The Nazis believed that the collapse of the German government and society in 1918 was not the result of the German army’s defeat; it was the result of food and fuel shortages that placed the civilian population near the point of starvation. The revolt that toppled the Kaiser (emperor) and formed a revolutionary government ready to negotiate to end the war was a direct result of this suffering. The Nazis, therefore, decided to keep the burden on the population as light as possible.