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 collapsing economy and discouraged morale in Germany after being defeated in the First World War. However, the outbreak of the Second World War made the creation of the Volksgemeinschaft problematic. Some of the problems that arose during this period that made it difficult to put this idea into action included overestimating Germany's capabilities while underestimating those of its enemies, lack of trained soldiers, lack of manpower, shortage of raw materials, and the "enemy within ” One problem that arose during this period was the Nazi regime's overconfidence in German military 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 the natural resources, factories, and labor from those countries to finance the next country they might annex. Until the outbreak of World War II, German officials had stockpiled materials and equipment to offset losses suffered by the Treaty of Versailles , Professor Hong argued that, while Germany had been able to obtain sufficient military equipment for defensive purposes at the start of World War II, the German army was not ready for an all-out offensive war, especially a war fought over multiple fronts. fronts. This fatal flaw would only be realized later, towards the end of the war. According to Peter Fritzsche, the Nazi regime attempted to invade Great Britain in 1940 while simultaneously annexing several other countries (Fritzsche p. 177). This plan to conquer Britain failed and as a last ditch effort, due to shortages of supplies, then... middle of paper... people were forced into forced labor in ghettos before being sent to these death camps . Some of these camps put prisoners to work on industrial and other jobs, while others were exclusively for extermination. The Nazi regime believed that by exterminating those it deemed “undesirable” it could create a master race. Instead, they killed 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 left Germany and its economy devastated. The effects of World War II were devastating and many major cities were destroyed. The greatest tragedy, however, was the death of millions of innocent people, German and non-German. Works Cited Lecture by Professor Hong Peter Fritzsche