces in each direction normally 24 m (79 ft) wide (widened on some major segments immediately before the war), surfaced in concrete. There were no shoulders. In addition to having no intersections, the route was to limit grades as much as possible, to no more than 8%, and curves were to fall within

23638-473: The autobahns were created as a monument to the Third Reich, both internally and internationally; in the words of historian Thomas Zeller, "to symbolize power and the conquest of space". Todt insisted that they always be referred to as the Reichsautobahns, never simply "autobahns", and sought to eliminate use of the rival term Kraftfahrbahn (motor route). They were frequently classed as a wonder of

23861-573: The autobahns, particularly the foreign press in Germany for the 1936 Olympics; in October 1937 it was noted that an English visitor had remarked on the "real democracy" at an autobahn work site, and in September 1936 the former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George visited Hitler partly to discuss the autobahns, and returned home calling him a "great man". But they were also regarded as inhumane. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. described their version of

24084-599: The autobahns. They are to be reckoned as simply and solely the Führer's roads." Hof, an enthusiastic party member, resigned on 22 December 1934; the editor of the HAFRABA magazine, Kurt Kaftan, had caused a political problem by presenting Hof as the originator of the idea, or jointly responsible for it with Hitler. The overlapping responsibilities of the Gesellschaft Reichsautobahnen (in charge of construction) and of Todt's office (in charge of planning but also of all roads in

24307-737: The autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse. Desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production. On the Western Front , the Allied forces launched the Hundred Days Offensive and decisively defeated the German western armies. Sailors of the Imperial German Navy at Kiel mutinied in response to the naval order of 24 October 1918 , which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as

24530-430: The base of an embankment. However, as Todt described the scene in an illustrated album published in 1935, "again and again his shovel plunged into the mound [of dirt]. This was no symbolic shoveling; this was real construction work!" Two of the workers "sprang ... to help him", and they worked "until the mound had been dealt with in an orderly fashion and ... the first drops of sweat were dripping from his brow onto

24753-482: The bridges often had obelisks or columns topped with eagles and swastikas. In addition to the large signs on the bridges immediately before the exit to a city—often including the heraldic animal or complete coat of arms—imposing sculptures were planned for many such exits, usually involving eagles towering above the road, as in Bestelmeyer's sketch for the entrance to Heidelberg and Speer's 1936 design for

24976-513: The bridges the shift was never as complete as it was in other aspects of Reichsautobahn architecture: in 1940–41, along the Rhine , a stone bridge was under construction at Frankenthal and at the same time at Rodenkirchen in Cologne, an ultra-modern suspension bridge by Bonatz. In addition to the self-image of modernity, another reason for this was the enormous cost of stone construction in man-hours and in material; so much masonry construction

25199-471: The camp, and had no access to food or water. The pressure on the workers was considerable, especially after Hitler publicly alluded in 1937 to the objective of completing 1,000 km (620 mi) a year. After mid-1936, workdays lasting 11 to 12 hours were the norm. There was a high incidence of back injuries to men who were unaccustomed to physical work after long unemployment and in many cases undernourished. Numerous accidents occurred, some fatal, due to

25422-642: The car to appreciate them. For example, at the Annaberg in Silesia (now Góra Świętej Anny, Poland), while the highway was kept a respectful distance away, a parking lot was provided from which motorists could make the ten-minute walk to the mausoleum of the members of the Freikorps who had fallen there in 1921 at the Battle of Annaberg and to the Thingspiel arena below it. Similarly, bridges were to avoid

25645-590: The chances of ratification permanently. Among the American public as a whole, the Irish Catholics and the German Americans were intensely opposed to the treaty, saying it favored the British. Reichsautobahn The Reichsautobahn system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany . There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under

25868-464: The conference. A furious Vittorio Orlando suffered a nervous collapse and at one point walked out of the conference (though he later returned). He lost his position as prime minister just a week before the treaty was scheduled to be signed, effectively ending his active political career. Anger and dismay over the treaty's provisions helped pave the way for the establishment of Benito Mussolini 's Fascist dictatorship three years later. Portugal entered

26091-433: The construction of the autobahns in heroic terms. Full-length movies called Fahrzeuge und Straßen im Wandel der Zeiten (Vehicles and Roads Throughout Time; scripted in 1934) and Die große Straße (The Great Road; to have been directed by Robert A. Stemmle ) were never made; however, work on the autobahns is the setting of Stemmle's 1939 Mann für Mann (Man for Man), Harald Paulsen's Stimme aus dem Äther from earlier in

26314-651: The continuation blockade after the armistice. In the UK, Labour Party member and anti-war activist Robert Smillie issued a statement in June 1919 condemning continuation of the blockade, claiming 100,000 German civilians had died as a result. Talks between the Allies to establish a common negotiating position started on 18 January 1919, in the Salle de l'Horloge (Clock Room) at the French Foreign Ministry on

26537-411: The course of the upgrade, the new modern carriageway was built in the space left for the second carriageway during original construction. At the same time, the original concrete carriageway was demolished almost along the entire length of the route, and only a few traces of it remain. All of the remaining original overpasses and bridges were demolished and replaced with modern works. Thus very few traces of

26760-550: The creation of mandates. The promoted idea called for the major powers to act as disinterested trustees over a region, aiding the native populations until they could govern themselves. In spite of this position and in order to ensure that Japan did not refuse to join the League of Nations, Wilson favored turning over the former German colony of Shandong , in Eastern China , to the Japanese Empire rather than return

