The Great War ended in 1918, as the result, Britain won the war. From 1914 till 1918, the German army did achieve some success, however she finally lost the war. The war lasts longer than expected, and there were six different factors that can explain why did Germany lose WWI. The British blockade had strangled German industry; German U boat campaign brought US into the war; Battles of attrition to breakthrough stalemate; Russian revolution and the Hundred days Campaign, all eventually defeated Germany in WWI. First of all, the British blockade was a big factor that caused Germany’s defeat. British had been blockading German posts since 1914, it prevented Germany to get supplies. The British blockade strangled German industry, and reduced German trade from $5.9 million decreased to $0.8 million. Germany was forced to kill one-third of all pigs since there’s no fodder, and 300,000 deaths for lacking of nutrition. The naval blockade cut off imports and supplies of nitrates, which was an important resource for explosives for army(Effect 45). The lack of …show more content…
When British started to protect their war ships, German U-boat turned to attack Allied merchant ships and passenger ships. Allied improved tactics for dealing with U-boat by set up mines, depth charges and Q ships(During 44). By 1917, Allied built so many ships that German U-boat could not sink all. Later period of the sea war, Germany had no more resources to sustain the campaign and the war called off. It is noteworthy that over 100 American citizens were killed in the liner called Lusitania that defeated by German torpedoes(44). This casualty cause big tension between America and Germany. The U-boat campaign did caused shortage in Britain, but this also dragged US into the war to support Britain. Germans destroyed many American passenger ships, killed many American civilians, and hoped to ally with Mexico to against
> When WW1 was finished in November 11 1918, the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versie in which blamed the Germans for the war. This treaty made them lose territory, pay for the expenses of the war, and lose military control in which left them in a disastrous state. In the late 1930s, WW2 was about to occur amounting to a tragic event that would later go down in history. A German leader named Adolf Hitler wanted to conquer the world, but primarily he wanted to take Germany out of the misery that was put upon them. He boasted his military without the Allied powers noticing and he gained different territory. Most of all he put ideologies in the German people's minds. He made them believe that the ones that caused all of their defalts and
The United States got involved in WWI in 1917. Tensions began between the U.S. and Germany with the sinking of civilian and commercial ships using U-boats (submarines). An example of this was the sinking of a passenger liner called the Lusitania. About 1,200 people died in this incident, which included 128 Americans. These sinkings caused President Woodrow Wilson to threaten to break diplomatic relations in the case the Germans did not stop. The already existing tensions grew in 1917 when the Germans said they would sink merchant ships heading toward British or other Western European ports. To add to this, it was later discovered that the Germans had promised to help Mexico takeover the American state New Mexico if they assisted the Germans
With the arming of British merchants ships as an effort to protect its passengers and crew came a potential loophole for the Germans, essentially allowing them unrestricted submarine warfare. Though international law did not directly involve submarines, it was previously agreed that attacks on merchant ships must follow prize rules. Germany agreed that they would avoid sinking neutral ships, however, in addition to the unlikeliness of a submarine surfacing to notify a ship of an attack, as such would endanger its own safety, the arming of a merchant ship made it unclear as to whether it was simply a neutral vessel for commerce, or if it was a warship. Germany could easily claim they mistook an armed merchant ship for a warship, and attacked it as a precaution. On February 10, 1915, the United States announced in a note that Germany would be held absolutely, unconditionally responsible for any losses of American lives or property. Yet, on March 15, 1915, the Falaba was sunk by a German submarine, who claimed it was shipping contraband, with the loss of over 100 lives, one of which was an American named Leon Thrasher. The United States, despite the fact that Thrasher entered the designated war zone, condemned the Germans for the immoral act and lack of warning, knowing that if they did not, such a disaster would recur, and that their stance on the Thrasher case would set the standard for America’s reactions to future catastrophes during the war. On May 7, 1915, the British ship Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland. Though simply a passenger ship, the Lusitania was transporting small arms ammunition, and because of this was, according to the Germans, unneutral. The sinking of the Lusitania was of such importance to the
German U-boats were sinking some of the US’s carriers because Germany didn’t care to make the distinction between the United State’s carrier ships and enemy ships, the Germans also believed that the Allies were using carrier ships as a cover for ships carrying weapons and soldiers. All of these attacks irritated the United States, but they didn’t take any military actions. One of the nails in the coffin that led to the United States joining the war was when German U-boats sunk the British passenger ship the Lusitania. 128 Americans were killed. This enraged many Americans, and as a result of the attack the US increased their navy spending and armed their merchant marines, but the United States still didn’t join the
Lastly, this message was sent by the minister of Germany named Arthur Zimmerman to the ambassador of Mexico. The U-boats also played a large part in the German Naval Policy. The U-boats were submarines that were created and used by Germany. The boats were used to take down other ships or boats during the war. A major thing that pushed the United States closer to declaring war was when a U-boat took down the Lusitania which was a British ship, this killing everyone on board of the Lusitania including 128 Americans.
