During the rise of the Third Reich, the Nazi regime devoted all its efforts to creating the utopian Volksgemeinschaft, or people's community, in order to remedy the economic and moral collapse discouraged in Germany after being defeated in World War I. The start of the Second World War, however, made the realization of the Volksgemeinschaft problematic. Some of the problems that arose at this time that made this idea difficult to implement included overestimating Germany's capabilities while underestimating those of its enemies, lack of trained soldiers, lack of manpower , the shortage of raw materials and the “enemy within”. One problem that emerged at this time was the Nazi regime's overreliance on the German army and military tactics. In Professor Hong's lecture, she explained that the Nazis believed that if they continued to annex smaller countries, they could use those countries' natural resources, factories and labor force to finance the next country which they could annex. Until the start of World War II, German authorities had stockpiled materials and equipment to compensate for losses suffered following the Treaty of Versailles. In Professor Hong's lecture, she said that although Germany had been able to acquire enough military equipment for defensive purposes from the start of World War II, the German army was not ready for all-out offensive war, especially one fought on multiple fronts. facades. This fatal flaw would only be realized later, towards the end of the war. According to Peter Fritzsche, the Nazi regime attempted to invade Britain in 1940 while simultaneously annexing several other countries (Fritzsche p. 177). This plan to catch up with Britain failed and as a last ditch effort, due to a shortage of supplies, they were then put into the middle of paper...... people were forced to work in ghettos before to be sent to ghettos. these extermination camps. Some of these camps put these prisoners to work for industrial and other purposes, while others were intended solely for extermination. The Nazi regime believed that by exterminating those it deemed “undesirable” it could produce a master race. Instead, they murdered millions of innocent people. Ultimately, the rigid and destructive nature of the Nazi regime led to the fall of Germany and the Third Reich. Although the idea of ​​the Volksgemeinschaft had given hope to many Germans, it ultimately devastated Germany and its economy. The effects of World War II were devastating and many major cities were destroyed. But the greatest tragedy was the deaths of millions of innocent people, German and non-German. Works Cited Lecture by Professor Hong Peter Fritzsche