26983-587: The culmination of the history of human roadbuilding. This exhibition was subsequently shown in Berlin and Breslau, and other exhibitions occurred later in, for example, Prague (1940) and Budapest (1942). The Reichsautobahn was also prominently represented in the 1937 exhibition celebrating the first four years of the regime's achievements, Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit (Give Me Four Years, a slogan of Hitler's). In addition, Todt commissioned official artists, particularly Ernst Vollbehr  [ de ] , and photographers, particularly Erna Lendvai-Dircksen , to depict

27206-471: The date and surmounted by shovels in the manner of weapons on a military monument. 15,000 workers were now engaged; however, at several of the work sites, the men were immediately sent home because mechanized excavations and other preparation had to be done first. According to a Sopade report in April–May 1934, only 6,000 workers on a 67 km (42 mi) stretch between Frankfurt and Heidelberg and 700 on

27429-507: The driver remained enclosed by the trees as long as possible. To some extent the autobahn landscapers were influenced in this emphasis on the natural environment by the American parkways; Todt had a 1934 USDA bulletin on Roadside Improvement reprinted for his planners' use, and Nazi designers visited Westchester County to study them, about the same time that the Westchester County Parks Commission (WCPC)

27652-567: The earth." The image of Hitler shoveling was used many times in propaganda, including superimposed on the workers' march in Heinrich Hoffmann 's poster urging Germans to ratify the Nazi government in the November 1933 Reichstag election . The location was marked with a park and a commemorative stone. Preparatory work at several sites was done over the following winter, but full-scale construction officially began on 21 March 1934, as

27875-602: The economies of the two countries were not well connected and auto traffic between them was not significant for many decades. Given these conditions, some segments of Berlinka became a minor tourist attraction in the years after the war, as an example of a Nazi-built autobahn preserved in an almost pristine state, carrying very little or no traffic. A number of movies made in Poland and the USSR that were set in Germany had their autobahn scenes shot on Berlinka sections. A popular Polish book and television series about Pan Samochodzik had

28098-405: The effort, and maps were made of the native vegetation with the intention of preserving it and providing a "genuine" experience of the landscape. A Landschaftsanwalt (counsel for the landscape) was appointed in each construction district to ensure minimum harm, and in 1935 Hitler temporarily stopped work on the Berlin - Munich autobahn near Bayreuth because of harm to the landscape. Nonetheless,

28321-497: The end of 1938, when the planned network was also extended from 7,000 km (4,300 mi) to 12,000 km (7,500 mi) after the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland . A second inaugural ceremony for the first autobahn construction on formerly Austrian soil took place on 7 April 1938, with Hitler shoveling dirt into a decorated dumpster near Salzburg, and on 1 December 1938, Rudolf Hess broke ground at Eger for

28544-664: The engineers had selected the only one that "[made] the impossible possible" by "continu[ing the sequence of landscape beauty] ... on another level". Both the hilltop rest stop at the Irschenberg and the rest stop at the Chiemsee were in accordance with general practice on the Reichsautobahn: the highway detoured from the direct route to provide access to cultural sights and views, and rest stops and filling stations were constructed at these points to facilitate leaving

28767-588: The exact amount which Germany would pay and the form that such payment would take. The commission was required to "give to the German Government a just opportunity to be heard", and to submit its conclusions by 1 May 1921 . In the interim, the treaty required Germany to pay an equivalent of 20 billion gold marks ($ 5 billion) in gold, commodities, ships, securities or other forms. The money would help to pay for Allied occupation costs and buy food and raw materials for Germany. To ensure compliance,

28990-536: The extension of plans into the former Austria, as territories were added to the Reich during the early phases of the war, Reichsautobahn planning was extended to include them. Autobahn engineers went into Poland before the invasion was complete, Hitler ordered the incorporation of a highway reaching from Aachen through Brussels to Calais , and autobahns between Trier and Paris via Luxembourg, between Oslo and Trondheim in Norway, and between Yaroslavl and Kiev in

29213-512: The factories in Augsburg and Regensburg were bombed. As the war progressed, vehicles were at risk of strafing by Allied aircraft. However, most damage to the autobahns was caused late in the war by the retreating Wehrmacht , which blew up numerous bridges in an effort to slow the Allied advance; on 19 March 1945, Hitler ordered the destruction in retreat of "all military, transportation, news, industrial, and provisions facilities". After

29436-509: The fifteen days required by the armistice agreement. By late 1918, Allied troops had entered Germany and began the occupation of the Rhineland under the agreement, in the process establishing bridgeheads across the Rhine in case of renewed fighting at Cologne, Koblenz, and Mainz. Allied and German forces were additionally to be separated by a 10 km-wide demilitarised zone. Both Germany and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, most of which had to be shipped across

29659-507: The final text of the treaty. France had lost 1.3 million soldiers, including 25% of French men aged 18–30, as well as 400,000 civilians. France had also been more physically damaged than any other nation; the so-called zone rouge (Red Zone), the most industrialized region and the source of most coal and iron ore in the north-east, had been devastated, and in the final days of the war, mines had been flooded and railways, bridges and factories destroyed. Clemenceau intended to ensure