There were countless factors that drove America’s reluctant government to war. One of these factors was the unjust sinking of numerous neutral American ships by German U-boats. Even though many ships were sunk by U-boats, the two that stick out in America’s history were the sinking of theThe most notorious of these ships were the Lusitania and the Essex. In recent
In 1914, General Erich Ludendorff, Germany’s key commander in World War I, along with General Paul von Hindenburg, strategically placed the German Army in a series of three 25-mile trenches in central France. This new position gave the German’s a false sense of security, which led them to believe that they would win World War I. At first, the onslaught and brute force of the offensive proved itself well. The Kaiserschlacht, or Emperor’s Battle, quickly turned around due to lack of supplies and heavy casualties. Since the Central Powers were becoming more confident, they made more mistakes and thus began losing battles and eventually the war. Greater numbers and strength of the Allied Powers ultimately led to the slaughter and defeat of the Germans under Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg.
then increased trade with the Allies, Britain and France, which gave them closer ties with the Allies forces. Secondly, the German navy launched a U-boat submarine, which torpedoed the British luxury liner Lusitania and killed 128 Americans in the process. Next, the U.S. intercepted a telegram in which Germany’s foreign secretary sent to the German minister in Mexico City. The telegram was urging Mexico to join the Central Powers in the war, and Germany promised to help Mexico recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in return. This threatened the territorial integrity of the U.S. The final reason for U.S. involvement in the war was when U-boats started attacking American ships without warning. This forced President Wilson to ask for a declaration of war before a special session of Congress.
128 Americans that were on board were killed. However, the ‘Lusitania’ was not an American ship and Wilson accepted the Germans change in policy that their U-boats would now adopt ‘cruiser’ tactics and surface to attack ships with guns fitted onto their decks. While the German chancellor managed to avoid a major diplomatic issue this time, the German military was adamant that the ‘cruiser’ tactic was not going to be used as it was to dangerous for the lightly armored U-boats of the time.
Militarism was one of the key major factors of the war. Soon after Britain created their battleship, Germany revealed their 60 ships from a man named Alfred Von Tirpitz . A naval battle arose between the two and their relationship weakened immensely. Both Germany and Britain wanted to have the better army, and taking up naval weapons was the beginning of the hate and jealousy each country had for one another. Germany’s past ideology that they should not anger Britain because Britain was dangerous was an ideology that was now put aside. Part of being a powerful empire meant having strong, effective military willing to go to battle at any time for their people. In a book written by Ruth Henig titled The Origins of the First World War, Henig says, “The Kaiser and
However, the most important reason is the Germany’s lack of strong allies isolating them and having significantly less military power compared to the Allies. Secondly, the Naval blockade brought homeland Germany to its knees as it restricted food stuff and economic growth. It is less important than the first, if the Central Powers were stronger and were better organized, they could have outlasted the Blockade and won the war. Lastly, the Eastern front consumed many more resources than necessary that could have otherwise been used to win the war in the West. Ultimately, Central Power defeat was a mixture of their weakness and Allied
Germany went into WWI with the upside of an expansive, extremely all around prepared, and exceptionally very much prepared armed force. One-on-one, they could in all likelihood have crushed some other nation on the planet, yet they weren't simply battling one adversary. They were dwarfed, and their rivals had admittance to much more noteworthy assets. In the event that the Schlieffen Plan had been executed legitimately in august 1914, Paris would have been caught, and the French would probably have requested a peace negotiation. in this way finishing the war rapidly and to support Germany. They likewise could have won if in 1918,Germany had exploited Russia's withdrawal from the war so that they would move every one of their troops and assets
A major build up of armies in main countries resulted in the Naval Arms Race which was another main contribution to the war as it increased tension and more rivalry. The armies of Germany and France had more than doubled but it was Germany and England who were about to compete for the most powerful navy in the world the tension between the two nations had risen. Wilhelm’s dream of being an imperial ruler was about to come true, he had put his plans into practice and had built several powerful ships. The British saw this as a threat. In
The loss of German morale on both the home and battlefronts greatly affected the outcome of the war. This diminution of confidence was directly related to allied propaganda, the entrance of the Americans to WW1 and the political instability of Germany.
The defeat of Germany in World War Two was due to many factors. All of these factors were influenced by the leadership and judgment of Adolf Hitler. Factors such as the stand fast policy, Hitler's unnecessary and risky decision making in military situations, for example when attacking the USSR, and the declaration of war on the US. Plus other factors, like Hitler's alliance with Italy, despite its obvious weaknesses, and the pursuit of the final solution, can all be attributed to the poor leadership and judgement of the Fuhrer, which would eventually lead to the downfall of the Third Reich.