Why did germany lose the first world war? Flashcards
Reason 1: Belgium
Belgian resistance was stronger than expected, and it took them more than two weeks to capture Brussels. This meant that Britain had a chance to organize itself, and deploy in France.
By attacking Belgium, it brought Britain, the guarantor of Belgium neutrality under the 1839 treaty of London into the war. The British public opinion against Germany was strengthened when word of the massacres that the german army was committing got out. Between 5500 and 6500 Belgian civilians were executed between August and November 1914. These pretexts allowed Britain to enter the war, and hence cost germany dearly, given the military, economic and colonial power of Britain, who recruited 1.5 million volunteers from India alone!
Reason 2- Russia
Russian Mobilization was faster than the germans had anticipated, so when the Russians attacked east Prussia on the 17th of august 1914, it forced germany to divert troops to the east, weakening its strength in the west.
Russia’s biggest success came in 1916. On the 4th of June General Aleksei Brusilov launched an offensive so successful, the Russians advanced 160 Kilometers.
On the Austrian side, there were 340,000 casualties, and 400,000 more taken prisoner. The effect of this was that morale took a big hit.
Reason 3- The overstretching of german supply lines&French reserves.
When armies invade a country in a rapid manner as Germany did to France in 1914, it is crucial that the army stops and resupplies. Without this supply lines become weaker and weaker, ultimately starving the soldiers of vital resources they need to fight. The german army did not stop and resupply in 1914(and in 1942), being under pressure to finish the western offensive quickly, a strategy crucial to the success of the schliefen plan. This, along with a brave resistance by French reservists, led to the german offensive grinding to a halt on the 9th of September at the Marne river, marking the definitive failure of the Schlieffen plan.
Omar Bradley- “Amateurs talk strategy, Professionals talk logistics”
Napolean bonaparte- An army marches on its stomach.
Reason 4- Unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmerman telegram.
Two aggressive maneuvers germany attempted in early 1917 resulted in the United States entering the war.
Mistake 1-In February 1917 the germany army command resumed the use of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic(a policy they used in 1915 when they sunk the US ship Lusitania).
Mistake 2 was a Telegram from german foreign minister Authur Zimmerman to the Mexican government which proposed a military alliance. This, when published in the US media created public outrage, giving the government support to enter the war.
Given the Massive Military might of the United States, both in manpower and in resources, the entry into the war quickened the german defeat.
The 2 million American soldiers deployed in Europe importantly lacked the ‘war weariness’ of European soldiers.
America lent just over 7.7billion $
Akira Iriye- “American participation spelled the defeat of german ambitions.
Reason 5- The naval Blockade
Contrary to popular belief, the british blockade was not initially successful. This is because Germany, the blockaded country, could simply trade with countries that bordered it such as Denmark. Later in the war, however, these routes were also cut of, making the naval blockade significantly more successful. By war’s end, the german population felt the full extent of the naval blockade, which caused food shortages, as the Average Calorie intake of an adult fell from 1500 in 1915 to 1000 in December 1916. To understand just how minimal this is, humans need about 2000 calories a day to survive. In the final analysis by statisticians, this killed an estimated 772,736 germans.
Reason 6- The Italians
The Italians played an essential role in diverting Austrio-Hungarian resources away from the western front. In 1916, AH had to deploy over half its forces against the Italians.
Reason 7- Verdun 1916
In February 1916 the germans launched a massive offensive at Verdun, with the goal of breaking the stalemate. Strategized by General Erich von Falkenhayn, the battle intended to “bleed them (the French) white”, or, as the general commented, at least “damage french morale”. The french, after sustaining 315,000 casualties, launched successful counteroffensive of their own, killing 280,000 germans in April alone. This offensive failed to achieve either of its objectives, and given its human cost, can be said to be an important military failure that led to Germanys demise.
Reason 8- Internal German economy during the war
The german government proved less effective at organizing the country for war than the Allied countries. Germany spent 83% of its total public expenditure on military items, with just 2% spent on the civilian sector. In contrast, Britain spent 62% on the military and 16% on the civilians. This disregard of civilian life, combined with the falling levels of german agriculture (which fell by 70% in some area’s) meant that internally, many germans suffered from malnutrition and other hardships. Combine this with the military factors discussed above, and it becomes clear that Germany was a crumbling nation by 1918, a nation that could not sustain a war for any longer.