29882-477: The financing came from the Reichsanstalt für Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung , the government employment department. At the end of the war, total costs were 6.5 billion Reichsmarks (equivalent to €26 billion in 2021), of which 4.6 billion RM was still owed, almost 74% to the employment department. Costs were inflated by the aesthetic requirements, by shortages of raw materials, by

30105-619: The first 720 unemployed marched to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange , where they were ceremonially invested with shovels as Reichsautobahn workers, then from there accompanied by SA men, marched behind Todt and Jakob Sprenger , the Reichsstatthalter of Hesse, to the bank of the Main . There after further speeches, Hitler was to inaugurate work on the autobahn system with the first ceremonial shoveling of dirt to form

30328-422: The first ceremonial shoveling of dirt on 23 September 1933, at Frankfurt , and work officially began simultaneously at multiple sites throughout the Reich the following spring. The first finished stretch, between Frankfurt and Darmstadt , opened on 19 May 1935, and the first 1,000 km (620 mi) were completed on 23 September 1936. After the annexation of Austria , the planned network was expanded to include

30551-545: The first completed segments were based on the HAFRABA plans and thus consisted of straightaways 4 to 5 km (2.5 to 3.1 mi) long joined by curves that were arcs of circles, as in railroads; the minimum radius of the curves was defined in planning documents (2,000 m (2,200 yd), less in mountainous terrain, down to 400 m (440 yd)). A debate spearheaded by Seifert, who argued that straight stretches were "unnatural" and moreover would lead to accidents through highway hypnosis , led to increasing dominance of

30774-414: The form of an Alpine chalet. The result has been described as "a kind of völkisch Disney World". Seifert went so far as to write in 1941 that the rest stops should reflect their locations "not only in material and form, but also in their interiors, their dishware, their decorations ... right up to the check and the music". However, the Alpine style tended to predominate. Probably most importantly,

30997-521: The four Dominions and India also were founding members of the League of Nations in their own right, rather than simply as part of the British Empire. The signing of the treaty was met with roars of approval, singing, and dancing from a crowd outside the Palace of Versailles. In Paris proper, people rejoiced at the official end of the war, the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France, and that Germany had agreed to pay reparations. While France ratified

31220-483: The highway and assisted motorists in trouble. These were usually located near settlements, where they provided jobs for 15 to 20 people. The first filling stations were located in the triangle formed by the exit and access lanes, and were of simple, modern design, most of them built to a few standardized designs; the Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed two. Beginning in 1936–37, they were relocated to

31443-643: The highway from Maszewo (near Łęczyca) to Chociwel was finished, and bridges on the Ina River restored. With the end of the Cold War , and particularly with Poland joining the European Union , increasing thought has been given to reconstructing the road as part of the European highway system. In the 1990s, a 14 kilometre (8.7 mile) long segment near the western Polish border was incorporated into

31666-523: The independence of Poland , which had regained its independence following a national revolution against the occupying Central Powers, and renounce "all rights and title" over Polish territory. Portions of Upper Silesia were to be ceded to Poland, with the future of the rest of the province to be decided by plebiscite. The border would be fixed with regard to the vote and to the geographical and economic conditions of each locality. The Province of Posen (now Poznań ), which had come under Polish control during

31889-527: The inmates of re-education camps —the "work-shy", Social Democrats and Communists—constituted the majority of Reichsautobahn workers, and during the war increasing numbers of prisoners of war were used. The war also removed the main obstacle to using prison inmates and Jews from the concentration camps , that foreign visitors would see the necessary armed guards and form a bad impression; previously they had been used only at remote locations such as quarries. In October 1939 an SS re-education camp

32112-497: The judges were to "fix such punishment which it considers should be imposed". The death penalty was therefore not precluded. Article 228 allowed the Allies to demand the extradition of German war criminals, who could be tried before military tribunals for crimes against "the laws and customs of war" under Article 229. To provide an evidentiary basis for such trials, Article 230 required the German government to transfer information and documents relevant to such trials. The delegates of

32335-515: The landscape, which was to unroll like a movie from the motorist's perspective. The median strip was therefore relatively narrow; trees were retained close to the highway and sometimes, for example in the oak forest near Dessau , in the median. In fact the driver's experience of the forest, assigned symbolic importance in German Romanticism and particularly under the Nazis, was maximized by avoiding straightaways in forested areas so that

32558-434: The light-colored concrete that was to be used for the roadways as a guide for enemy aircraft (beginning in 1937, the surface was tinted black for this reason, which distressed Hitler) and the planned large viaducts as tempting targets, "like honey to wasps". Border segments that could have been useful at the start of the war had not been completed because of earlier fears that enemies would use them to invade, and weight testing

32781-400: The major cities. Corporations were also formed and plans drawn up for motorized highways between Mannheim and Heidelberg , between Munich and Berlin via Leipzig , between Munich and Lake Starnberg , between Leipzig and Halle , and between Cologne and Aachen , in addition to plans for networks totaling 15,000 km (9,300 mi) or 22,500 km (14,000 mi) in length. In 1930

33004-428: The model for a gigantic monument to Reichsautobahn workers, 17 m (56 ft) high, consisting of three naked workers straining to move a boulder up a slope in a manner recalling Sisyphus ; this was to have been placed in the median on the site of the sod-breaking for the extension of the highway into Austria. Route 24 Hamburg - Hanover . This route was based on the planning of the HaFraBa association. However,

