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The German Empire was one of the defeated Central Powers during World War I. It entered the conflict following the declaration of war against Serbia by its ally, Austria-Hungary. German forces attacked the Allies on both the eastern and western fronts, although German territory itself remained relatively safe from widespread invasion for most of the war.

Germans responded to the outbreak of war in 1914 with the same general enthusiasm as did the other countries of Europe. The German government, dominated by the economic and political elite saw the war as a way to finally settle Germany's outstanding scores with neighbors and rivals like France, Great Britain, and Russia. The outbreak of war was thus presented in authoritarian Germany as the chance for the nation to secure "our place in the sun" as the Kaiser Wilhelm II put it, which was readily supported by the prevailing nationalism of the public. Even the Social Democratic Party of Germany put aside its differences with the government and principles of internationalism to support the war effort. At first little was done to regulate the economy for a wartime footing, and the German war economy would remain poorly organized throughout the war.

However, enthusiasm began to decline as the enormous numbers casualties began returning from the first battles. As the human toll mounted during costly battles at the Marne, Verdun, the Sommes, and at Ypres in the west, and in Poland and Galicia in the East, a grimmer and grimmer attitude began to prevail amongst the general population. Morale was helped by victories against Serbia, Greece, Italy, and Russia which made great gains for the Central Powers. Morale was at its peak since 1914 at the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918 with the defeat of Russia following her rise into revolution, and the German people braced for what Ludendorff said would be the "Peace Offensive" in the west. In one of the bloodiest series of battles in history from March to August, Ludendorff's plans were thwarted by the combined Allied efforts and Germany's last chance to win the war was lost.

By September 1918, however, the Central Powers were exhausted from fighting, and the Allies had just won the support of the United States. Even though the eastern front was hundreds of miles away from the borders of the Reich, the invasion of the Rhineland on the western front and popular dissatifaction with the war precipitated uprisings and an attempted revolution throughout Germany. By the end of that year, Germany had signed the Armistice, the Kaiser had abdicated, and the Empire had been replaced by the Weimar Republic.

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