33227-417: The modern world and especially compared to the Egyptian pyramids. For example, Emil Maier-Dorn wrote: "The Reichsautobahn must become, like the Great Wall of China, like the Acropolis of the Athenians, [and] like the pyramids of Egypt, a tower[ing presence] on the landscape of history, [it] must stand like a duke in the parade of human achievements." One aspect of this was the sheer size of the project, which

33450-421: The monumentality of the achievement were bridges and sculpture. Because it had no intersections, the autobahn required a huge number of bridges and underpasses. These were initially purely utilitarian in design, but after inspecting the first completed stretch, Todt sought to give them a more unified and aesthetic appearance. Paul Bonatz , who was hired in 1934 to oversee bridge design on the Reichsautobahn, wrote

33673-425: The natural landscape; Todt refused to avoid the Siebengebirge , a protected conservation area, arguing not only that the area should be opened up for visits but that the road would make it more beautiful. This was not the policy in the U.S., where, most famously, the Blue Ridge Parkway was designed to be narrow and unobtrusive. Cost had the opposite effect with respect to plantings than it did with respect to curves:

33896-423: The need to repair work that had been performed poorly under time pressure, and by the initial failure to include in the cost estimates connector roads between the autobahns and existing roads. In post-war Germany, opinions of the Reichsautobahn included recognizing that it had been a white elephant . Reduction of unemployment was presented as the main reason for the Reichsautobahn project, and propaganda both used

34119-440: The new A6 Autostrada (highway) . A further 7 kilometres (4.3 miles), to the junction with National Road 10 , was being restored and was scheduled to open for traffic in August 2007. An additional 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) is to be upgraded at some future date and redesignated as part of the A6. The section between Elbląg and the border with Russia was completely reconstructed and opened as an express road, S22 , in September 2008. In

34342-483: The ocean. Not even Napoleon himself could touch England. You are both sheltered; we are not". The French wanted a frontier on the Rhine , to protect France from a German invasion and compensate for French demographic and economic inferiority. American and British representatives refused the French claim and after two months of negotiations, the French accepted a British pledge to provide an immediate alliance with France if Germany attacked again, and Wilson agreed to put

34565-437: The only criticism of the picture was that the contrast between the light-colored road and the landscape was too harsh, illustrating the strong desire for harmony between the highway and its surroundings. In fact this entire 125 km (78 mi) segment epitomizes planning to maximize aesthetic appreciation of the landscape. Todt, who was credited with choosing the route, described it as an orchestrated experience culminating in

34788-475: The organization of vocational and technical education and other measures. The treaty also called for the signatories to sign or ratify the International Opium Convention . Article 227 of the Versailles treaty required the handing over of Kaiser Wilhelm for trial "for supreme offence against international treaties and the sanctity of treaties" before a bench of five allied judges – one British, one American, one French, one Italian, and one Japanese. If found guilty

35011-404: The original German autobahn can be seen. Other part of the Berlinka are incorporated into voivodeship road 142, and expressroad 6/3. In the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, it is incorporated into road P516. As the original road was designed over 80 years ago, it would make little sense today to run a modern motorway along the same route as factors affecting road design changed greatly. Currently

35234-583: The outbreak of a second World War . Although it is often referred to as the "Versailles Conference", only the actual signing of the treaty took place at the historic palace. Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the "Big Four" meetings taking place generally at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Quai d'Orsay . War broke out following the July Crisis in 1914. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, followed quickly by Germany declaring war on Russia on 1 August, and on Belgium and France on 3 August. The German invasion of Belgium on 3 August led to

35457-402: The parkway design as "a horrid clash of nature and technics." In his critical book on Nazi Germany, The House That Hitler Built , historian Stephen Henry Roberts described them as "needlessly grandiose but most impressive. Efficiently made and more efficiently managed, they somehow reduce the individual to insignificance." Walter Dirks may also have intended veiled criticism when he wrote in

35680-409: The partition of the Habsburg Empire and their attitude towards Germany was not as hostile. Generally speaking, Sonnino was in line with the British position while Orlando favored a compromise between Clemenceau and Wilson. Within the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles, Orlando obtained certain results such as the permanent membership of Italy in the security council of the League of Nations and

35903-435: The peace conference. Her promised share of German reparations never materialized, and a seat she coveted on the executive council of the new League of Nations went instead to Spain —which had remained neutral in the war. In the end, Portugal ratified the treaty, but got little out of the war, which cost more than 8,000 Portuguese Armed Forces troops and as many as 100,000 of her African colonial subjects their lives. After

36126-448: The project in the public eye. It was therefore logical from the point of view of the regime that the majority of funding came from the employment department. Todt had foreseen the creation of at least 600,000 jobs. However, autobahn employment peaked in 1936 at 124,483 directly employed in construction and a similar number in the supply chain, so that the autobahn never directly or indirectly employed more than 250,000 workers. Rearmament

36349-441: The project included enabling Germans to explore and appreciate their country, and there was a strong aesthetic element to the execution of the project under the Third Reich; military applications, although to a lesser extent than has often been thought; a permanent monument to the Third Reich, often compared to the pyramids; and general promotion of motoring as a modernization that in itself had military applications. Hitler performed

36572-406: The promotion of free trade, the creation of appropriate mandates for former colonies, and above all, the creation of a powerful League of Nations that would ensure the peace. The aim of the latter was to provide a forum to revise the peace treaties as needed, and deal with problems that arose as a result of the peace and the rise of new states. Wilson brought along top intellectuals as advisors to

36795-401: The provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to France by rescinding the treaties of Versailles and Frankfurt of 1871 as they pertained to this issue. France was able to make the claim that the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine were indeed part of France and not part of Germany by disclosing a letter sent from the Prussian King to the Empress Eugénie that Eugénie provided, in which William I wrote that

37018-409: The provincial committee for autostraßen , Konrad Adenauer , could be credited as having built an autobahn before Hitler. The "Opladen bypass" between Cologne and Düsseldorf was also built in 1931–33. Adenauer also began construction of a ring road encircling Cologne, which was more in accord with demand at the time. According to a 1936–37 traffic survey, the highest road traffic was still around

37241-417: The rapid pace of work, exhaustion, and unfamiliarity with heavy machinery; after the first five years, one worker died per 6 km (3.7 mi) completed. As the economy improved and the rearmament effort accelerated, it became impossible to find enough workers; they were for a while brought in from the big cities where unemployment remained highest, primarily Hamburg and Berlin, but in 1937 full employment

37464-582: The ring road of the city of Kaliningrad. Along with constructing the motorway, after invading Poland, the Germans also quickly upgraded the main road going to East Prussia, in places paving it with concrete. Even though it is only a single carriageway road and not a motorway, it is also considered to be a part of the Berlinka's route. This section includes one interesting cloverleaf interchange ( 54°02′54″N 18°45′40″E  /  54.04836°N 18.7610°E  / 54.04836; 18.7610 ) some 34.5 kilometres (21.4 miles) south-southeast of Gdańsk , and

37687-438: The road in Poland which will serve most of the route along which the Berlinka runs will be the S6 Expressway , set to the north of the Berlinka's route, closer to the Baltic coast and running from Szczecin to Gdańsk. Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I , it ended the state of war between Germany and most of

37910-418: The road were incorporated into local road networks while most of it fell into disrepair. The border between the Kaliningrad Oblast and Poland was completely sealed to civilian traffic during the Cold War, given the high density of Soviet military installations in that area, which ensured the Berlinka section in that area saw almost no use. The border between Poland and East Germany was open to civilian traffic but

38133-409: The route between Hamburg and Hanover was not continued after the war as planned between Schwarmstedt and Buchholz , eastwards past Negenborn in a south-south-westerly direction to today's Bundesautobahn A2 near Garbsen , but instead was routed eastwards past Hanover as Bundesautobahn 7 . Route 46 Fulda - Würzburg . After the Second World War, a different route was chosen. There are almost

38356-475: The same year includes chase scenes on the autobahn, and some 50 short films were made about the project, including both technical films such as Vom Wald zur Straßendecke (From the Forest to the Road Surface, 1937) and shorts for popular consumption such as Bahn Frei! (Open Road) and UFA 's Vierhundert bauen eine Brücke (Four Hundred Build a Bridge, 1937). These last were Kulturfilme (cultural films), which were shown at Party and club meetings and together with

38579-418: The security of France, by weakening Germany economically, militarily, territorially and by supplanting Germany as the leading producer of steel in Europe. British economist and Versailles negotiator John Maynard Keynes summarized this position as attempting to "set the clock back and undo what, since 1870, the progress of Germany had accomplished." Clemenceau told Wilson: "America is far away, protected by

38802-430: The showpiece of the opening of the Arbeitsschlacht ("work battle"), which also included construction of dams and residences and agricultural work. Autobahn work sites had been established at 22 locations, governed by 9 regional work divisions (which became 15 by mid-1934), distributed throughout the Reich for maximum public visibility, and work was ceremonially initiated at 15 of the sites. At Unterhaching , Hitler made

39025-422: The side of the road where there was more space, and developed from purely utilitarian service stations into rest stops with overnight accommodation intended to be attractive to the driver. Both the rest stops and the less visible Straßenmeistereien were designed to reflect local architecture, to guard against the danger of the autobahn acting as a homogenizing influence. So, for example, the Chiemsee rest stop took

39248-412: The surprise view of the Chiemsee , where "[a]nyone who has a proper feel for this landscape ... turns off the motor and silently glides down the three-kilometer-long slope to the southern shore of the lake, where a bathing beach, parking places, or the [inn] invite you to stay and rest"; and according to Seifert, of the 13 possibilities for the continuation from the Chiemsee down to the Salzburg plain,

39471-446: The territories of Alsace-Lorraine were requested by Germany for the sole purpose of national defense and not to expand the German territory. The sovereignty of Schleswig-Holstein was to be resolved by a plebiscite to be held at a future time (see Schleswig Plebiscites ). In Central Europe Germany was to recognize the independence of Czechoslovakia and cede parts of the province of Upper Silesia to them. Germany had to recognize

39694-418: The third on his list of four means of realizing it. Weimar Germany was car-mad, and the number of private vehicles had increased from 130,346 in 1924 to 489,270 in 1932, but the percentage of car owners lagged behind that in other European countries, not to mention the U.S. This was still true in 1937; at best, most Germans could afford a motorbike, not a car, and the following year the highway commissioner of

39917-503: The total to 3,870 km (2,400 mi), before work ceased almost entirely in late 1941 with the worsening of the war situation in Russia. This included the connection of the Avus to the ring road around Berlin , celebrated on 23 September 1940, the seventh anniversary of Hitler's opening of the project. Work on approximately 3,000 km (1,900 mi) had begun but remained unfinished; of this, work had stopped on approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) in October 1940. Completion of

40140-493: The treaty and was active in the League, the jubilant mood soon gave way to a political backlash for Clemenceau. The French Right saw the treaty as being too lenient and saw it as failing to achieve all of France's demands. Left -wing politicians attacked the treaty and Clemenceau for being too harsh (the latter turning into a ritual condemnation of the treaty, for politicians remarking on French foreign affairs, as late as August 1939). Marshal Ferdinand Foch stated "this (treaty)

40363-410: The treaty but followed Wilson in opposing any amendments or reservations. The largest bloc, led by Senator Lodge, comprised a majority of the Republicans. They wanted a treaty with "reservations", especially on Article 10, so that the League of Nations could not draw the US into war without the consent of the US Congress. All of the Irreconcilables were bitter enemies of President Wilson, and he launched

40586-415: The treaty for treating Germany too leniently. This is still the subject of ongoing debate by historians and economists. The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was a compromise that left no one satisfied. In particular, Germany was neither pacified nor conciliated, nor was it permanently weakened. The United States never ratified the Versailles treaty; instead it made

40809-443: The treaty obligations, the bridgeheads would be reoccupied immediately. Part I of the treaty, in common with all the treaties signed during the Paris Peace Conference , was the Covenant of the League of Nations , which provided for the creation of the League, an organization for the arbitration of international disputes. Part XIII organized the establishment of the International Labour Office , to regulate hours of work, including

41032-409: The valley on two double pylons of reinforced concrete. Built in 1934–36, this served as the model for several subsequent autobahn bridges, and a model of one of the huge pylons dominated the Reichsautobahn exhibit at the Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit exhibition. Subsequently, the preferred style for the large bridges evolved away from this modern form toward viaducts derived from Roman bridges, which had

41255-411: The view that the autobahns should provide, as Emil Maier-Dorn put it in 1938, "not the shortest but, rather, the most sublime connection between two points". By 1939 and possibly earlier, sinuous forms predominated. Although Todt had hired Seifert and his landscapers in order to ensure the "German character" of the autobahn, he initially favored the railroad engineers' views on layout; the decisive factor

41478-405: The war and to decrease German strength. The French also wanted the iron ore and coal of the Saar Valley , by annexation to France. The French were willing to accept a smaller amount of World War I reparations than the Americans would concede and Clemenceau was willing to discuss German capacity to pay with the German delegation, before the final settlement was drafted. In April and May 1919,

41701-410: The war on the Allied side in 1916 primarily to ensure the security of its African colonies , which were threatened with seizure by both Britain and Germany. To this extent, she succeeded in her war aims. The treaty recognized Portuguese sovereignty over these areas and awarded her small portions of Germany's bordering overseas colonies, including the Kionga Triangle . Otherwise, Portugal gained little at

41924-494: The war this was lowered to 80 km/h (50 mph), and private cars were allowed on the autobahns only in exceptional circumstances. (By 1943, traffic was so low that bicycles were permitted. ) Other than official traffic, which picked up toward the end of the war, the autobahns were used for some deliveries of tank parts and finished U-boats and motor-boats, and as runways for fighter planes , including in one case for final assembly and test flights of Messerschmitt Me 262s after

42147-495: The war, the Reichsautobahns were declared national property of the various post-war states (for example Bundesvermögen , federal property, under Article 90 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949) and became the foundation of the modern autobahn networks in Germany and Austria . Several stretches were no longer within the redrawn German borders , notably the unfinished highway between Berlin and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad , Russia), now known unofficially as

42370-413: The war. British public opinion wanted to make Germany pay for the War. Public opinion favoured a "just peace", which would force Germany to pay reparations and be unable to repeat the aggression of 1914, although those of a "liberal and advanced opinion" shared Wilson's ideal of a peace of reconciliation. In private Lloyd George opposed revenge and attempted to compromise between Clemenceau's demands and

42593-435: The war. The project did, however, develop logistical skills and technology that were used for military purposes, notably in the building of the Westwall under Todt's supervision, and it disguised the development of those resources. A purpose for the project that increasingly came to the fore was to unify Germany, by enabling Germans to explore it and appreciate its beauty; including the new territories that had been added to

42816-457: The winter of 1919, the situation became desperate and Germany finally agreed to surrender its fleet in March. The Allies then allowed for the import of 270,000 tons of foodstuffs. Both German and non-German observers have argued that these were the most devastating months of the blockade for German civilians, though disagreement persists as to the extent and who is truly at fault. According to Max Rubner 100,000 German civilians died due to

43039-476: Was "vanishing", expressing his hope that the French had been taught a "severe lesson". The Treaty of Versailles was an important step in the status of the British Dominions under international law . Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa had each made significant contributions to the British war effort, but as separate countries, rather than as British colonies. India also made a substantial troop contribution, although under direct British control, unlike

43262-425: Was Jewish, which provided the Nazis with a reason to take it over. The autobahn was presented to the German public as Hitler's idea: he was represented as having sketched out the future network of highways while in Landsberg Prison in 1924. They were to be "the Führer's roads", a myth promoted by Todt himself, who coined the phrase and warned close associates not to "in any way [let] the impression arise that I built

43485-402: Was achieved, and armaments factories offered far superior pay and working conditions. The policy of minimizing the use of machinery was reversed and pay was increased, those unemployed who refused assignment to the autobahn were punished by suspension of benefits for up to 12 weeks, and after the annexation of Austria and of the Sudetenland, workers from there were almost immediately put to work on

43708-558: Was allowed six pre-dreadnought battleships and was limited to a maximum of six light cruisers (not exceeding 6,000 long tons (6,100 t)), twelve destroyers (not exceeding 800 long tons (810 t)) and twelve torpedo boats (not exceeding 200 long tons (200 t)) and was forbidden submarines . The manpower of the navy was not to exceed 15,000 men, including manning for the fleet, coast defences, signal stations, administration, other land services, officers and men of all grades and corps. The number of officers and warrant officers

43931-422: Was based on the lowest local wage and unlike unemployment payments did not include an allowance for living expenses. There was also no payment until winter 1938 for bad weather days when work could not take place. Workers were initially housed in barracks, barns, industrial buildings, and tents, and complained about the work, the conditions, and the pay. On 18 October 1934, the workers on the Hamburg-Bremen segment of

44154-532: Was built at Hinzert that housed recalcitrant workers on the autobahn as well as the Westwall; in all, 50 forced labor camps were established for Reichsautobahn workers, and transferred to regular SS use when construction stopped. In fall 1940, an internal report counted approximately 62,600 workers engaged on the autobahn, of whom approximately 21,900 were contract workers, 300 women, 28,600 prisoners including prisoners of war, 1,100 Poles, 5,700 Czechs, and 4,700 other foreigners. The Reichsautobahn network as it

44377-405: Was built in Berlin starting in 1913. The corporation to build it was organized in 1909, and construction continued during World War I using prisoners of war, but it was not completed and officially opened until 1921. This was originally intended as a race track and was used for testing vehicles and road surfaces, but it had many of the characteristics of the later Reichsautobahn and served as

44600-429: Was built subsequently. Construction stopped in 1942, as military priorities once again took over available labour. In 1945, German forces, retreating along the Eastern Front , blew up most of the bridges to slow the Soviet advance. Because of territorial changes of Poland and Germany following the war, the road was divided and lost its importance as a route between German cities ( most of Prussia's German population

44823-419: Was carried out in the Third Reich that shortages occurred. Hence many of the viaducts were in simplified, modernized form, for example the series at the Drackensteiner Hang by Paul Bonatz and the bridge over the Lahn valley at Limburg , by Bonatz and Gottwalt Schaper. In addition, the Reichsautobahn was to have had a large amount of monumental sculpture. The viewing platforms from which travelers could admire

45046-423: Was constantly presented to the public not only by ceremonies starting work on and opening segments, but by radio broadcasts (including at least two dramas as well as informational broadcasts and coverage of ceremonies), posters, postcards, stamp issues, calendars, board games, etc., and a major exhibition, Die Straße (The Road), which opened in Munich in 1934 and in which the autobahns were presented in artworks as

45269-450: Was cost, namely the reduction in the number of embankments and bridges needed. The showpiece aesthetic stretch of the Reichsautobahn was the Irschenberg on the autobahn from Munich to the Austrian border, where instead of passing through the valley, the highway was routed in a curving path up the hill to the summit, from which there was a full view of the Alps to the south. A rest stop was located there. (The Irschenberg autobahn segment

45492-417: Was expelled to Germany ). The part that remained within German borders became the Bundesautobahn 11 after reunification. Certain segments of the route were nonetheless restored. In the Polish People's Republic , bridges over the Oder River near Szczecin were restored soon after the war, as were the bridges on the Banówka River near the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast. In the 1970s, the planned part of

45715-430: Was forbidden to manufacture or import aircraft or related material for a period of six months following the signing of the treaty. In Article 231 Germany accepted responsibility for the losses and damages caused by the war "as a consequence of the ... aggression of Germany and her allies." The treaty required Germany to compensate the Allied powers, and it also established an Allied "Reparation Commission" to determine

45938-416: Was founded in 1926 at the instigation of Willy Hof  [ de ] , who had been inspired by the Italian highways, and projected a north–south highway to be expanded into a network. Detailed engineering specifications were prepared, bound in 70 volumes, and this planning would form the basis of the Reichsautobahn network. However, HAFRABA was never able to surmount the logistical problems of building

46161-409: Was headquartered in Dessau. The relatively few large bridges were major design statements; Todt wrote in 1937 that they "should not be [designed] for 1940, nor yet for 2000, but ... should extend their dominating presence, like the cathedrals of our past, into future millennia." The first of these was the Mangfall Bridge at Weyarn , a girder bridge designed by German Bestelmeyer that spanned

46384-399: Was named Generalinspektor für das deutsche Straßenwesen (Inspector-General for the German Road System) on 30 June. HAFRABA and other organizations were folded into the planning arm, known as GEZUVOR ( Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung der Reichsautobahn , Society for the Preparation of the Reichsautobahn). The Chairman of the Board of HAFRABA, Dr. Ludwig Landmann , the Mayor of Frankfurt,

46607-423: Was not allowed to exceed 1,500 men. Germany surrendered eight battleships , eight light cruisers, forty-two destroyers, and fifty torpedo boats for decommissioning. Thirty-two auxiliary ships were to be disarmed and converted to merchant use. Article 198 prohibited Germany from having an air force, including naval air forces, and required Germany to hand over all aerial related materials. In conjunction, Germany

46830-422: Was not performed until March 1939. The German military rarely used the autobahns for troop movements (one of the exceptions being transporting flak units); they were used much more extensively at war's end by the advancing Allies, who did indeed damage them in the process. In fact as the war continued, fuel shortages led the German military to make increasing use of horses rather than motorized transportation. It

47053-458: Was once common to consider military applications as having been the true main reason the Nazis constructed autobahns, but historians now generally agree that this was an exaggeration. Foreigners suggested a covert military purpose for the Reichsautobahns as early as 1934, but a 1946 British Intelligence report noted that sections that would have been militarily useful were not completed and that some completed sections were not apparently used during

47276-470: Was one of those that limited the usefulness of the highways for freight transport, and with the increase in traffic after the war it became a notorious bottleneck and accident site. Many such segments have been straightened and in some cases the highway has been relocated.) In 1936 Otto Illauer's view of this stretch of highway won first prize in the photography contest Die schöne Straße in Bau und unter Verkehr (the beautiful road under construction and in use);

47499-425: Was opened on September 27, 1936. The segment from Königsberg to Elbing (now Elbląg ) was opened in 1937. In 1937, beltways near Stettin and Elbing were built. In 1938, work slowed as Germany geared up for war , and workers were directed to other projects. The highway featured prominently in Nazi political rhetoric of 1939, as Hitler 's demands included an extraterritorial corridor—the Danzig Corridor through

47722-433: Was opened. Hitler rewarded Todt with a three-axle Mercedes-Benz touring car . Two further segments opened that year, a total of 108 km (67 mi). The celebration of the first 1,000 km (620 mi) took place on 27 September 1936 at Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), five segments being opened to traffic that day. 2,000 km (1,200 mi) were completed by the end of 1937, and 3,000 km (1,900 mi) by

47945-451: Was partly overseeing the construction of what is today the Taconic State Parkway 's southern stretches. But the Reichsautobahn aimed for a more natural, less parklike view from the road, and although in both countries using natively occurring plants in highway landscaping was important, the Americans selectively emphasized those with an attractive appearance. Also, the autobahn was at the time presented, by Todt and others, as an improvement to

48168-433: Was planned under the Weimar Republic , but was partially constructed during the 1930s and early 1940s by the Third Reich . Following territorial changes made after World War II it ran through three countries: the Soviet Union 's Kaliningrad Oblast (today an exclave of the same name, in post-1991 Russia ), Poland, and what had been East Germany through to October 1990 . Its original purpose gone, some segments of

48391-475: Was required to recognize Belgian sovereignty over Moresnet and cede control of the Eupen-Malmedy area. Within six months of the transfer, Belgium was required to conduct a plebiscite on whether the citizens of the region wanted to remain under Belgian sovereignty or return to German control, communicate the results to the League of Nations and abide by the League's decision. The Belgian transitional administration, under High Commissioner General Herman Baltia ,

48614-511: Was responsible for a far greater share of unemployment reduction, and the peak years of autobahn employment came long after the first two years of Nazi rule, when the need for jobs was most urgent. Another important reason for building highways was to motorize Germany. This accorded with the Nazis' self-presentation as modernizers. On 11 February 1933, at the Berlin Motor Show, Hitler had already presented promotion of motoring as an important objective, and named an extensive road-building program as

48837-435: Was responsible for the organisation and control of this process, held between January and June 1920. The plebiscite itself was held without a secret ballot , and organized as a consultation in which all citizens who opposed the annexation had to formally register their protest. Ultimately, only 271 of 33,726 voters signed the protest list, of which 202 were German state servants. After the Belgian government reported this result,

49060-409: Was taken by New Zealand . The treaty was comprehensive and complex in the restrictions imposed upon the post-war German armed forces (the Reichswehr ). The provisions were intended to make the Reichswehr incapable of offensive action and to encourage international disarmament. Germany was to demobilize sufficient soldiers by 31 March 1920 to leave an army of no more than 100,000 men in

49283-510: Was to be demilitarized, all fortifications in the Rhineland and 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the river were to be demolished and new construction was forbidden. Military structures and fortifications on the islands of Heligoland and Düne were to be destroyed. Germany was prohibited from the arms trade , limits were imposed on the type and quantity of weapons and prohibited from the manufacture or stockpile of chemical weapons , armoured cars , tanks and military aircraft. The German navy

49506-426: Was transferred to Poland outright without plebiscite. An area of 51,800 square kilometres (20,000 square miles) was transferred to Poland under the agreement. Memel was to be ceded to the Allied and Associated powers, for disposal according to their wishes. Germany was to cede the city of Danzig and its hinterland, including the delta of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea , for the League of Nations to establish

49729-435: Was ultimately conceived was to extend into most of the planned Lebensraum in the conquered territories; along with a trio of eastward and southward extensions of the extreme broad-gauge Breitspurbahn rail system, the highways were intended to provide the main connections for the "settlement strings" of German immigrant Wehrbauer communities to be located in conquered Soviet territory. The addition of Austria to

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